Road gators

[TXiceman]

Yep, several years ago I was in the dually (running solo) and running up I-45 north of Houston about 5 mph over the poster 65 mph speed limit with the traffic. This horses rear end driving a pretty little BMW 7 series, would not get off my bumper, would not go around me. I was maintain a safe distance behind the vehicle in front of me. He swerved to miss a 'gator. I could not change lanes, but could scoot over a bit and clear the 'gator under the truck. next thing I knew the BMW had it brakes on hard, tires smoking and the 'gator was trapped under his pretty car. last I saw of him was he was headed to the shoulder. I hope he learned a lesson about tailgating.

Ken

[monkey]

Road hazards are out there. In many forms. First, I hope the OP has been able to fix the air line. Most people have never been around any tire when it blow's, much less a large truck tire. PLEASE keep this in mind when around a truck... If it is passing you, slow down for a few seconds if needed , or speed up a little if you are passing it. I have other vehicles match my speed every week, no matter what I do to get away from them. (yes I drive a truck) There is Safety in space around you,,, and those "gators" can go right through your windshield... A few extra seconds of my time means nothing compared to safely getting to your destination.
Monkey

[scoutmstr]

On my recent trip to PEI, while going through Houston I ran over a full gator but heard no problems and kept going. Ten miles later someone waved at a problem. I had the entire gator wrapped up over the rear tire and was caught in place like a cheap toupee. Luckily no damage. Wish I'd taken a picture with it still over the tire but here's the picture of it laying next to the RV

[Bart Anderson]

we in SW Florida have the problem of running over REAL gators... they too do a lot of damage especially if you have to pull them out from under your RV. They wake up in a bad mood every day!

Brt Anderson

[JohnBoyToo]

Living in south Louisiana for a while.... I was just about to say

When we were building the house we are in here in the country of dfw...
we were second into the new neighborhood and I watched out my front office window as an old 55 chevy pickup stopped and the driver walked around to the passenger side to pull something out his front tire and wheel ...

I swear he jumped 10 feet in the air - the biggest snake I have ever seen was sleeping on the warm road and got wrapped around his axle, and was still alive !!!!!

I went out to help him and his spanish was especially shrill

[szy]

Originally Posted by TdogKing

Hate to say it, bu thats part of the dangers we face to enjoy the RV Lifestyle daily.

If it happened once in ablue moon ok

but it happens too much -- outlaw them ( retreads ) if that is the norm

it is total BS that people have to dodge them all the time

[Dunner]

It's a good thing dinosaurs went extinct.

[Midniteoyl]

Originally Posted by monkey

Road hazards are out there. In many forms. First, I hope the OP has been able to fix the air line. Most people have never been around any tire when it blow's, much less a large truck tire. PLEASE keep this in mind when around a truck... If it is passing you, slow down for a few seconds if needed , or speed up a little if you are passing it. I have other vehicles match my speed every week, no matter what I do to get away from them. (yes I drive a truck) There is Safety in space around you,,, and those "gators" can go right through your windshield... A few extra seconds of my time means nothing compared to safely getting to your destination.
Monkey

had a truck tire let go once.. just ahead and 2 lanes over. First the cannon shot went off, then shrapnel flew 1" off my windshield, then a pack was smoked and a bottle was cracked..... undies were thrown in the trash

[monkey]

Originally Posted by Midniteoyl

had a truck tire let go once.. just ahead and 2 lanes over. First the cannon shot went off, then shrapnel flew 1" off my windshield, then a pack was smoked and a bottle was cracked..... undies were thrown in the trash

Try having that happen a couple feet behind you, (on your truck), at around 3am, you wouldn't believe the sound,,, and I was in artillery ,,, Guess things like that is why I feel so old now........

I'd like to add on that note, this morning, approx 6:30 am (still dark) on the way home from Oklahoma City, I had a real nice looking rig following me (at a safe distance) a new Dodge diesel pickup pulling a nice big 5th wheel TT, I went by a gator on the white line, (4 lane divided) so with no other traffic present, I made it a point to swerve a little extra (doesn't take much pulling doubles) and flashed my right turn signal to alert them. They got over an extra couple of feet and missed it fine, then stayed behind me the other 30 miles to my exit.... Not all of us truckers are bad guys...... Made my day I could 'possibly' help save them a big deal of grief/$$ .

[HotMech]

I've had my own tangle with the gators. Check this one out.
K.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f64/watch...ors-74435.html

[biglakebubba]

I hit one S. of Atlanta, tore out my sewer line and douched a bright yellow short school bus allover the front. wanted to stop and apologize or compensate, but in 5 lanes full going one direction, one cannot stop. Pheweey.

[Steverino]

Thanks for the reminders... I'm not generally a tailgater (gator?) and especially not in my MH. The MH's handling is not even remotely confidence inspiring, so extra space is the order of the day. (One's avoidance maneuvering at speed is at most a "drift" and nowheres near a "swerve". The thought of a "swerve" at anything above 35 mph gives me the shakes.)

I too give semis a wide berth, both because I'm driving defensively and out of courtesy to them. There's pretty much no argument with a semi (or it's ejected parts) that I'm ever gonna win...

[Dunner]

Steve, if your's is the F53 chassis, check out the "Cheap Handling Fix" thread. It works.

[Steverino]

Originally Posted by Dunner

Steve, if your's is the F53 chassis, check out the "Cheap Handling Fix" thread. It works.

Thanks for the suggestion. Mine is on an E450 chassis which I'm assuming is not the same as the F53... but I'd love to be corrected. I won't thread-jack here but would love to be directed to any threads with proven E450 steering / chassis upgrades. It's my main dislike with our rig.