18-WHEELERS

austin247

This is for the truckers and mechanics out there:

About a week ago we had a high-speed pursuit with an 18 wheeler driver who was under the influence of illegal substances. This chase went through two counties and lasted for over an hour. We got the order to shoot at the tires and the cooling system to try to stop this guy. He ran into several vehicles, tried to run head-on into numerous vehicles, and tried to run us off the road when we tried to pass him.

By the time this ended, the driver had been shot, the front of the tractor looked like Bonnie and Clyde's car, and the only tires left were on the right tandem axles. He was able to run in excess of 70mph on the front rims, and we learned the hard way that a diesel will run a lot longer and a lot further than a gasoline engine will with the radiator shot full of holes. The truck was hit with 00 buck, .223, 10mm, .357 Sig, and no telling what else.

Now, my question is: what is the best way to stop these things? Is there a GOOD place to shoot that will stop it pretty damn quick? With all the traffic on the road we couldn't shoot it with .308 or 30-06 because of the risk of over-penetration.

I've already about got the little lady convinced that I need more firepower, just in case this ever happens again.

n/a

There is a system in the works that will disable a cars ignition system, however seing that a deisel runs on its own compression and heat, would be hard to interupt the the system as it needs no electral components to continue running once it is started, maybe something that would disable the fuel pumping, if electrical

LR

blackclouder

The air compressor tank would be my first target.Without adequate air pressure in the tank the brakes cant release.
Thus no air. no moving truck.

black

Find cover because theres a black cloud over head.

Some may not like you, get over it or get use to it.

Big Sky Redneck

Air is the best way to stop a truck, lack of air I mean.

Under the trailers you will see tanks hanging that are about 1 1/2 to 2' long, shoot a hole one as many of those as you can.

You can also depending on the make of truck see the tanks on the tractor also, shoot a hole in one of them. On a Peterbuilt there are two tanks under the driver and pass door above the steps, ake one of those out.

Between the truck and trailer is 2 air lines connected to the trailer, one red one blue, shoot at them and break them or knock them off the gladhands(the connectors).

One stupid and completly retarded myth that Hollywood started is when a truck has no air it is out of control, that is 200% off target and completly reverse of the truth.

The brake cans on the drive axles of the tractor and the trailer axles are a combination can called "Maxi Cans", these are spring operated emergency and parking brakes that have to have 60 psi to allow the brakes to come off. The springs are extremely powerful and wil lock up the wheels.

The idea of taking out the air supply will activate the truck emergency brakes, as the air pressure falls alarms will go off in the truck, as the pressure falls to 60 psi the driver will have to manualy hold the brake buttons in as they will pop out on their own, they are designed to do that. When the air falls below 60 psi the brakes will automaticly apply themselves and the lower the air pressure the tighter the brakes get and the brakes will eventualy be at max pressure and the vehicle will stop.

If you get the brake lines off from the front of the trailer you will hear a loud noise from the air escaping the maxies and the trailer will lock up, if he has no load in the trailer or it is real light the trailer will start to come around, get away because the truck is going for a ride and will probably flip over at 70 mph.

The sfest way to do it is to bust the air tanks on the tractor itself, the truck will come to a gradual stop in a couple miles instead of what we truckers refer to as "dynamiting" the brakes.

if someone tells you that the truck has no brakes if you bust the air supply or the service line on the trailer tell them they are STUPID!

99.9% of all trailers today have maxi cans on the trailers and ALL tractor have them,however it is very unlikely that you will find a non maxi trailer today.

You bust the air, truck no move.

Big Sky Redneck

Classic makes a good example but he don't know he did it. All new trucks and most of the older ones back to the early nineties have electronic engines, voltages under 11 volts will disable truck engines. Usualy on the drivers side is the battery box, on Kenworths Petes and the big fancy looking Frieghtliner Classics the batteries are in a box that also is the steps. on other trucks the boxes are in front of the drive axles between the fuel tanks and tires, if it is not hidden by side skirts you will see the battery box. If you are brave and not worried about acid flying out you empty a 15 round mag into the battery box(s) and the truck will shut off, it can and will run off of the alternator unless it is night time and he has the lights on or the box itself shorts out.

RancheroPaul

It would seem to me the best way would be to shoot the "Loose Nut at the Wheel!" That would be more merciful to him than what he's trying to do to others!

If You Can't Buy a Pair, Get a Spare!

austin247

Thanks for the good advice, and keep it coming...I'm learning a lot already. I was hoping that it would turn out only a 37mm grenade launcher or a heat-seeking missle would work and I could add those to my inventory.

The truck in question was a Freightliner tractor with no trailer. A trucker here was telling me about the air canister under the tractor a couple days after this happened. Our problem was, this was a moving target traveling 70 mph, that was trying to ram us when we passed him so we could get ahead and set up to take a shot. Hitting a particular target on the tractor was damn near an impossibility.

After we shot the hell out of him, the tractor finally caught on fire. He only made it about another mile and a half, then his axles locked up. This idiot had two shotguns and a rifle in the cab, so we had a 20 minute standoff in the middle of the highway. He kept trying to drive off, but even though the engine was running and the transmission was grinding, those wheels wouldn't move.

Anyway, the end result was that we got him stopped and took him into custody without anyone except him getting hurt (that was a miracle itself). You oughtta see THAT video!

Thanks for all good information, and keep it comin'. Something like this may never happen again, but it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Rembrandt

I thought the "Indiana Jones" method ("Raiders of the Lost Ark") was pretty neat....drive your patrol car up along side and jump onto the back of the trailer...work your way to the front, getting to the passenger side then as you fly through the side window kick the driver in the head....grab the wheel with one hand and begin slamming his head into the dash with the other....then with one hand throw him out onto the hood of the truck...as he hangs onto the hood ornament and slides down the front of the radiator...well, you know the rest....

...or you could get one of those 20mm guns Josey1 was toteing around...

austin247

I tried that Rembrandt. You'll be happy to know that I'm expected to regain full use of my appendages, and the doctor says that after only 300 more skin grafts I should be good as new

Big Sky Redneck

I heard about that, got sort of a live update on it as it was happening. A friend of mine was leaving Ontario on his way to Salinas, thanks to that he had to turn around and go back up 15 to 395 and cut thru the desert to get up there. He called me on the cell phone to ask directions and was listening to it on the radio telling me what was going on. hehe Imagine that, called me to ask directions for someting 2500 miles away!

bhayes420

Read somewhere, don't know if it was a copy of Road Star or what, that the California DOT was experimenting with bumpers on trailers that the CHP officers could "bump" (while moving down the road!) that would activate the trailer brakes. Understandably, the truckers and OOIDA are upset at that, and rightly so.

Big Sky Redneck

It was in all the trucker mags and OOIDA. That was about the Dumbest thing I have ever heard.If you remember the article it was due to terrorist and being afraid someone would hijack a load of chemicals or explosives. How friggin STUPID can they be??

Like I said in the other post, if your gonna dynamite the trailer brakes you better move fast because it's going to get ugly real fat, espiecaly at highway speeds. Now pictuure some cop tapping the icc bar and lighting up the brakes, that cop it likely to get into an accident. How abou this, someone rearends the truck by accident at hoighay speeds in heavy traffic, major mess. Of course like all the other situations out there, when a truck gets into an accident it's always the truckers fault, 1 in every hundred wrecks the driver is not at fault. The insurance companies have their own investigators juice it up if the police find the driver not at fault so they don't have to pay, the trucking company does. So these nitwits want to put that on a truck, when that truck gets hit from behind at 60-70 miles perhour and his trailer locks up and jack knives inthe cars around him, the trucker and the company will pay for it and these idiots in California will never admit it's a bad idea.

If there is one thing that will throw me into a fit of rage it is people eother doing stupid crap or wanting to do stupid crap around trucks, there are many many misinformed people out there about trucks who also think this is a good idea and they need to,, aww nevermind. Bunch of dang retards out there who think this crap up!

bwa

austin:

I'm hardly expert in such matters, but I would think that your 00 could crack the head and/or cylinder walls if decent shots could be had at the engine itself(with no trailer this might be possible from behind, if the tractor is one of those with the engine beneath and slightly behind the driver). As was indicated previously, a diesel can ignite its fuel only if its tremendously high compression ratio is maintained, which of course is dependent on airtight cylinders/combustion chambers. Break a few of those and power is lost quickly. If the design is one with the engine in front, shots from the side would probably be necessary, which would have been tough since he didn't want to let you pass him.

But then, maybe lead 00 wouldn't do the job anyway -have to ask someone more experienced than I to know for sure.

I'm sure glad fellows like you are out there doing such things -thank you for doing your best to make this world a safer place for the rest of us.

austin247

Saxon, there were more than 50 holes in this truck's radiator, and it was bone dry. It was the rear end that caught on fire from running for so many miles on the rims. Apparently, the fire reached the brake lines or air tanks and caused the axles to lock up. I'm pretty ignorant about diesel engines, and when I was told to shoot at the radiator I thought it was a good idea. My experience is with gasoline engines, and I know they won't make it very far with no coolant in the radiator. Apparently, as we learned the hard way, this is an entirely different story with diesels. We consider ourselves very lucky that no one except the driver was hurt.