13 TRAILER WHEELS

Side of a Big-rig's fifth wheel, showing a crusty grease deposit. Fifth wheels (the truck's connection to the trailer, for the non-truckers reading this...) have to be kept lubricated so the trailer can swing freely on turns. Add several hundred thousand miles of road grime, and a few dozen re-greaseings, and this is the result.

Note that ithis pic is not in my "Things you don't want to see on (or near) your truck" set - this is on the crusty extreme end of normal! (most truckers would have scraped off the excess grease at some point...)

I notice that this is not a sliding 5th wheel... (again, for non-truckers, on some trucks, this part slides front-to back by 2 - 3 feet to help transfer the weight of the trailer to the steering wheels, and off the drive wheels [there's weight limits on all axles of a truck])

Taken by a Nikon D40x with an 18-55mm Nikkor kit lens. (at 32)

I shot this with existing light and tried to stay real still. Somebody had "Jesus" in fifth-wheel grease

I shot this with existing light and tried to stay real still. Somebody had "Jesus" in fifth-wheel grease on one side of the dolly I used in Joplin a few nights ago.