Ask a Truck driver

30 Sep 2006

Quote by dambuster

I have never seen the cab hitch / un hitch before and allways wondered and wanted to see this done.

Landing legs are what they are known as..
Most are wound down with a handle but some come down automatically when the air lines from the tractor unit to the trailer are disconnected..

redface

ops: :oops:
Unless of course you're distracted and 'forget' then "drop the trailer on it's knees"
:oops: :oops: :oops:
Then someone like me comes along with a nice big wrecker, and lifts it up and winds the legs down rolleyes

- oh yeah, and your company gets a feck off big invoice for me doing it wink

Quote by dambuster
btw Goosey, (et al) would you be surprised, or even shocked, when I tell you that the "pin" that holds the trailer to the tractor unit is something like 2 or 3 inches in diameter ?
A 28 tonne trailer and load held to a 16 tonne tractor unit by a 3 inch in diameter steel pin :shock: (gestimated figures)
I can remember MK III being slightly concerned when she saw me hitch up one day :lol2:
"Is that it ? Is that all that holds it all together ????)

Ahhh - but have you ever seen one break dunno

- even in a full on wreck, side over side or whatever, I can only ever recall seeing one fifth wheel coupling seperate, and that was the jaw kit on the fifth wheel itself, not the pin.

30 Sep 2006

Quote by Jon
Then someone like me comes along with a nice big wrecker, and lifts it up and winds the legs down - oh yeah, and your company gets a feck off big invoice for me doing it

There but for the Grace of God . . . .
I've been lucky Jon. On the few redface

occasions I've done it, it's either been an empty or a very light load and I've been able to wind it back up; or I've been in a yard with a proper shunt wagon so they've been able to get under it and lift it for me. I never "fly out" from under one so te worst I've had to do was put in a defect for "stiff legs" surprised

ops:

Quote by Jon
Ahhh - but have you ever seen one break -

Never.
I'd say that 99% of problems I've ever seen with hitching have been down to "driver error" - even when I've "missed the pin" :oops:

30 Sep 2006

Thanks for the answer fellas s wink

Missing the pin sounds painful lol

30 Sep 2006

Quote by Jon
Ahhh - but have you ever seen one break

In the 20yrs I have been a commercial vehicle mechanic I havent smile

30 Sep 2006

Quote by dambuster
btw Goosey, (et al) would you be surprised, or even shocked, when I tell you that the "pin" that holds the trailer to the tractor unit is something like 2 or 3 inches in diameter ?
A 28 tonne trailer and load held to a 16 tonne tractor unit by a 3 inch in diameter steel pin :shock: (gestimated figures)
I can remember MK III being slightly concerned when she saw me hitch up one day :lol2:
"Is that it ? Is that all that holds it all together ????)

Well if the steels good and its haredened and tempered right it could probably be half the size it is.
I used to turn induction hardened and tempered ballscrews (insert sexual inuendo joke here lol

) and they were so hard and tough we had to use diamond tools (insert another joke here :lol: ).

1 Oct 2006

I have changed a couple but never replaced due to breakage....
More often than not there is a little play in "The Pin" and it requires replacing..

1 Oct 2006

I've snapped a standard 50mm ball on the back of a land rover, whilst jack knifing a 80ft radio tower trying to get it out of 6 inches of mud 3 field days ago. lol

ps ask Ian-mids or phread what a field day is (i'm not saying for fear of dawnies)

1 Oct 2006

Right on cab unit with twin rear axles i see one pair of wheels up in the air during towing usually the forward pair well i cant remember if i ever seen the rear pair up.
Why is that confused

:

1 Oct 2006

Both are available goosey.
I think mainly it's about reducing tyre wear.
There's a huge answer about road fund licence and weights/weight limits etc, but I've always understood the lift, mid-lift, tag-lift etc to be about tyre wear.
Like with fuel consumption, even a very small percentage saving can be a large financial number if you multiply up to a large fleet covering high mileage.
So, if it's not "neccessary" to have all the axles down (weight limits) why not save a few quid wink

It also helps sometimes with traction, and/or in very tight maneuvering, from a driver's point of view depending on the circumstances.

1 Oct 2006

Quote by dambuster
There's a huge answer about road fund licence and weights/weight limits etc, but I've always understood the lift, mid-lift, tag-lift etc to be about tyre wear.

IIRC the Goverment made RFL cheaper if trucks ran on 6 axles and air suspension......This is because it reduces the footprint of the outfit thus reducing the wear on the road surface..
Many on newer vehicles are weight sensitive and will automatically lower themselves when the ECAS (computer controlled suspension) senses the weight is above a certain limit thus minimising the risk of overloading the front axle.... smile

1 Oct 2006

Quote by Steve_Mids
Many on newer vehicles are weight sensitive and will automatically lower themselves when the ECAS (computer controlled suspension) senses the weight is above a certain limit thus minimising the risk of overloading the front axle....

It's a fucker that it also reduces the weight on the drive axle tho
Although fun can be had :grin:
redface

1 Oct 2006

Quote by dambuster
It's a fucker that it also reduces the weight on the drive axle tho
Although fun can be had :grin:

I see the result of the fun that can be had when doing inspections at work and noting the rear tyre tread depths.......:rascal:

1 Oct 2006

Quote by Steve_Mids
I see the result of the fun that can be had when doing inspections at work and noting the rear tyre tread depths.......:rascal:

Sorry

................................
I do actually mourn the passing of the "mechanical/physical" (???) diff lock.
I've yet to drive anything with a modern "electrical/intelligent" (???) equivalent that comes anywhere near to close to being effective. - From a "Gimme some feckin traction - NOW" point of view.

1 Oct 2006

Quote by dambuster

I see the result of the fun that can be had when doing inspections at work and noting the rear tyre tread depths.......:rascal:

Sorry

................................
I do actually mourn the passing of the "mechanical/physical" (???) diff lock.
I've yet to drive anything with a modern "electrical/intelligent" (???) equivalent that comes anywhere near to close to being effective. - From a "Gimme some feckin traction - NOW" point of view.
Very true.....
You cant beat flicking the switch and hearing the air operated diff-lock engage...

2 Oct 2006

Dambuster - great thread, its good to get the info from the horses mouth.
Something for truck drivers to ponder on re. the 'long overtake':
I work in a port fed by two major roads that are both two-lane dual carrigeways for most of their length and the long overtake can be a real pita. The nearer the truck gets to the port, the more likely the stream of cars behind them as they chug along banging on the rev-limiter are carrying people working at the of these guys may later be off loading your wagon with a RTG or manning one of the many security checkpoints that all docks now have to have. (or even worse be dock-plod or cussies). I t would be only natural if now again one of them thought "Hello, I spent 5 miles staring at the arse of the rig on my way in today - ooops I cant get the twistlocks to come down" or "sorry, the computers bust" - Not of course that it would ever happen like that........honest!!

2 Oct 2006

I've sat under many a tranny wondering why he was just sat there - looking at me wink

Maybe I should have had this on the roof of my cab, rather than the back bumber of my skelly dunno

2 Oct 2006

Quote by dambuster
I've sat under many a tranny wondering why he was just sat there - looking at me

:shock:
H.x

2 Oct 2006

Quote by H-x

I've sat under many a tranny wondering why he was just sat there - looking at me

:shock:
H.x
Exactly :shock:

:rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

2 Oct 2006

Now now Girls :jagsatwork:
juscruzin will know exactly what I mean

2 Oct 2006

Ow. My mental picture was far better than that. You had your boots on for a start.
cool

H.x

2 Oct 2006

Do I need to remind you Miss ?
Be careful what you wish for

2 Oct 2006

Thats the boy dambuster - they get really upset when you drive a car underneath 'em - even with a yellow beacon on!! biggrin

8 Oct 2006

Well, keep a look out for this juscruzin - I start back there tomorrow

There'll be one on the back bumper bar and possibbly one in the windscreen.
But - if you guess the firm, don't post the name.
I'd hate for SH to pop up after a google search :shock:

8 Oct 2006

Right
Because an artic trailer has its wheels at the rear does tis make it easier or harder to reverse than say a caravan or car trailer which has its wheels at the center.
PS this will probably be a personal opinion rather than proven fact. As a trailer tent tower i was just wondering.

8 Oct 2006

Quote by goose35
Right
Because an artic trailer has its wheels at the rear does tis make it easier or harder to reverse than say a caravan or car trailer which has its wheels at the center.
PS this will probably be a personal opinion rather than proven fact. As a trailer tent tower i was just wondering.

Well, I can tell you that a five axle wrecker, with a fully laden artic and trailer hooked on the back is BLOODY hard to reverse - and long! - and people STILL get in yer way even with all beacons and strobe lights on mad

You need a lot of road to get round corners and just to manouvere in general, so car drivers, give way to the big wrecker wiv beacons on, the beacons are to show we are a hazard,in speed, size, weight and lack of manouverability

8 Oct 2006

Quote by goose35
Right
Because an artic trailer has its wheels at the rear does tis make it easier or harder to reverse than say a caravan or car trailer which has its wheels at the center.
PS this will probably be a personal opinion rather than proven fact. As a trailer tent tower i was just wondering.

Personally goosey, I find the longer the trailer, and the longer the overhang (behind the rear wheels - the easier it is to reverse.
I used to (and suppose still do) use the overhang as a sort of 'pointer' - I'd 'point' the rear corner to where I wanted it to go.
One of the most difficult I've ever had the dubious pleasure of driving (the differences also apply to going forwards, but to a lesser extent) was what we used to call "urban atrics" - A 20 or 30 foot trailer with only one axle, mounted at the very rear of the trailer - giving no overhang at all. As the name suggests, the are used for delivering, usually to supermarket (stores) in town centres where space is at a premium. I hate them lol

I suppose the technical reason is that the longer the overhang, the sooner the corner of the trailer 'comes round' in the direction you want, rather than have.
But the wheelbase of the tractor unit also has an effect. As does whether the unit has a steered middle axle and/or the trailer has steered axle(s)
I can remember struggling greatly the first few times I had to reverse a horse trailer using a pick up truck redface

ops: :oops: - Much to the amusement of Mk III :oops: :oops:
I can quite well "thread a needle" in an outfit I'm familiar with. That's not a brag - it's just a question of repetition/practice. But if I jump in an outfit I'm not that familiar with (Twin steers units, 4 instead of 6 wheeled units, twin axle rather than tri-axle trailers etc etc etc) I can have a really bad day :oops: :oops: Especially if I need to blind side reverse, which is very common in the type of work I choose to do.
:oops: - Did that actually answer anything goosey ?

8 Oct 2006

Ahh thats the opposite of what i thought would be thanks Dammie.
I saw a car transporter in our work last week reverse and it was amazing to see as i wouldnt have thought it possible on on the small roads round our factory.
Also theres a new truck storage park by me and though they re positioned the kerbs ect. on the corner just before the yard to accomodate i still wonder how they do it. They also put a mini roundabout too but still looks really tight and if a truck comes round i have to leave lots off room.

8 Oct 2006

You might be surprised just how manoeuverable they are goosey. It can be easier to put an artic somewhere than it can a rigid.
And as I said easier, it really is more a question of repetition and practice than it is any sort of 'skill'
I know that when I work full time - especially tramping, my driving 'skills' in a car, fall to complete crap.
I drive 20 - 30 miles to the yard on a Monday morning, then the same back on Friday evening. Plus any 'social' driving at the weekend, so my annual mileage is negligible.
There are one or two redface

people on the forum that have seen, and commented on, my total inability to park a car, particularly trying to reverse the bluddy things surprised

ops:

I can't do it from behind unless they bend :oops:

Mini roundabouts, I tend to ignore.
And I agree completely with what Jon says.
Give 'em the room they need. If they ask you to move - move. But just as importantly, if a driver asks you to sit still and stay where you are - sit still. That way, when he can't see you, he'll still know where you are wink