Newtothis:
Coupling up in my head is- check the trailer brake is secure, walk round check. Reverse the unit upto the trailer, check height of the unit make sure mudguards get under with no contact, hook up, tug test, secure dog clip, lines and cables, wind up legs, release trailer brake. Full walk round check and reg plate. Check height marker in cab.Uncouple- trailer brake, legs, lines/cables, dog clip, kingpin. Remove reg plate. Drive unit out.
Not sure if il be asked to reverse, any tips to this fine art?
Anything else?
Yep.
Hooking up:
Reverse unit up to trailer, make sure fifth wheel is low enough to go under - I do that just by dropping air suspension on unit and keeping an eye on mudguards vs headboard when backing under. Back under trailer slightly so that the fifth wheel is under the front of it (judge using where headboard is in relation to mudguards) and once under lift the suspension on unit right up to max then reverse all the way in til it locks in and then tug test. You do this because it saves bending the landing legs if you’re not quite lined up properly. It also saves you having to put legs in low gear to wind them up because the load will be taken off them.
Dropping unit:
Do everything and pull fifth wheel pin last. Drive forward a few inches to disengage the pin from the fifth wheel then lower the unit suspension all the way and then pull out. You do this to again prevent bending of the landing legs from suddenly having 10 tonnes dropped on them
On the test drive:
They’re looking for consistency and safety, not being test perfect. As long as the assessor feels they’re having a safe drive you should be golden. Remember if doing any reversing with an artic to give the trailer time to start turning before adding or removing steering lock. And like they should have taught you for the reversing manoeuvre for your test if there’s the space there, use it to get yourself lined up as much as possible for the reverse. If you’ve got a toy artic have a play with it. The success of a reverse 99% of the time is determined by the position you get yourself in before you even select reverse gear so get a toy artic, mark out a bay on your carpet and try approaching it different ways and see what you need to do. It’s a crap drawing but for example if driving down a line of loading bays/parking bays to my right this is my preferred path I’ll take, drive along them to the left then drive towards the gap then out to the left finishing with a slight turn of the unit to the right. Trailer ends up aimed at the hole with unit pointing in the right direction to go backwards. Its then a case of putting on a bit of left lock and going backwards.
