Was tipping on a loading bay the other day, and as I sat there a German turned up with an Aframe, and had to do a blindide reverse onto the next bay to me. It took him numerous shunts and about 15 minutes before he finally got it on the bay. Im not knocking the guy, Ive never driven one and it looks very tricky. I would like a go at one to see what I would be like with it.
So tell me people is, it something you can get good at, or is it just luck when you are reversing them?
it takes time and practise to be able
to do any type of driveing, and the A-frame
needs plenty of time,6months or more
and then you should be okay, a artic ,or tandam
trailer are easy to reverse ,try doing the old
westermann 5 point coupling trailer,I tried it out and
was not ammussed at all, The driver made it look ever so easy
but as he said only practise makes you better,
Rog has the right advice, but pretend you are reversing 2 rigids at once.
They are difficult to reverse and if you do not have a lot of room then you will have to take lots of small shunts to straighten the drawber or to lock the front end over enough to reverse on a bay.
I drove one on United Carriers and they follow so well when going forward, to reverse one you are trying to steer the front axle of the trailer with your rigid, always mindful of where the cab is going, or more importantly where the rear of the trailer is heading.
I still watch a good lad on one in awe but even the Dutch are losing the knack as more and more are using centre axle outfits.
They are easier to reverse around a corner than they are to reverse straight as you can see the angle of the front axle.
drove one once for relyon beds in wellington had to reverse it down a road in london with cars parked either side took me nearly 1/2 hr to go 500 metres.
watched some guys out in germany backing them onto loading bays out there made it look so easy had to take my hat off to them
Many moons ago when these vehicles required a trailer mate the driver always unhitched, turned the towing vehicle around to face the trailer, re-coupled and then pushed the trailer facing it. Piece of cake.
Tobyjug:
Many moons ago when these vehicles required a trailer mate the driver always unhitched, turned the towing vehicle around to face the trailer, re-coupled and then pushed the trailer facing it. Piece of cake.
Yes. we were supposed to do that at UCL, but it was more fun to persevere. I did 6 months in the depot as a night shunter. I had a head start when I went down the road.
When I worked for Simon International in the late '70’s,I had to fly out to Greece on one ocassion to recover the F89 6 axle road train when someone had dumped it because a trailer wheel bearing had melted.I recovered it from the customs at Gevgelia and got a local mechanic to fit the new bearings I’d brought with me as cabin luggage.
I had to pick up the usual load of paper in Austria,and got some reversing practice in doing that,then bring it home.
Every time I parked up I’d have a bit of reversing practice,when I got home I had to tip the load,2 drops,before handing it back.
The following week happened to be The Lorry Driver of the Year down at Northampton,and as I was at home i thought,why not?
There just happened to be a road train driving competition so I went for it.
I missed first place by half a second but was more than happy to get second place,considering the winner was a full time R/T driver.
I’ve never driven one since.
I drove a fastrac with an A-frame and a 40 foot step frame on back before I passed my HGV. Lock on Fastrac was useless, was an absolute nightmare to reverse.
My ex bosses son told me it was easy to reverse so told him to prove it. After half an hour of shunting about and backing into things he gave up. I was on the floor in hysterics. I drove that set up for 8 months and still didn’t get it 100% right.
Wheel Nut:
Rog has the right advice, but pretend you are reversing 2 rigids at once.
They are difficult to reverse and if you do not have a lot of room then you will have to take lots of small shunts to straighten the drawber or to lock the front end over enough to reverse on a bay.
I drove one on United Carriers and they follow so well when going forward, to reverse one you are trying to steer the front axle of the trailer with your rigid, always mindful of where the cab is going, or more importantly where the rear of the trailer is heading.
I still watch a good lad on one in awe but even the Dutch are losing the knack as more and more are using centre axle outfits.
They are easier to reverse around a corner than they are to reverse straight as you can see the angle of the front axle.
Until recently that was standard trailer to pass C+E in Poland…
Wheel Nut:
Rog has the right advice, but pretend you are reversing 2 rigids at once.
They are difficult to reverse and if you do not have a lot of room then you will have to take lots of small shunts to straighten the drawber or to lock the front end over enough to reverse on a bay.
I drove one on United Carriers and they follow so well when going forward, to reverse one you are trying to steer the front axle of the trailer with your rigid, always mindful of where the cab is going, or more importantly where the rear of the trailer is heading.
I still watch a good lad on one in awe but even the Dutch are losing the knack as more and more are using centre axle outfits.
They are easier to reverse around a corner than they are to reverse straight as you can see the angle of the front axle.
Until recently that was standard trailer to pass C+E in Poland…
Wheel Nut:
Rog has the right advice, but pretend you are reversing 2 rigids at once.
They are difficult to reverse and if you do not have a lot of room then you will have to take lots of small shunts to straighten the drawber or to lock the front end over enough to reverse on a bay.
I drove one on United Carriers and they follow so well when going forward, to reverse one you are trying to steer the front axle of the trailer with your rigid, always mindful of where the cab is going, or more importantly where the rear of the trailer is heading.
I still watch a good lad on one in awe but even the Dutch are losing the knack as more and more are using centre axle outfits.
They are easier to reverse around a corner than they are to reverse straight as you can see the angle of the front axle.
Until recently that was standard trailer to pass C+E in Poland…
And there was me thinking all the PL drawbar wagon & drags that come to our place were crap drivers who could`nt reverse to save there lives,
how daft of me not to think that they`d be better with an A Frame wagon & drag
orys:
Until recently that was standard trailer to pass C+E in Poland…
And there was me thinking all the PL drawbar wagon & drags that come to our place were crap drivers who could`nt reverse to save there lives,
how daft of me not to think that they`d be better with an A Frame wagon & drag
They’re certainly common across a lot of Eastern Europe. I watched a driver reverse one into the warehouse we were using on convoy once, and gave him a quick round of applause when he was finished
