A tip on reversing in difficult situations

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
21

When blind siding you can also use the front of your trailer as an extra guide, looking out the drivers side to see how much angle is on helps triangulate your manouvre and is an aid when to take the lock off as well.

Over time youl pretty much know where the trailers going to end up and start to pay more attention to what your doing with the unit.

As always starting position is key, never be afraid to have a shunt even the best of us ■■■■ it up once in a while.

Although I did feel for a poor bloke yesterday at London Gateway who was trying to reverse straight back into his slot.
I wonder if he is still trying, once upon a time that was me… :wink:

22

i saw guy on quite a steep hill trying to reverse into side road with artic. not tight at all and no cars or traffic around but he just couldn’t seem to do it. i gather maybe a newbee. unless downhill reverse is awkward.

trailer needed to go to left.

23

LE1erRE:
i saw guy on quite a steep hill trying to reverse into side road with artic. not tight at all and no cars or traffic around but he just couldn’t seem to do it. i gather maybe a newbee. unless downhill reverse is awkward.

trailer needed to go to left.

Hill reverses can be a particular challenge, depending on the type of gradients involved anything that causes the drive wheels to lose traction can get one in a right mess.

Some fudging can be done by bollocking it round but this can be risky.

Trailer configuration, weight, type of load, weather, grip etc all play their part.

Hard to describe what can and can’t be done but you usually find out when you lose grip, having another go a bit quicker can sometimes work or trying to keep the angle to a minimum.

Think our member ‘Robroy’ has some experience with muddy entrances and is probably best at this.

Yep drivers used to rough terrain and bare back mountain uphill struggles would explain this better.

Course the driver could have been having an off day… :wink:

24

LE1erRE:
i saw guy on quite a steep hill trying to reverse into side road with artic. not tight at all and no cars or traffic around but he just couldn’t seem to do it. i gather maybe a newbee. unless downhill reverse is awkward.

trailer needed to go to left.

As Dipper Dave’s spot on post.

So, loaded blindside uphill into an entrance tight enough its getting on for a jacknife, thats the worse reverse you can get, we have one of those where its uphill and up an even tighter slope into the customers gateway.

This is THE scenario where the auto box of whatever make (yes even Volvo) show their maneuvering failings in spades, infinitely more control with a manual for such things, but they are disappearing fast and many new drivers will never find this out for themselves, others on this site don’t agree with me on this, and thats fair enough everyone’s opinion is valid (and shouldn’t be ridiculed but often is), you newer drivers make your own minds up.

We’ve had clutches ruined at this particular delivery point and how we haven’t had a broken half shaft i do not know, and this with experienced drivers.

You have to prepare the vehicle for this type of reverse before attempting it, not preparing is why you see artics struggling on even minor slopes in MSA’s to make relatively easy reverses, let alone attempting on a hill side road.

  1. get full air pressure up before you start, unless you are an expert, and so called experts ■■■■ reverses up just as often, you aint going to do this in one shove, and you will use lots of air and its debatable even with the fastest two stage compressor whether it will keep up with several heavy shunts without having to stop and blow it up again.

  2. switch TC (traction control) or ASR (anti skid reduction, i think) OFF, soon as the vehicle senses wheelslip it will cut the power, and its cruel enough to the clutch without it having to make several restarts due to nothing but a slight wheelspin, switching off will allow the drive wheels to slip without cutting power.

  3. if you have a 3 axle tractor unit dump the tag/mid lift air, this transfers all the weight from that axle onto the drive axle, this cuts down on wheelspin and works hand in hand with point 2, and makes the vehicle easier to turn.

3a. some trailers have a lifting front axle, some of those have a lever to operate that lifter and again on some of those the axle will lift eve if fully loaded, this again transfers weight onto that drive axle, and lessens trailer drag, spo you can see if you can lift the unit tag/mid lfit and the trailer front axle you’re now driving/turning 3 axles with one instead of 5 axles with one.

  1. Do not be tempted to use the diff lock on the above reverse scenario, serious damage will result almost without fail.

The above applies (except point 4, when using the diff lock sometimes helps) to getting traction on loose surfaces and ice/snow.

Mainly though, learn your vehicle long before you need to make extreme maneuvers like this, and i know i labour this point, for winter driving epecially learn how to drive your auto gearbox in manual mode accurately, and the exact speed that allows dumping of the mid lift/tag axle air, knowing things like this will mean getting up that icy hill with a good run up or coming to a slippery standstill less than half way up…if you can envisage yourself, you’re hitting that hill as hard as you dare, you’re pushing/dragging 5 axles weighing roughly 33 tons combined with one axle weighing 10 tons, as the hill slows you up and you get down to about 20mph the mid lift weight transfer button will come into use (won’t work above its set speed on the vast majority of tractors, but it will on old square Actros :wink: ), so if you use that you’ve suddenly got a drive axle weighing around 13 tons pulling pushing 30 tons, its not a great increase but better than 3 tons the other way.

If on a really slippery slope and you happened to have a trailer with a front lifter that will lift loaded (some will, some won’t) you could end up with about 15 tons imposed on the drive axle and 1 less undriven axle on the ground…no you wouldn’t go down the road at warp 6 like this but when its touch and go in a blizzard getting up a steep hill i assure no copper or VOSA officer is going to have a go at you for doing something like this to get up that hill whe the alternative is a blocked road in fast worsening conditions.

Learn your vehicle before you need to know exactly what you can do with it, you cannot learn things like this in the middle of a maneuver or blizzard.

25

■■■■ up post, ignore

26

looked all right to me, not that I understood much of it. beyond me at the moment. hope I won’t be tested on it when i do module 2 next week. :smiley:

if all reverses are different i take it there is not a single method you can remember which will cover you for any reverse?

how would you even know where to start the reverse from? is it all trial and error and experience? when would you give up on a reverse? how would you know if the reverse you need to do is even more possible?

27

Excellent post Juddian, think Tnuk could do with an Advanced driving tips section for this stuff.

28

LE1erRE:
looked all right to me, not that I understood much of it. beyond me at the moment. hope I won’t be tested on it when i do module 2 next week. :smiley:

if all reverses are different i take it there is not a single method you can remember which will cover you for any reverse?

how would you even know where to start the reverse from? is it all trial and error and experience? when would you give up on a reverse? how would you know if the reverse you need to do is even more possible?

It all comes with experience, tips from other drivers and getting stuck then figuring it out.

As Juddian says learning to lift the midlift can rescue a lot of situations and prevent potential loss of traction moments before they happen, below 20mph pressing the lift axle override / traction button will save your skin especially in poor conditions. Quite useful for reversing in good conditions with a heavy load on to.

I call it ‘The magic button’
On any unfamiliar vehicle it’s one of the first buttons I look for.
Find it, use it, love it.
Think of it as your vehicles ■■■■■■■■, as tickling it will get her through the finish line if all else fails.

29

Great post Juddian, if that doesn’t confuse and scare the Newbies, nothing will! :laughing:
But Newbies shouldn’t be scared as these situations are not everyday in most jobs, especially things like RDC work.
However, farms on the other hand with lots of mud about I suspect may be a different story! :smiley:

Juddian:
[This is THE scenario where the auto box of whatever make (yes even Volvo) show their maneuvering failings in spades, infinitely more control with a manual for such things, but they are disappearing fast and many new drivers will never find this out for themselves, others on this site don’t agree with me on this, and thats fair enough everyone’s opinion is valid (and shouldn’t be ridiculed but often is), you newer drivers make your own minds up.

I think most of us actually agree that a manual is a superior box, we’re just all lazy and most of the time an auto is easier, even if you are waiting an age for it to select a gear! :imp:

30

Thankyou lads, the post wasn’t meant to scare nor confuse, though its difficult to cover a topic as diverse as this can be in simple one line sentences.

The best advice a newby can ever take in is to learn their vehicle, its good and its bad points over time when you don’t need to take it to extremes in anger.

Even if you’ve been driving 40 years, trying to learn a new to you vehicle when in a blizzard or trying to work out where the buttons are to dump air or cut traction is no bloody good, you need to know exactly how its going to behave and have it at your fingertips during the good easy days.

Hence why the other good advice often given here is to practice those blind side reverses when you don’t need to and there’s plenty of room to ■■■■■■■■ it all up without hitting anything…its the same thing trying to learn blind siding on the reverse i described in my post above is only ever going to end in tears.

So the air dump valve is a lorry’s ■■■■■■■■, you learn summat every day… :smiling_imp:

31

As it was only about a year back I can clearly remember climbing into an artic cab and thinking ‘bloody hell’ or 'WTF do all these buttons do? :open_mouth: And it can be a bot overwhelming at first… For a start you won’t get taught them for your training as they are not needed in a test situation. So you can easly end up in your first job still not knowing. This is why it’s then important to accept you know nothing and to play your Newbie card, and ask experienced drivers! Don’t be put off by some pillock tutting and shaking their head at you, as there will be DECENT drivers in the yard who can remember what it was like then they started and will be happy to help you…

So seek out a decent experienced driver and ■■■■ the knowledge out of them! :wink:
But there is a line of what you ■■■■ and swallow! :open_mouth:
So back off Dipper! :laughing:

32

Years ago in the proper haulage yards, there would always be an old un who would take you under their wing and teach you the ropes, literally as it was roping and sheeting in those days.

My mentors name was Dennis Cowell, who died a few years later far too soon of a sudden heart attack.
A decent stick and someone i shall always remember fondly for looking after me in those early days.

This doesn’t seem to happen at many places now and we are all worse off for it, our trainers would like some of us to have a young apprentice as it were assigned to us, we’ll see if it comes to fruition.

33

Reversing a fully freighted trailer the other night was an eye opener. Only ever taken light ones or those silly Mega trailers with tiny wheels.

34

do most trucks have cameras these days. if so how much easier does that make things. do some prefer not to use them. is it mainly for docking on a loading bay?

35

LE1erRE:
do most trucks have cameras these days. if so how much easier does that make things. do some prefer not to use them. is it mainly for docking on a loading bay?

Rigids yes, Artics no!

36

is that because of trailer camera won’t always be compatible with tractor unit so too much hassle fitting.

or do only rigid drivers need them :smiley:

37

LE1erRE:
is that because of trailer camera won’t always be compatible with tractor unit so too much hassle fitting.

or do only rigid drivers need them :smiley:

At present there is no standard connection for a camera between the unit and trailer, and as you can be swapping trailers from all over the place, it’s something that has to be done fleet wide or not not at all. I suspect in the future the industry may take the leap and add a connection in for a rear camera on Artic’s but I’m not holding my breathe…

Until then we just have to be bloody careful there isn’t something right up our chuff, and use the force Luke! :wink:

38

Evil8Beezle:

LE1erRE:
is that because of trailer camera won’t always be compatible with tractor unit so too much hassle fitting.

or do only rigid drivers need them :smiley:

At present there is no standard connection for a camera between the unit and trailer, and as you can be swapping trailers from all over the place, it’s something that has to be done fleet wide or not not at all. I suspect in the future the industry may take the leap and add a connection in for a rear camera on Artic’s but I’m not holding my breathe…

Until then we just have to be bloody careful there isn’t something right up our chuff, and use the force Luke! :wink:

I’ve got a rear camera mounted on my manitou, so it has a suzie connection to the lorry, and I have to say its chuffin’ terrible as a design. The picture is great, but there are soooooo many connections in the cable between the screen in the cab and the camera on the manitou it frequently fails due to water damage. I fear you would have the same with an artic. Wireless is the way forward!

39

I’m not so sure about wireless, as then you will have to pair the unit to the trailer. I can already image that someone will start reversing a trailer watching a camera off another trailer in the yard… So I think wired would be more idiot proof, and that’s what we need in this game! :laughing:

40

Evil8Beezle:
I’m not so sure about wireless, as then you will have to pair the unit to the trailer. I can already image that someone will start reversing a trailer watching a camera off another trailer in the yard… So I think wired would be more idiot proof, and that’s what we need in this game! :laughing:

And most are on here :laughing: :laughing: