Coffeeholic:
How come none of the various trainers who have posted methods on this thread don’t mention checking the indicators when coupling? They all mention switching the hazards on but all that does is tell you if the bulbs are good or not. It is quite possible to have the hazards working but an indicator on one side not, usually different fuses for the hazard circuit and each side of the indicators. Over the years I’ve had a few occasions where there was a fault with an indicator but the hazards worked fine, most recently a couple of months ago.
See 15. and check all the lights that you wish!
The reason I guess why us trainers only mention hazards is because that’s all the examiners require - basically checking that the bulbs are ok.
When in the cab there are usually green indicator lights for unit only and a further one for when a trailer is connected AFAIK.
Coffeeholic:
How come none of the various trainers who have posted methods on this thread don’t mention checking the indicators when coupling? They all mention switching the hazards on but all that does is tell you if the bulbs are good or not. It is quite possible to have the hazards working but an indicator on one side not, usually different fuses for the hazard circuit and each side of the indicators. Over the years I’ve had a few occasions where there was a fault with an indicator but the hazards worked fine, most recently a couple of months ago.
Learned this lesson a few weeks ago with a wagon & drag. Did my walk around after coupling up, checked hazards not indicators, drove from Exeter to Northampton. The chassis (DAF CF) had a fault and left indicators were engaging the right indicators on the drag and right engaging the left.
Could have caused an accident and learned my lesson. I think it deffinately should be part of the test to check indicators and not just hazards.
I don’t know whether this applies to all vehicles but the ones I have driven where an indicator is not working have a different sound or pulse to the normal operation
My TGA has a button on the dash that lights all lights in sequence so that you can check them (inc brake lights and fog lights - the 2 that tend to get left out)
when young I used to work on trucks in the 1970s. I stll like them and a late age am taking my LGV now.
The point is that i have seen at a distance all the amazing advances in technology with the tractors and trailers.
Your forum has been most interesting on coupling and uncoupling.
My question is please, how is it that I still see all the problems with the trailer legs that were there 40 odd years ago. With all the advances why is it that they are still wound up and down by hand?
Are there any powered legs with say electric or hydraulic power capable of lifting the trailer when loaded. If so what please and if not why not?
ROG:
I don’t know whether this applies to all vehicles but the ones I have driven where an indicator is not working have a different sound or pulse to the normal operation
Maybe, but if they have become cross wired, which does happen occasionally, the above warnings will not show a problem.
when young I used to work on trucks in the 1970s. I stll like them and a late age am taking my LGV now.
The point is that i have seen at a distance all the amazing advances in technology with the tractors and trailers.
Your forum has been most interesting on coupling and uncoupling.
My question is please, how is it that I still see all the problems with the trailer legs that were there 40 odd years ago. With all the advances why is it that they are still wound up and down by hand?
Are there any powered legs with say electric or hydraulic power capable of lifting the trailer when loaded. If so what please and if not why not?
thanks
Nigelmark
Back in the 80’s i was working on agency to British Gas … we had a trailer with air operated legs much like the rise and fall suspension for raising and lowering the rear of the trailer much easier
when young I used to work on trucks in the 1970s. I stll like them and a late age am taking my LGV now.
The point is that i have seen at a distance all the amazing advances in technology with the tractors and trailers.
Your forum has been most interesting on coupling and uncoupling.
My question is please, how is it that I still see all the problems with the trailer legs that were there 40 odd years ago. With all the advances why is it that they are still wound up and down by hand?
Are there any powered legs with say electric or hydraulic power capable of lifting the trailer when loaded. If so what please and if not why not?
thanks
Nigelmark
The design of trailer landing legs has changed little over the years. Bit like the wheel really, nobody found a way to improve on its basic design.
There have been and are electric, and more commonly, air operated leg winders (infact there was a thread about this very subject recently). As they are more expensive than manual mechanisms and there is more to go wrong, they have not really caught on.
Semtex:
My TGA has a button on the dash that lights all lights in sequence so that you can check them (inc brake lights and fog lights - the 2 that tend to get left out)
Even that is not infallible. I had an ABS pickup sensor knocked out with a spike of electric, but the lamp check still operated the brake lights and it went through a safety inspection like this. It was only when we plugged in a test laptop in France that it showed up the fault.
nigelmarks:
With all the advances why is it that they are still wound up and down by hand?
Probably because it is ‘cheap & cheerful’ and still works rather effectively. Simple in design and function and (relatively) cheap to replace when something gets damaged.
nigelmarks:
Are there any powered legs with say electric or hydraulic power capable of lifting the trailer when loaded. If so what please and if not why not?
Not sure about ‘lifting’ the trailer when loaded but there have been/are systems about that provide some improvement. One that springs to mind is where the winding handle is replaced by a box containing an air driven motor supplied from the trailer tank. Press one button (on the box) to raise, and another to lower. Physically moving the box in or out changes the gearing ratio.
On display at the C.V. show a couple of years ago was a fully automated coupling system. (Possibly more than one) which enabled the trailer to be coupled or dropped without even leaving the cab. Somewhat akin to the old Mechanical Horse so favoured by the old B.R. The drawback with this approach is that with Units (generally) on a 5 years replacement cycle and that for trailers being (generally) 10 years, it would require two transitions of Unit replacements to be ‘double equipped’ before all of the trailers became compatible, assuming a common ‘commencement’ date. And most operations do not forecast for such time savings that far in advance.
Hence, I could only foresee such a system being taken up in very small ‘niche’ markets where perhaps there is a ‘value added’ interest in ensuring that a trailer is not ‘dropped’ inadvertently as would be the case with medical screening trailers or trailers used to transport cars on the ‘racing circuit’.
I spent a night helping a bloke who’d just passed his test, I’m not an instructor so I showed him how I do it. Coupling goes, Pin, Plate, Legs, line, and reverse to drop a trailer. All our trailers have the manual brake button by the lines so no problems there. There probably better ways of doing it but I haven’t got it wrong yet and I hope I don’t!
Coffeeholic:
How come none of the various trainers who have posted methods on this thread don’t mention checking the indicators when coupling? They all mention switching the hazards on but all that does is tell you if the bulbs are good or not. It is quite possible to have the hazards working but an indicator on one side not, usually different fuses for the hazard circuit and each side of the indicators. Over the years I’ve had a few occasions where there was a fault with an indicator but the hazards worked fine, most recently a couple of months ago.
Learned this lesson a few weeks ago with a wagon & drag. Did my walk around after coupling up, checked hazards not indicators, drove from Exeter to Northampton. The chassis (DAF CF) had a fault and left indicators were engaging the right indicators on the drag and right engaging the left.
Could have caused an accident and learned my lesson. I think it deffinately should be part of the test to check indicators and not just hazards.
Paul.
It is part of the test. The examiner stands at the back of the trailer while u flick indicators,hazards,lights,brake lights.
Coffeeholic:
How come none of the various trainers who have posted methods on this thread don’t mention checking the indicators when coupling? They all mention switching the hazards on but all that does is tell you if the bulbs are good or not. It is quite possible to have the hazards working but an indicator on one side not, usually different fuses for the hazard circuit and each side of the indicators. Over the years I’ve had a few occasions where there was a fault with an indicator but the hazards worked fine, most recently a couple of months ago.
Learned this lesson a few weeks ago with a wagon & drag. Did my walk around after coupling up, checked hazards not indicators, drove from Exeter to Northampton. The chassis (DAF CF) had a fault and left indicators were engaging the right indicators on the drag and right engaging the left.
Could have caused an accident and learned my lesson. I think it deffinately should be part of the test to check indicators and not just hazards.
Paul.
It is part of the test. The examiner stands at the back of the trailer while u flick indicators,hazards,lights,brake lights.
Examiner only checks your brake lights for you actually.
FarnboroughBoy11:
The examiner stands at the back of the trailer while u flick indicators,hazards,lights,brake lights.
Smart Mart:
Examiner only checks your brake lights for you actually.
You are BOTH correct as it depends on the examiner - there does not seem to be a set rule for this.
I have also had a pass where the examiner said - your instructor can check the lights etc when I have done.
Well thank you for those words of wisdom Rog, I think that after nearly 6 years doing the job I have more experience of more examiners than you have, and there has never been any incidence when an examiner has checked the indicators - only candidates have checked lights and hazards as they walk round. The examiner only checks brake lights, providing the candidate remembers to ask him. Of course it could be that visiting examiners to Peterborough are told to do it the ‘Peterborough way’, and not their ‘usual’ way!
Smart Mart:
Well thank you for those words of wisdom Rog, I think that after nearly 6 years doing the job I have more experience of more examiners than you have, and there has never been any incidence when an examiner has checked the indicators
I can only tell what I have experienced.
It is possible that you have not experienced this but I can assure you 100% that certain examiners do it this way.
When an examiner is checking indicators they use arm signals to point to which side they want checked.
They stand at the rear offside of trailer so the candidate can see them in the o/s mirror
They make a palm down push to the floor motion with the hand to get the candidate to apply the brakes
Right arm out to the right for o/s indicator
Right arm over the head pointing to left for n/s indicator
That was my point, Rog. However, the way you wrote the post infers that you are the oracle on the subject, when in fact there are other trainers on here with far more experience than you - indeed far more experience than me. Maybe we could get the ‘official’ word from an examiner or the DSA?
