Often wondered if when driving a fully loaded Arctic you can feel the weight through the steering wheel and through your bum on the seat.
Do the brakes and power steering in modern trucks give a false sense of weight or do you really bloody know about it when it’s fully loaded
No idea about artics (yet) but in class 2 you can! So don’t see why an artic is any different
Fully loaded today and yes you can tell the difference in acceleration, lack of, and braking, more of.
When you are fully frighted you need to watch what speed you appoarch things like roundabouts etc. If you have to jump the brakes, you take a lot longer to stop and you risk spilling your load depending on what it is. Likewise for setting off, it will take longer to get moving so you will need to plan for a bigger gap unless you like pulling out on people.
And try and keep the truck rolling as much as possible at junctions and roundabouts because when you’re fully weighted up its a little easier than from a standing start. As mentioned leave bigger gaps because the brakes will take longer to stop you.
bald bloke:
And try and keep the truck rolling as much as possible at junctions and roundabouts because when you’re fully weighted up its a little easier than from a standing start. As mentioned leave bigger gaps because the brakes will take longer to stop you.
This. Keeping forward momentum is a must. Always look ahead to see if there is anything that could slow you down then see if you can get around the obstacle in good time. You can always coast up to junctions so you are still rolling as you make your next decision. A sure fire way to rattle an examiners cage but things like this need to be done in the real world.
The freewheeling capabilities of a fully loaded trailer are phenomenal. If you have an auto box that can switch into economy (neutral) mode then you can cruise down gentle slopes for huge distances just allowing the weight to push you forward.
However, watch it on the bigger downhill slopes and brake much earlier than you might expect. If you approach with too much speed on then you’ll get into a right mess, the engine brake won’t help even on maximum setting, and you’ll be pushing the brake pedal through the floor trying to stop.
If you’re regularly swapping between empty, part-loaded and full loads of liquids particularly then it is difficult to settle into the ‘feel’ of the lorry and you do risk getting caught out if you don’t pay attention.
Thanks for the replies appreciate it 
I always remember my dad telling me about when he was pulled over by the police on the m1 some years ago. He said both himself and the police car pulled onto the hard shoulder together but the copper braked normally, he said he was virtually stood up in the cab pushing down on the brake pedal
You think a fully loaded box is bad, you should try a fully loaded tanker! When going down a hill, and braking, you can feel it swirling around the back of you, then all of a sudden you’ll feel a great surge smash you forward! Gotta take corners as slow as 5mph sometimes to avoid rolling over, can be nerve wracking sometimes!
As said above, plan well ahead. Try to avoid complete stop at lights or junctions. Change gear or half down before uphill. Don’t get upseat when you get to some steep uphill at 55mph and by the top you can end up down 4 gears and at 30mph. If you start from stationary uphill, don’t expect high speeds, keep in gear well up to 2k revs, change gears quicker as in split second you can loose your speed by 5mph which is a lot!
Try to brake in a straight line before bends as when you brake in a bend, trailer keeps pushing you, trailer is 35t, Unit is only 9t so trailer will try to overtake unit round the pin!
Liquids is total PITA. Once I had a load of IBC’s. Well. That was a day when I realise that I don’t want to pull tankers! Highest respect to those who do that!
Yet again. You may have 28t of bricks only 3ft of the bed which handles quite good or curtainsider full to the top which will be very lumpy.
All in all not that bad! If you’ll use regular motor you’ll be able to say how heavy your load is!
All the above. Plus hold the steering wheel a bit tighter when you go over a bump in the road on a motorway at 50mph. The cab going over it is fine but when the trailer hits it you get bounced about the seat!