Morning all,
Got a driving assessment and interview at a place tomorrow morning. It’s in a wagon and drag setup, looks like a twin axle truck with a twin axle drawbar. Demountable boxes.
I have never in 20 years of driving artics, driven a wagon and drag. I haven’t driven a rigid in years either.
I’m looking for general advice and also information on how the hitch works, I know it’s very different to a 5th wheel setup. Any good videos to help me understand?
I’m not trying to pretend I know what I’m doing, but I’d rather not make a fool of myself.
Thanks in advance.
Be honest and tell them you’ve never driven one, no point trying to blah it.
Is the trailer the type with the axles in the middle (reverses a bit like an Artic) or an axle at either end with a turntable on the front axle (requires lots of practice to reverse)?
It’s a drag, not an a-frame. So no twisty bits. No steering or lifting axles either. I’m very comfortable with an artic and I wasn’t going to lie, I just didn’t want to come across like a liability or whatever. Never hurts to do some research. I can’t remember what they are like to reverse at all, so used to just throwing the cab around when in a tight spot.
Personally I prefer pulling a drag to driving an artic, but then I am primarily a rigid driver rather than an artic driver.
Hitching the drag behind doesn’t give me much more to think about despite it being a total of 18.75m long and a triaxle drag behind an 8 wheeler. It is very responsive when reversing, a small input of steering gets immediate results and it can be bent around a tight corner quite well. Obviously you need a lot of room up front to get the rigid round in front of the trailer so there may be some shunting involved.
My first experience of one was when a brand new drag arrived and was dropped off in the yard, no-one was there to ask so I had to figure it out but it’s not that tricky.
Basic principles for coupling and uncoupling are the same. Flat level ground is your friend.
I find that mine is not keen on locking the pin unless it is fairly square on. I reverse up so that the edge of the body lines up perfectly with the side of the drag. I reverse up, get close and check the level of the hitch. Adjust if needed. Reverse up slowly and let the trailer hit the hitch, I have a red light / green light indicator to show when safely locked. Sometimes it will still show red even though after performing a tug test it has grabbed the trailer but not locked. Usually an adjustment of the height will get it to click.
There is a little flag on the side of the hitch which also indicates locked, If you don’t have the indicator then this must be checked to determine if it is locked.
Connect the Suizides, Wind the legs up and release the trailer brakes as on an artic. Number plate if required and check lights.
Mine has a little box like this underneath the truck body near the rear, it houses the handle that opens the hitch.
The yellow handle unfolds and is rotated 90 degrees to open the hitch allowing you to drive out and uncouple. After uncoupling, reset the handle and close the box. The hitch will not latch if you do not reset it.
This is really great, very helpful. I know a bit more what to expect now. Thankyou!
I found a youtube video from a training school that showed the coupling up procedure, I was unsure about the hitch lock bit before I had it so it was useful to see.
I’ve found that many artic drivers will avoid rigids like the plague as they find them too unwieldy and ■■■■■■■■■■■ they will struggle with a wag and drag as it is more driving the rigid and the trailer will follow. Whereas on an artic you are driving more for the trailer than the unit.
We had a driver start on our artic a few months back, he was an experienced wag and drag driver but not really an artic driver. He struggled with it and threw the towel in as he just couldn’t get on with it trying to get it and big machines into tight sites.
I guess you will either love it or loathe it.
demountable boxes are just a pain in the ■■■.
Make sure you have a hammer/mallet in your cab in case you get one with a dodgy/stiff leg 
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