Just thought i would share my funny moment in the yard the other day.
Was tasked to take a 30ft trailer into Glasgow, had to get it onto the bay tried to reverse it up the yard, all hell broke loose could i get this trailer to behave no chance. i was 30 mins in and out like a yoyo
senior driver came up afterwards and said m8 you do realise that 30 footer has rear-wheel steering, i was going to fast and treating it like the 45 footer i was used to
not sure if you can lock the rear axle but if you just turn less than you would a 45 footer it helps a little, you only little small turns to turn it quite a way. the easiest way i found was to hang out the window and watch teh rear wheels and see where they are pointing before moving too much. it helped me a lot when i did my second run ever in an artic for the co-op
and there was only about 4 inches the other side as well.
these trailers are brilliant once you get used to them.
ROG:
On the older rear steer trailer axles I was taught to lock off the rear steer for reversing
Don’t know about the modern ones…
The older ones had to be locked off to reverse because they were just following bogies. The newer ones have a steering linkage in the form of a wedge that sits in the opening jaws of the fifth wheel and is connected to the rear steering axle, and they do steer in reverse… very well. We used them when I worked for Cannon’s on the Bison jobs out of Iver.
i was going to fast and treating it like the 45 footer i was used to
