Backing up.
I'll tell you someone that can't...........my woman. She tried to back up a 4 ft long cart on the back of my ATV and bent the hitch. I'd give that a try.......just have a couple of mechanics on stand-by
I’ve never backed a B train but it looks doable. It can’t be as hard as trying to back two hay racks hooked together in the barn with a big thunderstorm bearing down on you. Hook three together and its purely a game of luck...
Never mind the backing skills, you know a SuperTrucker when he has to reach up to his shifter.
Backing a B train can be done but how long could you shift that thing before your arm gave out? There is a reason for everything some times it can be changed to make it more user friendly but when you change it that far something isnt right . Most people dont know how tall a vise should be elbow height.
Shorter the trailer harder to back up they react so quickly to steering. B train with 2 pivot points is tough even though long.
Working at CF and Yellow/YRC freight for 25+ years I've seen some cats do amazing things with doubles/triples. When I ran the road we used to run the Ohio/Indiana turnpike on our way between Buffalo and Chicago where triples were the norm for a several companies. A lot of old timers from Richfield OH. terminal spent most of their careers ripping up and down the turnpike. We had what they called marshalling yards at the cash boxes next to the big road where we dropped and hooked sets. I witnessed a bunch of times where some of them guys hooked the tractor, 2 pups and 2 dollies into the 3rd pup, that was impressive. My pops could put a set of pups to the dock instead of unhooking the tail, wasn't a matter of laziness or saving time, it was all about bragging rights. Acoals you beat me to the Super Trucker shifter.
nope. I have never tried backing doubles. Not saying I would not try, but would not claim a skill that I clearly do not possess. Our friend Slim could do it. He ran Seattle-Boise for Oak Harbor Freight Lines and would change out and work doubles through the Yakima terminal, and then triple up at Hermiston for the run to Boise. He was a trucker's delight and a hell of a friend. Sure miss him.
I had to watch it again. I thought true doubles used a dolly with a pintle hitch to the first trailer, this setup he has would be way easier. I'd like to see it done with the dolly set up.
This kind of trucker crud is all over the likes of Face Book. Group after group, Dying Breed Diesels, Old School Trucks, A Model W900's, Peterbilt Enthusiasts, 351 and 359's Only. The list is endless with video after video of mindless trucking heroics. Video after video of how to shift a set of sticks. The arm through the steering wheel doing a speed split---nuts. All this crud about old school. Old school my ***, the trucks of the time were just that trucks of that time, you drove what there was. Years ago there were lots of trucks/tractors with a pintle hitch on the front bumper, driver had a tough time backing a 24' with dolly , so they drove them in. Not everyone years back was good at backing, and no one cared including the driver. These days are full of people that are trying to live the 40's 50's and 60's era of trucking. I can back a truck/trailer very well----so what who cares. It was just part of the job you learned it because it was expected of you. But no one was oohing over the fact you backed a set of joints or wiggle wagons. Most drove 35 years and couldn't do it-they still got the job done some how without having that ability. The thought today of it's cool to have a Salt Water Chevy and a set of sticks---No, back then they dropped those sticks as soon as air shift came out and the guy who bought a new truck with a Detroit was because he couldn't afford a Cummins or Cat {$2,000 difference} so he drove around in his rough riding cabover with the sticks and Detroit and wore a Sack over his head.
Wow! He can back up trains! Give that man a hero cookie!
he took the time to mount up a go pro to post it too. I've had the pleasure of working with some very competent drivers doing construction, but we also got by with the go-ahead guys.
The real stuff-1955 Jimmy Cannon Ball pulling a set of joints powered by a 671 5x3. What a pile. And a early 50 's Freightliner truck/trailer tanker--Freeze or Fry cab. Standards of the day back then.
I'll be the first to admit it im the worst backer upper I've met with a class A license.
Pennsylvania didn't allow doubles, so on I-90, at the Ohio line, (Conneaut) and 40 miles east at NY (Ripley) the doubles got broken up and put back together. I met a man that drove back and forth all day long those 40 miles ferrying the second trailer.... Now Pa allows doubles, and O-HI-O allows tripples.....so I don't know what the heck is going on now....
My understanding of that was pa only allowed 1 5th wheel to be used per setup. Could have just been fancy wording. They should have use a tag trailer for the second
Hold my drink, never done it but I can do it cause why, it's just who I am.
I can do my best backing up, and with a dolly for the 5th, hooked to the hitch, using a nice large dozer. No mirrors needed.
Well what ever it was, no doubles ran thru. Period. Now with doubles being o.k. I don't see triples at the Ohio border, getting broken down to doubles, and I don't see Tripples in NY state either.
A set of joints is the toughest with short reach on the dolly. Now the A train with a 40' lead and 20' pup is next impossible. A truck/trailer with a two axle trailer {single axle turn table} can be tough, with a four axle trailer {two axle turn table} it's much easier. The extra axle at the turn table slows the action with some drag on the tires. All of this depends on how much after frame and how long the drawbar to turn table is.
This same guy has a video about trying to climb a hill . It dosent make sense unless you just want to make a video.
With a shifter that high in the air, you just KNOW he has "Ape Hangers" on his motorcycle!
Mrs B refuses to use a tractor with loader for her fussing around the yard. She jackknifed the lawn tractor & trailer too many times. She got it in her head a four wheel wagon would be easier. I protested, but she was convinced. Buggered the pole on the wagon first try. I can't convince her a small tractor with loader is easier. Some women are like that.
This is my wife's twin.
Photo courtesy of BSAA65LB. Doubles contribute to 60% plus of winter time wrecks.
It's all about the "content", and therefore views and youtube dollars. Nobody would watch if he had a Volvo and a respectable haircut . . . But those visors, skyshifter, what looks like a giant steering wheel and the hair, now there we have some content!
^ transfer dump trucks are like your third example, usually a single steer on the trailer. Those guys don't try to back far.
I had it gravy at my yard until they had me put in that loading dock. Now I have a pinch point at a fence and then I can fan out a bit, but i really miss my chicken sticks for that fence (wink wink)
ATV trailers with axle in the middle of the box can be a pain and farm type trailers with a steerable front axle even worse. You have to go slow and make only slight steering adjustments.
They used to have places along the highway in Quebec where they could drop one trailer. You could haul two 48 foot trailers on the 4 lane, but once you left the main drag you had to lose one. I used to see the trailer and the little pintle hook jeep left at the pull off. They were a drive in drive out spot, like a rest area. The guy I worked for had a set of B trains, but I never backed them up. They hauled nice on the road, and they could take a sharp corner better than a 48 footer. More work, more straps, and 2 sets of tarps. An old trucker once told me ( for a regular trailer ) it's all about position before you start to back up, and if you have to turn the wheel more than a quarter turn, you're not doing it right. I think he meant you have to work harder. Irving wood operations, make narrow single lane roads to get at the trees. If you don't position yourself right, you will never make the turn with a single trailer. A lot of the guys haul trains so they can get around the turns. Those guys can back up a set of trains.
B trains can be backed without much issue because one less hinge point and slow to react to steering adjustments. The A train that's a whole different animal. the pup is quick to react to a slow lead trailer. It will back about 15' foot before the dolly/turntable starts to jack. On set of A train grain trailers some are built with a boss on the front of the turntable to drop a pin in to lock it straight.
I worked for a logger In the BC interior that ran the wagon type log trailers when that stuff started.We never even tried to back them up,just grabbed them with the 950 and put them where we wanted.
I saw a dolly with2 tongue and 2 pintle rings so it didnt turn on its own it was in a add that talked about it saying the single tongue was going out and how much better this was but i havent saw one yet on the road.
A trains seem to weave more at highway speeds. Then you have those trucks down under. Like a train on the road.
My good wife whom i depend on these days for transport until my licence is reinstated wont use the mirrors to back the car up.I mentioned the mirrors today and was told in an aggressive loud voice not to be a back seat driver. I shouldnt complain but it makes me crazy,just had to get it off my chest.
What’s a salt water Chevy? Never heard that before
It's OK to vent and especially when you are sidelined like you are at the moment.
Two Stroke Detroit. Boat motor. Proper operator attire is dressing like a pirate.
One time while working midnite shift at CF, we were bored, young and stupid and decided to hook 7 trailers together (we figured that was the limit) and rip through the shop over the pit where another adventurous young dumb yard guy filmed it from said pit with a mini vhs recorder. Well the designated idiot (me) came ripping over that pit at a decent rate of fuel consumption horns a blazin', uh oh kinda ran outa room had to drop 2 trailers to make the turn outa the shop, good thing we had several yard jockeys in yard horses to make all that crap disappear. It made excellent video too bad it was pre internet we coulda' been stars. AHHH young and dumb.
Measure twice and it was still too long!!
I raise with box truck drifting
No video but I did one time put a empty 773 Cat haul truck into a full drift on a haul road and managed to pull it out just fine. Those rear brakes were not designed for wet gravel roads with no weight in the box!
Tell her not to be a side seat rider when she gets into bed tonight.
Taking a load of illegal mexicans to NYC motel, in a hurry to get to the hotel bar before last call.
My drift was in a John Deere 400 articulated truck. It was slow speed but fun. It was snowing and cold the day I got in that truck, the previous driver and I met on a reverse camber haul road 3 way corner, and he was not successful. I was in a 300 and saw he was out of his depth and let off, and there he went, sideways out of control loaded and off into the brush and stumps. The look in his eyes was priceless. After lunch he started doing something else with another piece of iron, and I got the 400
I was about 19 or so when I managed to put an Oshkosh mixer into a full drift. Empty truck on a public road in the snow. The truck had super singles and I wasn't particularly experienced at that time . . . I didn't intend to start the drift, but once it got going it was generally conducive to where I was trying to go so naturally my 19 year old foot stayed in it. I was probably pretty fortunate none of the witnesses called dispatch.
the guys at the Centrailia Coal plant would drift the old Wabco two engine scrapers by hammering the rear throttle a bit in the right conditions, and wave the can at each other on the haul roads. Nothing I ever saw but the catskinner I worked with was believable.
I never liked getting stuck in the articulated off road trucks, on one job for a quick turn around I just started drifting the rear end around, to back up to get loaded. Worked good, rental of course. The loading guy that didn't want to drive the truck either, then wanted to trade positions.
Our dipstick Fedex driver tried it last month in the small "s" curve at the edge of our woods....did not end well as he dropped a front tire in the ditch and centerpunched a 20" white oak.....lmao. Ed
I could drift my 860A deere scraper on a hard clay pad just after the water truck.
That's what she said
I'm taking you up with that raise, next load of eco blocks I get weighing in around 3300 lbs a piece I will drift my 5 ton around the corners here and record it. Use to drift the semi here.
Working SLC back in the day watched Garrett and Pig Iron boys backing triples with yard mules. Once the yard workers got the hang were tough to beat as far as stacking and positioning doubles/triples. On the KS Toll Roads used t see B Trains of 40 and 45 footer van trailers, roadies could get them point a to b but was nobody backing them up.
I run 740s one winter i think as far as stuff with tires goes there are very few things that did better in the mud. Some how i was the last truck out of the yard every night so if we started a new cut and had to go a different way i was the first to try it. One night we started a new deal i was never on this site during the day so i had no ideal about anything just if i found a road try to go the way that seemed right. I got loaded drove down the road came to a road that went the way i needed to go but it was pitch black out couldnt see down it very far so i drove on and found a way back to the stock pile. I dumped head back to loaded i think 10 trucks running that night . I heared on the CB some one was stuck . The truck behind me turned on that road it was a dead end . He was stuck put had backed up a truck length. A D6 went to get him and backed up side ways in his ruts stood it almost strait up in the air . Had to have a track hoe pull the D6 back down earth to earth then unload the 740 and pull it free.
The Hostlers were masters at backing B trains onto the rail ferry next to my old yard . sometimes you would see 2 of them side by side ,im sure there were racing backwards.Funny enough they always wanted me to be there to drive my truck cranes on and off when we shipped them on the barge. The best was when the barge came in with a load of new cars on deck for all the local dealers. At night every car burnt rubber coming off the barge. First miles were tough ones.
I had drove a truck some but i got a job at a place that had 2 trucks on the road and some junkers on the place but they had 20 trailers and sold portable stuff mounted on their own trailers. It wasnt a flat square place it was on the side of a hill with stuff every were i got pretty good backing up. This leads me to think it was a good experence because i wasnt going down the road backing up once a day i was backing up every time i got in the truck sometimes several times a day. I am not the greatest driver or backer but i can often remember something i did at one time and it will help me out. Something that i saw and cant under stand is there was a guy come to work there to drive he was the real deal he needed to work a short time before he could retire . He ask me to help adjust the mirrors on his truck that truck had a dozen guys drive it and this was a first. It took some time to get them just were he wanted them i was getting tired of it but i was by the hour. I got in that truck one day after he retired and realised i didnt know any thing about adjusting mirrors . I wish i would have ask him some quiestions about mirrors.