Secondhand trailer advice

[john87]

5 hours ago, petercb said:

I can reverse my twin axle flatbed and the twin axle livestock trailer no problem. The small single axle 7 foot one is a pig. I was always told the more axles the easier it was.

I always use the mirrors and always have done even when I could look over my shoulder!

I would not listen to nonsense about it is easier with more axles... The problem you have with multi axle trailers, at least artic lorry sized ones, is that when you turn, the wheels are sliding sideways. The problem with this is, it means that the trailer rotates about a different point, depending on whether you are going backwards or forwards. This means that you may be able to get in somewhere going forward, but it might be completely impossible to reverse back out!!

 

Next time you are behind an artic with a tri axle trailer, watch the way the trailer slides going round a smallish roundabout, You will see that it actually "pivots" as it were, about a point midway between the 1st and 2nd axle. It is completely different going backwards adn is like having a trailer 10 feet longer..

 

Good man using the mirrors. This means that when you are presented with a loaded vehicle, no problems, PLUS, if you cannot do it with the mirrors, how you ever going to reverse into anywhere on your blind side..

 

john..

[difflock]

The other imponderable aspect of reversing a trailer, and pertinent to arb as well as agricultural, is localized undulations in the ground, which heights or hollows beneath the trailer wheels really really affect how the arse-end of the trailer moves.

Edited January 27, 2023 by difflock

[doobin]

8 hours ago, john87 said:

I would not listen to nonsense about it is easier with more axles... The problem you have with multi axle trailers, at least artic lorry sized ones, is that when you turn, the wheels are sliding sideways. The problem with this is, it means that the trailer rotates about a different point, depending on whether you are going backwards or forwards. This means that you may be able to get in somewhere going forward, but it might be completely impossible to reverse back out!!

 

Next time you are behind an artic with a tri axle trailer, watch the way the trailer slides going round a smallish roundabout, You will see that it actually "pivots" as it were, about a point midway between the 1st and 2nd axle. It is completely different going backwards adn is like having a trailer 10 feet longer..

 

Good man using the mirrors. This means that when you are presented with a loaded vehicle, no problems, PLUS, if you cannot do it with the mirrors, how you ever going to reverse into anywhere on your blind side..

 

john..

The reason it’s ‘easier with more axles’ is that generally multi axle trailers are longer. A better way to say it would be the longer the trailer the easier it is to reverse. 
 

to tie in with what you and @difflockjust said- my ten foot tri axle trailer is a pig to reverse anywhere other than a concrete yard. It’s short yet tri axle. As the wheels encounter a tiny bump, the pivot point shifts wildly and the way you were aiming the truck is suddenly no longer right 🤣

[Peasgood]

I take it nobody is a fan of turntable trailers then?

Used to love reversing them carting straw as I was pretty good at it. Once put my tractor on the hauliers turntable drag trailer and reversed it around the yard to the barn, mate says to the wagon driver "that young lad just reversed your full trailer round that corner with a shonky old tractor and got it closer to the stack than when you drove it forwards, empty and in a field!" (made my day that did)

[monkeybusiness]

1 hour ago, Peasgood said:

I take it nobody is a fan of turntable trailers then?

Used to love reversing them carting straw as I was pretty good at it. Once put my tractor on the hauliers turntable drag trailer and reversed it around the yard to the barn, mate says to the wagon driver "that young lad just reversed your full trailer round that corner with a shonky old tractor and got it closer to the stack than when you drove it forwards, empty and in a field!" (made my day that did)

That’s a dark art - are you actually a witch? Turntable trailers are essentially impossible to do anything backwards with! 

[maybelateron]

53 minutes ago, monkeybusiness said:

That’s a dark art - are you actually a witch? Turntable trailers are essentially impossible to do anything backwards with! 

Back in the 70's when I was a teenager working on the farm over the road the farmer once managed to reverse two turntable front axle haycarts, one behind the other. Took a couple of shunts admittedly, but he did it. A truly dark art if ever there was one.

[Peasgood]

Have to admit I am in awe at those guys that do it with a truck and only using mirrors, that is something else.

[john87]

14 hours ago, difflock said:

The other imponderable aspect of reversing a trailer, and pertinent to arb as well as agricultural, is localized undulations in the ground, which heights or hollows beneath the trailer wheels really really affect how the arse-end of the trailer moves.

Yes ii bet!! I have never driven a traial over rough ground like that, but as you say, as whichever wheel decides it is time to act as a wheel, the trailer will do funny things!!

[john87]

12 hours ago, doobin said:

The reason it’s ‘easier with more axles’ is that generally multi axle trailers are longer. A better way to say it would be the longer the trailer the easier it is to reverse. 
 

to tie in with what you and @difflockjust said- my ten foot tri axle trailer is a pig to reverse anywhere other than a concrete yard. It’s short yet tri axle. As the wheels encounter a tiny bump, the pivot point shifts wildly and the way you were aiming the truck is suddenly no longer right 🤣

I bet it is, depending on which wheel is on the ground, one second it will be like a 10 foot trailer, then the next, a 5 foot one!!

 

john..

[aspenarb]

3 hours ago, Peasgood said:

Have to admit I am in awe at those guys that do it with a truck and only using mirrors, that is something else.

 

I find it a lot easier backing an artic + trailer into a gateway than I do a transit + chipper.

 

Bob