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[22900013A]

An eight legger would be rated upto 32tonnes! Thats quite a big refuse truck then.

[22900013A]

A bit Ot but have you noticed how many folk break the motorway towing speed limit, with caravans and plant and car trailers.  They should know better, even at 60mph it must be hard to get out of a problem with a trailer especially a badly loaded trailer.

Peter

I see it all the time. I put it down to ignorance (i've had conversations with older drivers (ie before B&E was a thing) claiming they did not know their were lower limits for towing, coupled with an almost total lack of policing on the road now. I did recently have a conversation with a police traffic officer where he grudgingly admitted its getting worse out there. Much of it *is* down to the drivers choice though. Most fleet operators will repeatedly drive home the lower limits for their vans, trailers etc, but the drivers choose to ignore them. They have nothing to lose as they don't feel they will be caught.

[Alan Drover]

The most difficult trailer to reverse is a 4 wheeler where the front wheels turn. I tried it many years ago where no one could see me, using an MF 178. I ended up in a Z shaped knot. I've since been told that the unit should be in a dead straight line and to turn the same way as the trailer is to go, the opposite of reversing a close coupled 4 wheel trailer.

[Peter Holden]

My mum could reverse them but she grew up on a farm before the2nd world war and they had a tractor.  She was a WAAF driver in the war, her driving licence said all groups, on the airfield she drove buses (dads pilot always wondered why they had the same driver when they returned from a bombing raid, he didnt know that they were seeing each other), petrol bowsers and bomb trains (WAAFS werent supposed to drive the bowsers or bamb trains but they were short of male drivers).  She taught us all to drive and she used to drive my Series 1.

Peter

[GlenAnderson]

The most difficult trailer to reverse is a 4 wheeler where the front wheels turn. I tried it many years ago where no one could see me, using an MF 178. I ended up in a Z shaped knot. I've since been told that the unit should be in a dead straight line and to turn the same way as the trailer is to go, the opposite of reversing a close coupled 4 wheel trailer.

I drove a steer-axle wagon and drag for quite a while. It took a fair bit of practice to master, but once I’d got my head around the idea of using the prime mover to position the turntable to steer the trailer where you want it to go as the primary consideration, and where the wagon ends up as the last thing to sort.

[w3526602]

WAAFS weren't supposed to drive the bowsers or bomb trains but they were short of male drivers

Hi Peter,

In my days, WRAF (note the change of name) drivers were not allowed to drive at night. Ha! I once got into a "mistletoe clinch" with our WRAF Scammell driver (she was bigger than me ... scarey!)

I think we marched at 90 paces per minute, bur the WRAF marched at 120 (shorter stride so same speed) which made it interesting when we both marched to the same band ... further complicated by the echo from the barrack blocks that surrounded the parade ground.

Things got a bit *&%^$ at the passing-out parade from Boot Camp. We were issued with the WW1 (?) Lee Enfield .303 rifles, and carried 6" (Bowie knife) bayonets.  During drill we were required to SLAP our rifles in unison (an impressive sound).  The bloke in front of me "slapped" too high ... extended fingers hitting a bayonet is only going to have one result. He dropped his rifle and ambled off the parade ground. The bloke in front of him had blood all over the back of his uniform. The parade continued, one man down.

I sometimes wonder if that injury earned him a Medical Discharge.

602

[Dormy]

After I had around 10 years in the TA they introduced the need for formal driving assessments. I was well practiced with the limited turning circle of a 3/4 ton L/R (109) and Sankey trailer by then.

I did try reversing a 4 wheel geny trailer with a 4 tonner but quickly gave up and we pushed it back. Only a couple of weeks later I saw a guy reverse a turntable combination without difficulty and was only a little jealous.

I sometimes watch our near neighbours who have a Eriba Puck caravan. He drives it away and back, but live at the bottom of a 'T' shaped culdi-sac. He parks it in the long bit of the 'T' then gets out and walks away. She expertly reverses the whole lot around the corner and into their drive without any directions or help.

We have a 3/4 ton folding caravan which I tow behind the eurobox most times and Dormy once a year (national). I wouldn't hesitate to tow that behind an 88".

Dormy

[w3526602]

Hi,

My policy with a small box trailer is for the nose weight to be "comfortable".

With bigger heavier trailers, I set the nose weight at just below what would grow me another couple of Adam's apples.

If the trailer is tall and heavy, lowering the front of the draw-bar will rapidly move the it's Centre of Gravity forewards.

602

[w3526602]

Hi,

Some years ago, I "broke" a caravan, which had rubber block suspension built into the tubular axle. I think it was a 16ft van. 1100KG MGW was stamped into the axle.

I wonder how many ordinary cars were permitted to tow that? And how many were towed illegally?

602