The Big Rig thread!

i always found that weird.
so every trucker just trusts the brakes and general condition of every trailer that's hooked up to his truck?

i think i would have my trailer, and mine only, and no one touches it, and i'm not pulling someone else's junk!

In the US a pre-trip inspection is required by law for both the tractor and trailer.
 
i always found that weird.
so every trucker just trusts the brakes and general condition of every trailer that's hooked up to his truck?

i think i would have my trailer, and mine only, and no one touches it, and i'm not pulling someone else's junk!

Trailers have air-brakes, (just like trucks), they work the wrong away around from normal brakes, as in : they need air to stay open and will close instantly if no air is present, so an airleak or really anything else wrong with the brakes (they are stupidly simple) will result in them not unlocking when connecting up the airlines from the cab, so the trailer aint going anywhere.....not with it's wheels turning anyway, you tend to notice that.

Electrics are tested by a simple visual inspection just like on a car at the MOT....

It really depends on the kind of work you do, some (distribution) companies will load up the trailers overnight and place them in shunting yards so when the driver arrives he just has to pick up the trailer readied for him and set off, saving him time, but he does end up with a different trailer daily, sometimes even twice daily.
Others companies buy a cab and a trailer, and only when one of the two has fallen apart from old age do they ever get separated.

That said, I get annoyed when a mechanic has been in my truck and he has had the arrogance to change the radiostation.....so yeah, I would not be happy with changing trailers either :p
 
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Trailers have air-brakes, (just like trucks), they work the wrong away around from normal brakes, as in : they need air to stay open and will close instantly if no air is present, so an airleak or really anything else wrong with the brakes (they are stupidly simple) will result in them not unlocking when connecting up the airlines from the cab, so the trailer aint going anywhere.....not with it's wheels turning anyway, you tend to notice that.

but they still have traditional brake pads (shoes?), right?
not really easy to see how much they have worn out...
 
They are basicly drumbrakes yes, so with shoes rubbing inside a drum, worn or not, from a safety standpoint it's really not an issue.......these things want to jump closed with such force it does not really matter, even metal on metal will stop you just fine, (again stupidly simple) you will obviously hear and smell a difference, and you will end up wrecking the entire thing if you carry on driving like that, but you will stop, also your tyres might catch on fire :p

But to avoid problems (swap)trailers should really be inspected by the companies mechanics on a regular basis and have its pads replaced at regular mileadge intervals, any company that does not do this is unsafe and a proper driver walks away..... it's one of the main reasons why some companies can't seem to 'keep' drivers.
 
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Russia actually has rest hour regulations very close to ours, but I guess enforcement is typically russian...


The EU will propose new regulations regarding active safety systems in heavy traffic during the current 2011-2020 road safety plan, this will include mandating automatic emergency braking and lane departure systems. Systems that would be very useful as we can tell from the video. I'm impressed with the camera filming, if anyone wants one it's a Akenori.
 
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Here's one not from the north, but Eskilstuna which is sort of middleish.

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That is really nice. Are you sure it's from Eskilstuna? I haven't seen it around here.
 
Actually not at all, I don't know where I got Eskilstuna from. Probably the internet, or my own imagination. The company is based in Malm? (which is as far southish as you get, re foreigners) altough they have a depot in Eskilstuna.
 
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Then I guess this one is stationed down in Malm?. I was wondering because I see some other (boring) trucks from the same company at my work almost every day.
And even though we have a lot of foreign trucks arriving we never get these awesome ones.
 
There are no height restrictions, you can make a trailer as high as you want to. But as tunnels and bridges have a clearance of 4,5 meters any higher would be rather unpractical. If you're doing international transports you're limited by the continental clearance which is 4,0 unless you only go to Finland where it's 4,2.

Today we go to Norway

And to Denmark from Ireland with Luke and his pet legohead Bertie
 
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Can that truck clear clearances all over sweden and europe? it looks a bit tall.

It really just looks that way with the cooling unit over the cab, if this was a more typical tractor-trailer setup with the cooler on the front of the trailer it would be just as high, just looking different.
 
I really liked the Kenworth T600 "Anteater" trucks when they first came out. I don't notice too many on the road these days, but I also don't look for them either.

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Although something tells me "hard cornering" was not the cause of the incident that led to this:
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That said, rig races in Europe are just awesome to watch.
 
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It's the real one in a museum, but didn't that get flipped? :blink:
 
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