How do you judge a right turn ?

Watch where your tandems of the trailer are, using that as your pivot / reference point before you start making the turn.

 

whenever you make a turn, left or right. City corner, your shoulders should be PAST or at the point for the curb to the sidewalk. Kind of depends on the radius of the corner. I try to make sure my shoulder is even with the curb BEFORE I start to turn the wheel.

If you are pulling out from between two trucks on a dock. NEVER turn the wheel if possible before the middle marker light on the trailer is PAST the bumper of the truck next to you. Your offtrack will take out the corner of the truck next to you if you do.


AND ALWAYS.....

Watch your trailer in the mirrors as you make your turn.

 

I'm not sure what you are asking? Right turn forward then you mention backing? You don't back at right angles. That is blind backing. But trucks move the same way backwards as they do forwards. I always tell students to visualize how they pull away from a dock. Backing in is just the opposite.

You are not just maneuvering the tractor. You are driving in a manner to make them trailer tandems do what you want them to do. With them being 40-50' back there you have to do some compensating. In the city you usually need all of the side street to make your turn or the more you move left reduces that. Basically you need about a 40' radius to make a turn depending how far back you have your axles. Yep, use them mirrors. Your eyes should be looking all directions in a turn.

 

When you come up to the turn see what's there on a two lane road I'm going to swing wide left take up the whole intersection then bust that right works every time with more lanes less of a hook is needed

 

Tricky...

Right now, I am pulling a 51 ft Rgn. Trailer wheels are at the end of the trailer. Turns are huge. Right turns are buttonhooked. Lots of variables. Lets go with the worse case. Two lane road, right turn onto a narrow road, pole on every corner. Right turn signal, hug the right shoulder, about a truck length away from the corner, let traffic clear. Make you way towards the middle of the road. When your front bumper clears the pole. Swing left, then straight, hard right onto the road you want to go down, then left to hug the shoulder with your left steer, watch the trailer to make sure you clear the pole at the right trailer wheels.

In a tight right turn, I keep cutting the steering left for a second, then back right. I will hug a left shoulder on a right turn until the trailer clears, then back right.

 

Exactly like AchioteCoyote said in the previouse post. Guide you tandems around the corner. Eventually it becomes subconscious and you just do it without thinking about. You will eventually get a feel for the size of the truck and it will no longer be much of a thought process. You will unknowingly start to calculate all possible maneuvers in any situation without realizing it.

 

Not true at all.

How can that be when the steering changed from leading to following?

There is no off-tracking when backing.

Mikeeee

 

Buttonhook will not get it done in the tight city streets where I drive. Sometimes the curb has a 10 foot radius or less!

Always better to be too wide for a right turn, and not need it, than to not be wide enough.

Our company directions "direct us" to travel north on Harlem Ave and turn right onto Grand Ave....



Well that aint gonna happen unless you are about in the left turn lane of northbound Harlem. Grand looks to have some room, but in this pic the westbound left turn lane is empty, which is not a reality.

Look at how far the tire marks have encroached on the sidewalk when wheel holders took the turn. (this is an old photo. there is now a yellow concrete filled metal post to let drivers know they are about to drive on the sidewalk)



*side* Moral of the story: Company directions are not always the best route.

Mikeeee