Question:
our skill test field moved to different location,
and streets there are a lot smaller. my confidence is completely gone sice i can`t make turn without goig over the curb (
how do you guys do it with big tractors ad 53` trailers ? I have hard time with 2 axle daycab ad 40` trailer. do you ever find yourselves in spot where it`s impposiible to tur?How much time do you need to get used to it?

Answer:
For the most part all I have ever pulled were 53 foot trailers. After a while it becomes second nature.
One tip.....once you are past the last scale house going into a city and your trailer tandems are slid towards the rear: Stop and slide them all the way forward to shorten your wheel base. It makes those turns easier to negotiate.
To answer your question> Yes we run into intersections, driveways, etc all the time we can not make a right turn into. What you do is either go down the road and find a place to turn around so you can make a left or make a series of left hand turns around the block and come back to that intersection straight on.
Even in intersections that are doable often times you will need to swing out to the left a bit before making the right. Just be sure to keep the rear of your trailer near the curb to prevent cars from trying to pass you on the right.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
uturn2001,
Mind if I ask you a Dumb question?
What is the purpose of "sliding the fifth wheel"?
I used to drive commercially a long time ago (before CDLs and/or driving schools and nothing but a "Chauffeur`s" license was required) starting in the shop and working up.
Anyway, I don`t remember ever having to slide the fifth wheel.
Maybe because we always started out axle-legal and the trailers were shorter then (48` I think).
Cabovers did`nt hurt either. Lengthwise.
Thanks

Answer:
Uturn didn't mention anything about sliding the 5th wheel.......ONLY the tandems.
By sliding the tandems all the way up under the trailer, you will shorten your overall wheelbase. Thus allowing you to make tighter turns.
Doing this makes it much easier getting around in areas like downtown Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas......etc..................
One thing to remember! Always slide them back to where ever you had them at (if you don't take a lot of weight off), before you cross any DOT scales again.
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"Got the bird dog on...
Dodgin' the scales...
80 miles an hour and a step outta jail..." From "Rollin' Home, Pirates of the Mississippi)
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"I've always been different with one foot over the line.
Winding up somewhere, one step ahead or behind.
It ain't been so easy, but I guess I shouldn't complain.
I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane." (from Waylon Jennings)
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Member: Happy Dweller Society
Owner Operator Division


Answer:
Maybe the laws have changed but when I ran for Schneider most of the trailers I pulled were 53 feet. The axels were usually at the 48 foot mark so really a 53 foot corners just like a 48
It just takes practice practice and more practice

Answer:
I can usually git it around just about any corner and everytime I latch onto one of our tandem axle trlrs it just gives me fits!!
...
Plus you gotta be half drunk to misload a spread...its really hard to do
AND the reason drivers slide the fifth wheel is to get those axles just right for Mr. DOT(sliding the 5th will remove some weight from the steer axle or add some depending on the direction of the slide)
CD
If you think education is hard......try ignorance recovering dweller..........oilfield trash division

Answer:
I used to slide tandems all the time to get weight legal on the drives or the trailer. It is not always easy if you get some "stuck tandems" or a really heavy load. And if you have some really stuck tandems, you might slide the fifth wheel since you can't distribute the weight any other way.
Now sliding the fifth wheel may give you some advantage in weight distribution, but the real reason for sliding the fifth is if you get a trailer that you think has the kingpin too far back making the trailer sit uncomfortably close to your sleeper fins. The farther back the trailer is, the sharper a turn you can make before danger of denting one of those fins. So when having such a trailer, you might want to slide the fifth wheel back. Overall, fifth wheels do not slide as easily as most tandems.

Answer:
No offense to some of the replys so far, but I think you guys are missing something here.
The poster is in school right now, and, if I remember correctly, they want to see the student do it by the book.
The "book" says, to button hook a right turn, so as to only appose on the traffic behind you---not crossing the center line on the road you are turning on.
Reallity!: tell the instructor you need more room, and you may be forced to swing into traffic on your way around. If he/she says you should be able to swing that turn "by the book", ask them to talk you through it.
If you still fail to swing the truck around the corner the way they thought you could, it either can't be done (by the book), or you just ain't gett'n it (and I don't mean that in a bad way...just stateing the facts).
Good Luck.
Once you are out of school, and you make the decisions on how to operate the truck; you will find that you do everything you need to do to aquire enough space to make a right turn in just about any situation.
Once; I sat at a stop light so long in Connecticut waiting for a break in traffic to my right so I could swing way out (and people are dicks and don't have a clue that you need their space to make a turn) that a passing cop saw my delema, and the traffic building up behind me, stopped and asked if I needed assistance---and he flagged traffic for me to make the turn.
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Answer:
passed my skills yesterday, but they did`t let us do the road, because those streets, I have to wait for the secretery of state to decide( they don`t know, yet) (