Loading B Doubles - safely

Is it legal ( or safe) to operate a B Double with the A trailer empty and the B trailer fully loaded.?

Atkipete I was told by the boss that there is nothing to say you can't, but it can be hairy, unloaded A trailer at Griffith and continue on to Rankin Springs, 80 ks a hour also loaded the B trailer another time and traveled 20km on gravel road and didn't get over 60 kms. Not a good idea l would say.

Illegal?? Most likely not

Safe?? That will depend a heck of a lot of the drivers experience/ability I'd say

We sometimes have similar loads at work but it's often left to the more experienced blokes

In this case the driver was new to B Doubles and had concerns about getting traction and braking on wet roads.

Traction is a problem but braking can be sorted by careful use of the trailer hand piece

Agree with the above views, common sense SHOULD prevail, not always possible or practable though. Regulations May have changed over the years, but did a b-double course at Anglesea early 90's and was drummed into us that to avoid an empty lead trailer if rear trailer loaded "whenever and wherever possible" Dave

That all makes sense to me however;
Common sense isn't that common in transport companies anymore - operational decisions being made by people who have never done the job - trailers are sealed so my idea of getting the forky at 1st drop to move a few pallets to A trailer is not allowed.
Prime mover is a new Eurobus so no trailer brake handle. It does have ABS brakes but not sure that would be any help in this situation.

I have been driving B-trains (as we call them) over here in your Eastern Islands for about 35 years and my advice is don't do it unless it is completely unavoidable and then only for short distances on flat roads and keep your speed down. As has been said, braking is not such a problem as it used to be thanks to modern ABS systems, however traction can be, especially on our hilly roads. Even with power divider lock and cross-locks engaged it can be impossible to start off from rest on any sort of hill which can be embarrassing to say the least.

I don't think it is illegal here either but with a bit of planning it is normally a situation that can be avoided.

WellHungVic
Gudday m8
lota truth on wot U say
coz U got the runs on the board we all listen
this iz the type of new lorry Melborne R aim n for

(pity bout the foreign unreliable POS up front ....LOL)

Eye pirated the NZ mag article on U n u're driving
for those th@ R interested
the pix R hung up in th@ nu doodadd jiggr
Ignite Gallery
not sure if all can C m or only me


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cya

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Hi Swishy

That's what we call an A-train, I'm not sure what you guys call them. I used to drive one of those things once before I got on to B-trains, with 3 pivot points and a very short drawbar like my one had it was a horrible thing to reverse, especially since the prime mover was an old Atkinson with no power steering.

I don't think there are any left here now and new ones aren't allowed.



I don't know about anyone else, but that Ignite Gallery site won't let me in.

Vic