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Post by the light works on Jul 25, 2014 13:33:19 GMT
here, there have been some who have moved to 40 foot doubles. (tractor pulling 2 40 foot trailers.) for bulky goods. Swift has moved to a wagon and drag using midaxle trailers.
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 26, 2014 7:34:42 GMT
Pedantic's, but, .... Using the link supplied above by C64, www.600ccm.info/pages/x_fish/images/130604_02.jpgin that licence, note all "E" classifications are drawing a trailer. Even the articulated vehicle, it is a cab with a trailer. Therefore, although no official terminology, if it "Bends", its an "E" category..... Even Bus and Mini-Bus drawing a trailer are "E" categories. Please also note, that licence has dates on fro '93, the licence rules changed in '97, lower weight restrictions for new passes since that time, 2.3 ton light van restriction for Car licence unless C1 licence taken, new "Light Van" licence, the equivalent of old class three added. On the Axle thing, weight is restricted to Axles, or number of axles, in may places, as in axle weight. The limit of 3 axles is only there as a divider to STGO... Overweight..... Some of the stuff I drive is multiple axle and much more than three axle, some rigs have steerable axles at the rear to get them round corners. How to drive such things?... experience. Unless you drive them, I can not just inform you without some form of tuition. Wagon and Drag multiples "Road train" are not legal (Yet) On UK roads, there is a limitation on how much road space you can occupy. That of course is suspended for STGO "Recovery" where a tow truck has to recover Truck and Trailer. It get complicated at the top end. I do not expect anyone ever to go out and recover a fully loaded 44 ton articulated vehicle without at lest partaking of a hand on lesson under tuition from an experienced recovery driver. |
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Post by c64 on Jul 26, 2014 16:12:30 GMT
Some of the stuff I drive is multiple axle and much more than three axle, some rigs have steerable axles at the rear to get them round corners. How to drive such things?... experience. My personal record is 21 axles, just my license and an exemption for the extra length. How to drive such a thing? Straight, very straight if possible! And gentle on the accelerator since that thing had more juice in the engine than the diesel-electric train engine I had the opportunity to give a try. The distance I had moved it over a public road was less than ¼ of the vehicle. It was a factory with a road running right through the middle and they had to move some equipment from one side to the other. And somehow it was easier to get an exception to cross that road with just one vehicle was much easier than using several ones even if that would have been easier and quicker to do. I have never seen such a tractor before nor afterward. It looked like you could plow an entire hectare of land in one go at top speed. |
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 27, 2014 9:33:33 GMT
I have driven close on 750 HP in a diesel engine.... normal road use cab, long distance sleeper for heavy heavy stuff that goes over mountains etc.
Yes, easy on the juice, Solo (Bobtail) you start off in 4th low range, otherwise you leave burnout marks all over the road.
You can put in in crawler and walk alongside it, I reckon it will quite happily tow up to about 20 tons trailer weight on tickover, for those slow movement jobs.
It also scares the (beep) outa cheap 'sporty' cars, 'cos I can get to 30 faster than they can?...
Plough a field?... the (censored) thing can TOW a field.....
Oh, and its a Volvo FH16.
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Post by c64 on Jul 27, 2014 10:49:24 GMT
Oh, and its a Volvo FH16. It was a farming tractor the size of a house. Forestry and agricultural machines have different rules. While those may not be fast (63kph max), they may be really heavy and powerful. |
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Post by the light works on Jul 27, 2014 14:09:31 GMT
not sure the BHP it had, but I saw the heavy hauler moving one of the main transformers for the power plant into place. running all out in stump puller low, and you had to look at the driveline to see it was moving - you couldn't see the tires move I estimated it at somewhere over a hundred wheels on the ground.
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 29, 2014 7:37:05 GMT
Do you mean something like that?....
That is actually above what I do.
I have no wish into getting anything like that done, as it requires team work, the kind of team where I can trust every single one of them...
And where I work at the moment, I may trust my fellow drivers, but not that much?....
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Post by c64 on Jul 29, 2014 10:09:22 GMT
Do you mean something like that?.... No, it was a "Schlüter Profitrac", but I am not sure which model. I wasn't the customized version known as "Profi Gigant", there are only 4 of those in existence. The Schlüter farming tractors are based on marine diesel engines and are very rare - but the most powerful farming tractors on wheels in existence. |
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Post by the light works on Jul 29, 2014 14:29:09 GMT
Do you mean something like that?.... That is actually above what I do. I have no wish into getting anything like that done, as it requires team work, the kind of team where I can trust every single one of them... And where I work at the moment, I may trust my fellow drivers, but not that much?.... this style of trailer, but not such a lightweight load. addendum: I'd estimate they were moving it all of a half mile from the railroad siding to the power plant - half day job. on 2 lane gravel road. |
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Post by the light works on Jul 29, 2014 14:46:31 GMT
Do you mean something like that?.... No, it was a "Schlüter Profitrac", but I am not sure which model. I wasn't the customized version known as "Profi Gigant", there are only 4 of those in existence. The Schlüter farming tractors are based on marine diesel engines and are very rare - but the most powerful farming tractors on wheels in existence. most of our tractor manufacturers make that class of tractors. |
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Post by c64 on Jul 30, 2014 8:57:48 GMT
most of our tractor manufacturers make that class of tractors. Your country still bolts 21 liter, 1200HP maritime diesel engines onto an 18 ton chassis? True, the stock version is limited to 500HP to make it last. The benefit is that you almost get the full engine torque on any RPM, the torque just varies by 10%. And then there are the customized versions like the "Profi Giant" which is made much more heavy and the engine is a lot less limited. |
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Post by the light works on Jul 30, 2014 14:15:23 GMT
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Post by c64 on Jul 30, 2014 15:43:50 GMT
ours come stock with 360-560 HP motors. and yes, we have custom models for those who want to brag about horsepower. Those are meant for tractor pull contests, not for actual farming. Most car makers sell real powerful cars but that doesn't mean that they are meant to be on public roads. The Schlüter farming tractors were meant for farming - the reason why Schlüter went bankrupt because nobody had needed those things. |
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Post by the light works on Jul 30, 2014 16:16:16 GMT
ours come stock with 360-560 HP motors. and yes, we have custom models for those who want to brag about horsepower. Those are meant for tractor pull contests, not for actual farming. Most car makers sell real powerful cars but that doesn't mean that they are meant to be on public roads. The Schlüter farming tractors were meant for farming - the reason why Schlüter went bankrupt because nobody had needed those things. just the ones in the videos on the bottom. the ones in the upper three links are farming tractors. the region Big Bud hails from looks a bit like this: www.wheatmontana.com/yes, there is actually a town in montana named "wheat" where the town consists of a granary and a deli. |
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Post by the light works on Jul 30, 2014 16:22:43 GMT
which opens the question: could a person who has not driven a large agricultural tractor figure out how to make it go? (could do two tests, one with the original labeling, and one with the labels all worn off)
one interesting testing method might be to bring in various interesting vehicles, have the regular operator set a baseline time to get from one end of the runway to the other, and then have the test subject do their best - and see if they manage and what the time difference is.
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Post by c64 on Jul 30, 2014 17:10:31 GMT
which opens the question: could a person who has not driven a large agricultural tractor figure out how to make it go? (could do two tests, one with the original labeling, and one with the labels all worn off) one interesting testing method might be to bring in various interesting vehicles, have the regular operator set a baseline time to get from one end of the runway to the other, and then have the test subject do their best - and see if they manage and what the time difference is. This depends on the kind of technology in use. The classic "all mechanical" tractors are easy to figure out if you know how a car actually works. The modern farming tractors are computer controlled and have tons of safeguards. You need to know how to make the safeguards happy in order to start the engine. And once the engine is running, you still can't just put in a gear without advanced knowledge about the transmission computer. |
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Post by Cybermortis on Jul 30, 2014 17:54:40 GMT
My impression; Similar vehicles use similar controls, most likely to make it easier for an operator to move from one to the other. If so this means that learning what the controls are is reasonably simple. Its learning how that other vehicle handles and so on that is really difficult - but that people can badly underestimate how hard it can be.
Or at least the myth is that people badly overestimate their own driving skills, and assume that they would be able to handle such vehicles without major problems.
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Post by c64 on Jul 30, 2014 18:33:05 GMT
My impression; Similar vehicles use similar controls, Not necessarily. A farming tractor may now be "drive by wire", a car not! And a joystick and a touchscreen is very different from a bunch of pedals, a shift stick and a steering wheel. |
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Post by ironhold on Jul 30, 2014 19:30:30 GMT
My impression; Similar vehicles use similar controls, most likely to make it easier for an operator to move from one to the other. If so this means that learning what the controls are is reasonably simple. Its learning how that other vehicle handles and so on that is really difficult - but that people can badly underestimate how hard it can be. Or at least the myth is that people badly overestimate their own driving skills, and assume that they would be able to handle such vehicles without major problems. Other factors to consider: *Size *Cabin layout *Performance characteristics I can drive my dad's truck as well as my sedan. However, the controls are laid out differently (shifter on the tree vs. a faux manual transmission), and so I still have to remind myself of what is where. Also, the truck is taller, has a higher ground clearance, and is longer. While this means that I have less of an issue with potholes and the city's above-ground drainage, it also means that I have greater problems when it comes to backing up or taking tight turns. |
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Post by OziRiS on Jul 30, 2014 21:33:39 GMT
Or at least the myth is that people badly overestimate their own driving skills, and assume that they would be able to handle such vehicles without major problems. How about just starting there? Having people grade their own driving skills in advance and then doing an actual test to see if they do in fact overestimate their own abilities? If they overestimate their own abilities in a regular car, then chances are they'll do the same with any other type of vehicle. Maybe even throw in other statistical factors, such as sex and age*. *I have a sneaking suspicion that young men will overestimate their own skills more than older men and more than women in general. |
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