Tandem placement and turning radius

Neither category. It was not wilful ignorance. It was just not on my mind.

I fell into the category of "tandem placement and turning radius" was not on my mind for 6 years and 364 days. If my truck company brought the topic up and was going to do a demonstration of the effects of tandem placement and turning radius at the terminal when I was at the terminal or on home time, I would have made a point of attending the demonstration.

When I created this thread, I was in the drivers who want to bother to learn this stuff category.

The most important thing is that now I am in the "Driver in the know" category.

 

If you slide the fifth wheel forward, I would think that would make it so that one cannot make U-turns as tight as when the fifth wheel is slid back because there would be less space between the trailer and the back "fins" of the tractor. I used to drive a day cab (where the fifth wheel was way far forward of any truck I drove with a sleeper berth), and I noticed that I didn't have to worry about smashing the tractor against the trailer when doing a U-turn.

However, if the fifth wheel is slid forward, that would also bring the tandems closer to the steer tires of the truck just because a fifth wheel slid forward moves the entire trailer forward. With the fifth wheel slid forward, I would think that would help one maker tighter turns. So I agree with Rideandrepair on this.

I don't think that Rideandrepair was writing about U-turns when he said that you can slide the fifth wheel forward to tighten up turning radius. But am I correct that you can make tighter U-turns with the fifth wheel slid back than with the fifth wheel slid forward?

P.S. A tighter U-turn is a U-turn does over a smaller distance than a less tight U-turn.

I included the drawing in the photograph below on this post to help explain what the word "tighter" means when I write of a "tighter turn".

In the drawing in the photograph below, in example #1, the green semi-truck travels on the first ray of an angle, and then the green semi-truck turns at the vertex. Then the green semi-truck travels in a straight line on the second ray of an angle. The angle between the first ray and the second ray of the path of the green semi-truck is 120 degrees.

In example #2, the red semi-truck travels on the first ray of an angle, and then the red semi-truck turns at the vertex. Then the red semi-truck travels in a straight line on the second ray of an angle. The angle between the first ray and the second ray of the path of the red semi-truck is 90 degrees.

The red semi-truck's turn is a tighter turn than the green semi-truck's turn.

 

You can use post #128 to judge if I am confused.

 

Then I must not be confused by post #125.