Are Suicide Knobs Legal ???

I dunno, I saw a lot of that generation dive into air conditioned comfort just as soon as it was a available to them. My grandfather wasn't one of them though, he considered creature comforts an unnecessary expense.

He was long retired by the time GPS came into common usage, but he thought that was the best idea ever, since it saved time and materials and increased efficiency. He was never afraid of technology, but it had to provide the right kind of benefit.

 

I remember years ago when airport security was very lax.
I had to load up a small air craft tug , basically a forklift in reverse with the mast replaced with another counterweight.
The only loading ramp was about 2 miles away so I left my truck there and they just let me drive the tug out the airport gate and head down the road.
I was heading down the road at full tilt steering the tug with one hand holding on to one of those knobs.
If I was doing 20mph it was a lot, so in my youthful ignorance I didn't think it necessary to slow down for the gradual speed bump where the airport road merged with the regular road.
I was wrong , very wrong.
These aircraft tug things are designed to work at slow speed on perfectly level concrete , I now know that they have solid tires and zero suspension.
The tug bucked so violently that I almost landed in the road after bouncing off the ROPS ceiling.
When all the dust settled I had the knob in my hand and there was what looked like a 2 inch marlin spike sticking up from the steering where the knob was.
If I had come down on that it would have looked like a scene from a horror movie with me impaled.
Why it was shaped with such a sharp point I don't know.
I learnt 2 things that day.
I wont put a knob like that on my truck and aircraft support equipment don't do speed bumps.

 

32 years of driving and I've been in 3 trucks that had them on the steering wheel.

key word is HAD! The first one would be #4 but it was an Armstrong steering unit and it worked, but the 3 afterwards with power steering the stupid thing was always in the way so they always came off. It took 1 truck to figure it out so the next 2 after that before the truck was started the wrench came out and the moron knob came off.

If you get into a situation where you need to look like a monkey at a banana picking contest and that know causes you to screw up then what ever happens after that is your problem!

They are not needed on any power steering equipped truck.
No they do not look cool
no they really do not serve any purpose at all.
If you can not control a steering while backing with the "heel" of your hand then you need to practice an awful lot more!

I have raced other drivers in backing contests with them using a moron know and beaten everyone of them! But then I can put my hand anywhere on a steering wheel and make the truck do what I want!

When in a jack knife or skid due to weather or conditions that happen, being able to grab and steer is much better than trying to get to that one spot on the wheel memorized in your brain!

When looking like that monkey and that moron knob gets in the way and you break a finger or your shirt sleeve gets caught in it OR you hit something and that moron knob becomes a blunt instrument that could knock a hole in your head or body because it's in the wrong spot at the right moment then I really hope the pain is worth that "cool" factor or the "think it's a big help ideal."

All those things do is make a driver forget that the wheel is only round and has only one point of contact. Bad practice to fall into.

CTI here in town got really pissed at me with the 3 trucks I drove for them 2 whole weeks I was signed on for before I quit that stupidity. ( slip seating Peterbilts!)

The steering knobs came off and were thrown in the sleeper. The mechanics got all bent out of shape and actually tried to tell me they made steering safer. Mechanic's with less that 100 miles on them driving trucks from the line into the shop telling me at the time with 2 million+ miles what was safer! That was the last place that I had a backing contest.

Use them if you just have to have one on a power equipped truck but I pray you don't need to do some serious steering in an emergency and that oh so stupid moron knob doesn't cause you to wind up screwing the pooch! One of the most useless pieces of crap sold at truck stops! But they made their money off of a cool cat!

 

They made sense in 1970 when you were driving a 1955 model hay or log truck with armstrong steering. They have no place on today's modern equipment.

 

I wanted a spinner in the last Peterbilt I was in. It had one of those soft-rubber steering wheels and when I'd spin it with the "heel" of my hand, I'd end up with what appears to be pencil eraser shavings on my hand. The KW's my company has have better steering wheels that don't do that.

 

I just got all my accessories to drive my truck, what do you think? Just added the rest of my wardrobe.

 

JohnBoy, you forgot the cowboy boots and hat! Sheesh, some things are just common sense!

 

you forgot the fingerless gloves and the bugeye mirror sunglasses.

 

I can't seem to find the glasses.

 

they are illegal, but the only place I know that will write you up for one is Washington st. I know, because I got a write up for mine, witch is still on my truck