they didn't cover this in trucking school

My school runs a 53 footer with the tandems all the way forward.

 

My school used a 53 footer too

 

Not trying to harp on you but after the first curbing, did you use your mirrors to make sure you were going to make it on subsequent turns?...

On a side note, you can use whatever room you NEED to make a safe turn as long as it's done safely...I will take up 2 lanes plus some of the oncoming if I need it(which I do on many occasions as I run thru a lot of historical towns which seem to have been built for horse and buggies) to avoid hitting things...Sometimes I have to wait for the right spacing, it is what it is, but I won't let pressure from others, or self-imposed, force me to make a turn I can't make safely...

Good luck!!!

 

All the way back??? I don't think so, lol.

 

Don't know, I was told it was 53 but no one has ever mentioned it being oversized and it isn't visibly marked as such. I do know we get some exceptions because we are a school but I don't know what those exceptions are.

If it is a 48' then a 53' must suck to get around town with.

 

Yup. There is one place in Mass I go often, at one light I have to approach, sit and wait in the left turn only lane order to make the right turn. Cars get mad, but oh well.

 

since almost everybody uses 53's now you really need experence with them, its not real hard just keep an eye on the end of your trailer. If you run a lot in the west like I do most shippers will load the trailers to the CA bridge law 40' even if they are not going to CA. I have to admit I am so used to this setting that I run everything at the 40' setting unless the load requires the tandems be stretched out.

I will give you a piece of advice, use as much road as you need as long as it's safe. If you have it, use it! Also watch it if you are curbing it around a sharp corner with a long trlr. I actually got out of the seat and looked and the top of the trlr was in the clear but the tandems grazed a pole cause of the angle, #### 57' trlr cost me safety bonus for a year.

If you want try something really long come over to the west, I used to run a 53' with a 48' pup, it wasn't real fun on two lane... LOL

 

Too hot and not wide enough.

 

Yup, probably a 48' with tandems back.

So what is the length on the shorter tanker I was pulling (it was a 3 chamber gasoline tanker)?

 

Just remember you're running a longer trailer and you'll be fine.