Are Suicide Knobs Legal ???

I've never driven a truck with one. I don't know how easy it would be to back up a trailer with one. I'd probably always be over-correcting.

 

For drivers saying they are illegal, please back it up.

Companies may have rules against them, but that does not make them illegal.

Kinda like guns in the truck, there is no DOT laws against guns in the truck, even though most companies strictly forbids them in THEIR trucks......for obvious reasons....

 

Well if you have one you'd better take it off be4 you go to WA. They give violations for em, telling from personal experience. It looks like its just WA against em, in all other states i never was stopped. Funny thing is recently I saw GTI truck with a knob and theyre from pacific, wa. I think drivers hide em when they go thru w/s. Like turn em down or take em off quickly.
But turning and backing is easier with em.. but its just me

 

If I had one it would be at the bottom of the steering wheel. I mean it would face UP, but would be located on the side closest to me when going straight.

The reason is when I'm backing up, I always start with my hand at the "bottom" of the steering wheel. It makes it really simple. With your hand at the bottom of the wheel, just push it in the direction you want the trailer to go. I learned it that way and whenever I come across a rookie whose rookie trainer ain't no help either, and he's tying up the aisle in a truck stop trying to back in somewhere, that's what I tell 'em.

 

Next time you're talking with a DOT cop ask him. Or get off the computer and pull out you JJ Keller bible and read it.

I don't give a flying flip as I don't use one, never have. I don't even drive with my thumbs inside the wheel because you blow a steer? You gonna have some broken thumbs.

 

They used to be illegal in Saskatchewan, at least on pick-up trucks. I paid a $40.00 fine for having one on my Dodge when I was 16 or 17. Not sure if they were legal on the big trucks, but there was always one on the old Intersmashable. Of course there are few rules enforced on farm trucks in Saskatchewan.

I do have a suicide knob on my John Deere GT 420. Since the hydraulics and the direction/speed control are all hand operated, steering can be a little tough, especially when using the loader and trying to have a beer and smoke a cigarette.

 

our big loaders at work all have them, I can see for offroad use they would be pretty handy...

all we need is some steering wheel holder fresh out of a CDL mill dropping the hammer in reverse and over correcting....I think you have a pretty good idea what would happen next..

 

I've used them for years.......on my motorcycle.

 

I have one on my International that I mow with, but I won't put on on my old 1946 Ford 2N with loader.

When I first got that thing running, the steering was tight and a spinner might have worked, but it takes 2 hands to turn the wheel into a turn. But one day I decided to replace all the old rusty zerks on the entire tractor and I greased everything with synthetic grease, and all of a sudden the steering it so loose that if you don't hold the wheel steady, it'll hit a pebble and the steering wheel will rip loose from your hands and turn all the way to one extreme, especially if there's weight in the bucket.

I'd love to put a steering damper on it, but I don't think there's a kit for it. Back in 1946 when the machine was built, farmers were tough as nails, & they had just got done kicking some Nazi ### and weren't afraid of a steering wheel. I bet that generation would be making fun of today's farmers with their million dollar tractors with air conditioning and GPS-controlled auto-pilots.

 

That was definitely a different breed than today. Meet a lot of those men as a kid, need a few more around today.