how can a 4 wheeler best help an 18 wheeler?

merging without a doubt as others have said.....

my truck is governed at 63.....alot are and some even less.....just put your foot in it and GO

don't hang out beside me and wait and wait and wait for me to speed up so you can get in behind me. just go already. i'm not going to speed up. my foot is already on the floor. i'm trying to let you in but if I don't get over it's because there's a line of cars or another truck in the lane beside me and I can't get over.

the same hold true for when you're passing me, either on the left, or on the right because I got hung out there and couldn't get back in because you didn't go when you merged in. just go so i can get back into the right lane and stop holding up everyone else.

 

thats great... i really like that.

Im gonna have to use it sometime.

 

Dude- you're getting a big serving of TMI. The best thing you can do for us is to let your girlfriend ride shotgun. We're hoping she likes truckers, too.

 

With all due respect, batman...

Drafting doesn't only help vehicles of the same size. If there were a direct, required correlation between the two objects involved, drafting would never have gotten its own term; since no two objects are exactly alike, it never would've happened in the first place.

Also, turbulence is, in general, a good thing for efficiency. It's easier to pass through a turbulent medium than a static one. Look into the little dimples on golf balls, Brownian motion, things like that.

That being said, I still think hanging around trucks (while driving) is rude, dangerous, stupid, and nowhere near worth it. Go on about your business at a car-like rate of speed, let the grownups do the heavy lifting without you bumbling around their ankles like one of those annoying little dogs that seem to want to be stepped on.

 

Not saying the two vehicles involved have to be the same size or not for drafting to work but why are you saying "since no two objects are exactly alike, it never would've happened in the first place."? Where does the most drafting take place at? On a NASCAR track and even though there are different makes of cars, they are all basically the same shape, wheelbase, width, height, weight, ect, ect.

Very nicely put, especially comin from a four-wheeler....

 

Well, Bogey? It appears that it has been about a year in a big truck? Have you changed your mind about drafting a truck? Just curious?

 

Man, that's the worst possible example.

Yeah, there is a hell of a lot of drafting in NASCAR. The thing is that in NASCAR there are hundreds of old salt-of-the-earth seen-it-all-twice hillbilly engineer GENIUSES with millions of dollars behind them whose sole job is to make their team's car different from the others. They're very good. Those sons of bltches (they wouldn't object to the term, not the ones I know) have engineered intake runner length, diameter, and cross-section shape so that at a given RPM the intake vacuum pulses actually fall together in such a way that the intake manifold is pressurized as if there were forced induction at work. It's only a little bit or pressure, but if it's more than the other guy, it's an edge, and they'll take it.

Thanks, but there's got to be some kind of in-between status for guys like me. I don't drive as often as you guys, but when I do, I drive longer than you're allowed to even think about. I did Denver-Cleveland-Denver in 48 hours a couple weeks ago, at or below posted speed limits AT ALL TIMES, with an oil change and two-axle brake pad replacement in the middle, by yours truly. I'm not saying that that's ideal; it was awful. Just that I've got more miles than your average four wheelers my age.

Also, small print time: nobody should even think about driving like I do without having a demonstrable need, the same or similar pharmaceutical assistance I have (ever seen Vanishing Point?), making sure their vehicle maintenance exceeds standards, ensuring at least 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep before and after, and kissing their wife goodbye as if the chance that it's the last time is quadrupled. Basically like you see on the tire commercials: Professional driver. Do not attempt.

 

Lots of good ideas here, so I won't repeat them. I'll just add one thing:




Think. For the love of God and all that is Holy.....THINK.
Preferably about a motorist.....ANY motorist....other than yourself, and how your actions may affect them.

Just think. That's all. Please. Before a near-miss becomes the end of your life and my career and sanity.

 

I think the biggest thing 4-wheelers can do to help us big trucks out (and this applies to a lot of us truck drivers as well) is to have the proper frame of mind before setting out on the road. Here's what I mean: how many of us have seen the 4-wheeler who was soooo stuck in that "gotta beat the big truck" mentality that he ends up missing his exit or turn? Or ends up darned near running into the back of another vehicle (I've seen that happen a couple of times myself)?

You have to remember that it's not a &%$## contest out here. My truck's governed at just under 65 mph, so I'm not even trying to race you (if anything, it's the clock that I'm racing here). You trying to "race" me is like having an argument with nobody. Instead of always "trying to beat the big truck", try having a little patience for a change; that evil, evil big truck will most likely get out of your way soon enough.

 

My dad was a long time OTR driver and as a teenager then I used to go out on the road with him.This was back in the early 90's seen alot of crazy 4 wheelers out there. But I remember going down I-10 going through LA,into TX, and a big truck shot by us like we was setting still dad drove 78mph where ever we went so he figured that truck was running at least 100. Pops said well find that one up side down and we did about 5 miles later Pops and I got out, he told me to check on the cars. Two in total .He was checking on the driver.Man I found a mess not ashamed to tell you I broke down no one was alive dad asked me how many where hurt. I said their all dead he asked how many.I could not count the bodies because they where every where and a total mess.The driver of the truck was ok he was a young guy and looked maybe 25 then dad snapped and grab him and took him to the cars and asked him was it worth it about the same time the state pulled up.Pops and I was talking later to the state trooper and he said the driver was just wanting to know how fast his truck would go.All in all 8 people died 4 adults and 4 kids.Never found out what happened to the driver but more in likely hes still in prison. just something I remember