"Never do a buttonhook after you pass your CDL test"

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by expedite_it, Mar 31, 2025.

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Do you agree with Knightcrawler that a truck driver should never buttonhook a right hand turn?

  1. I agree with Knightcrawler that after a trucker passes his CDL test, he should never buttonhook.

    17.2%
  2. I agree with expedite_it that a driver should buttonhook right hand turns onto narrow streets.

    41.4%
  3. I agree this thread needs to be closed

    41.4%
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  1. SmallPackage

    SmallPackage Road Train Member

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  2. SmallPackage

    SmallPackage Road Train Member

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    Can someone tell me how you do a buttonhook with manual steering and 8 turns lock to lock. That looks like that would wear you out. I would need to take a 10 minute nap after each turn.
     
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  3. LtlAnonymous

    LtlAnonymous Road Train Member

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    I am with Knightcrawler. I never buttonhook a right hand turn, no matter HOW many light poles and signs I tear down. I am a man of INTEGRITY.
     
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  4. Kyle G.

    Kyle G. Road Train Member

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    Are we actually doing this???
     
  5. Kyle G.

    Kyle G. Road Train Member

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    Wait a minute, serious question:

    If a member posts a thread with a poll, does he see the poll results from all of the members on his ignore list?
     
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  6. MACK E-6

    MACK E-6 Moderator Staff Member

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    Now let’s really complicate matters. What you lose in offtrack you gain in tail swing, which IMHO is more dangerous because it only happens on the blind side.
     
  7. Tb0n3

    Tb0n3 Road Train Member

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    As long as you're not inches off of cars at the turn start the tail doesn't swing out much in a corner. Now if you do a 2 part turn that's different. Pulling forward, backing to jack it and taking as much room as you can get will swing that bumper wide as hell.
     
  8. High Stepper

    High Stepper Medium Load Member

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    A good trainer will tell you to never to have an epiphany while making a button hook turn.

    While it may help spur a serious thought provoking discussion on a trucking forum, it can be distracting at the moment.
     
  9. Hammer166

    Hammer166 Crusty Information Officer

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    That tight initial part of a button hook generate some pretty good tail swing, especially compared to a jug.

    I'm not quite sure why the op insist a button hook is preferable for entering a narrow side street. A Jug Handle allows the trailer to enter that Narrow Street at a shallower angle meaning much less width is needed. Even a minimal jughandle gets much more of the trailer rotation done in the clear space of the intersection instead in the throat of the narrow street which a buttonhook requires.
     
  10. MACK E-6

    MACK E-6 Moderator Staff Member

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    I thought of that too, but couldn’t hope to articulate it as well as you did.

    Truth be told I’ll try to make a left into that narrow street instead of a jughandle right if I can help it.
     
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