OTR drivers: practical issues for getting around in a bobtail

Really? Wow..

 

That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't know why people keep saying it's hard to bobtail.

I've found an empty Silverado to be more of a handful. All the weight is on the nose so you can gun it and break it loose, or it'll get squirrelly under hard braking.

Most bobtails are still carrying half a ton of rubber, rims and axle. (I've never bobtailed a single axle daycab so that's probably a lot lighter than a twin screw sleeper. So many that handles different.)

It's not gonna stop on a dime in wet weather, and sometimes they lock up quicker, but if you're a "truck driver" you should be experienced at looking ahead, planning an out and anticipating. Your braking distance bobtail will probably be equivalent to 30k in the box

 

In practice, what you are thinking would not work. You would have to be a full-blown owner operator and who is also an owner of his own trucking company. Most owner operators are not owners of a trucking company. The trucking companies these owner operators are “leased” onto would probably have several restrictions on bobtail use, such as not being under a load or dispatched.

The other problem is that owner operators are busy people, and they won’t have much time having fun on their 34-hour restart. They would be catching up on paperwork and doing mechanical work on their trucks.