Tandem placement and turning radius

Yes; There was a big yellow concrete post on the other (on my right-hand side) side and a line of trailers of trailers on the other side. If there was nothing on the other side that I had to worry about hitting, I would have never created this thread.

 

I've never had any wreck driving a semi-truck going forward. My only accident in seven years of driving is a backing accident. I have an excellent service record. When I quit my last trucking job, my fleet manager wrote me and wrote "I'm very sorry to hear that we will be losing you." Also, another fleet manager called me when I quit and asked me what my company could do to keep me. I think I won't hang up my keys, and I'm NOT sorry!

 

In the scenario I listed in the OP, with obstacles on both sides of the gate and further obstacles on the right hand side once I got past the gate, and with the position of the trailer being far to the left of the truck, the angle at which I entered the gate would determine whether or not it was possible for the rear of the trailer to hit the guard shack AFTER the tandems past the guard shack.

 

I was hoping you would chime in, MACK E-6.

My response to your post #77: Well, I thought of the tail swing as benefitting me (if the tail swing had any effect at all) because the tail swing would be to the right. It was a left-hand (Counter-clockwise) U-turn.

I hope you can help me with my question in post #60: Since I was turning to the left in the U-turn described in the OP, the rear of the trailer must have swung to the right when I slid the tandems forward and drive forward into the drop lot. Which factor made it so that I was able to finally get the rear of the trailer past the guard shack after I slid the tandems forward, the trailer swing to the right or the fact that there was less off-tracking with the tandems slid forward or both?

 

Just because I am trying to learn the effects of off-tracking and trailer swing better does not mean that I do not use proper following distance. Indeed, off tracking and trailer swing have nothing to do with following distance.

For following distance, I keep 7 seconds of following distance on dry roads, and I keep 8 seconds of following distance on wet roads. If I am driving on an icy road, I will typically keep about 10 seconds of following distance until I shut down due to the weather.