Trucking in North America vs around the world

The trailer would bend the chassis.

 

How would that happen?

 

Trailer was not broken.
Driver caused the incident.

 

We have low fithwheels.
The corner off the trailer would go in between the 2 framerails.
Then the "driver" would push down on the go pedal.

I realise a normal driver cannot do that but those "koleka" drivers can do things by accident you or me would have trouble doing on purpose.

 

I have never seen any trailer flex that much laterally. Something is wrong with it, or it was way overloaded up high in the front.

 

European trailers do flex way more than any in the US market.
I don't know if they still exist, but you should see a Berger Light made in Austria. If maxed out, you're riding a banana boat. If I remember right, you could get almost 27 metric tons of payload if paired with the proper highway unit.

 

I understand that when jackknifed the 5th wheel plate does not add lateral support because it pivots, but the movement shown in that video was ridiculous.

 

So we build better trailers then

 

Back in these days, 70's - 80's, my dad had a fleet of Steyr's Berliet/Renault and Scania, and one MAN (for very short time).

Older Steyr had ZF non-synchro AK-series, 12 speed. Later they got ZF synchro-boxes, Fuller as option.

After trying a few with ZF-synchro, all later Steyr trucks in the fleet had Fuller 13 speeds. Drivers just loved the Fuller, much more than the ZF.

The Berliet/Renaults all had Fuller 9-speeds RTO-12509.
These took some time to get used to. Not only was high gear against the dash (3/4 positions reversed), but also the C/R - 1/2 - 3/4 were reversed. C/R was away from the driver to the right, 3/4 towards the driver, to the left.

Even some of the Scania's (110/111/140) had a Fuller retro-fitted.

BTW, the one MAN had the steering-column gearshift. I never drove it, I was too young, and my dad only had it for a few months, it was part of the deal when he bought another trucking company.
Fuel consumption of the big V10 was horrible.
Same kind of work, it used almost double the fuel the Steyr's needed. So he got rid of it as soon as possible

 

Yes, Iveco used Fuller for very long time, also the british brands like Foden and ERF, probably even longer/later.

DAF still install Fuller for overseas markets like Australia.
Maybe if you try and push the dealer, you can still buy a DAF with Fuller in Europe? Don't know.

I think Sisu still have Fuller option, standard on some models, even today.