75ZT Community

[PaulT]

Two things have interested me, can you provide answers?:

When the tractor unit of an artic is being driven how does it handle without the trailer?

At the back on either side of a tanker are green lights - what is the significance of these?

[monsterness]

it drives like a sports car but crap at going round corners stick it in the right gear like 5th high and will beat most cars from the lights , the green lights on the trailer are to show the ABS on the trailer is working

[Dave]

Question 2 - no idea!

Question 1, as an ex-trucker (and Owner/Driver) I can answer this! And the short answer to how it handles is - brilliantly! When you bear in mind that a fully laden arctic can weigh in excess of 40 tonnes and still keep up with traffic, take the load and trailer away and you are left with a unit which weighs, in the case of the Volvo F10 I used to own, just shy of 7 tonnes, with around 300bhp on tap (* I can't recall the exact bhp from memory, just Googled it). So you end up with a tall, and admittedly fairly heavy two seater sports car!

As Monsterness said above, you can beat most cars away from the lights. In fact I did this fairly often, lots of fun leaving Porsches etc standing! Doesn't take long before they catch you up mind, as they are only using a few gears as opposed to 16 or so on a truck!

As far as cornering is concerned, it's obviously not going to be in the same league as a low slung sports car, but equally, not as bad as you might imagine, as the vast percentage of the weight is nice and low down

As for speed.... In the "good old days" pre speed limiters, it was very easy to get well over 75mph out of the unit alone (not that I ever did this of course! )

[monsterness]

nor me i used to chase eastern scottish coahes up the A74 at over 85/ 90 with a Scania 500 bhp and the coaches would move over :0

[PaulT]

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

One of the reasons for asking was that I do not think I have ever seen the tractor unit being driven in anger - obviously, this would not have been the case if I travelled the A74 regularly

[Dave]

One of the reasons for asking was that I do not think I have ever seen the tractor unit being driven in anger

TBH, you seldom see units being driven solo, as if they are not hauling they are not making money ("a wheel turning is a wheel earning" used to be the maxim!)

Usually you only see them solo if they are new ones being delivered, or existing fleet trucks on their way to pick up a trailer from a nearby yard or on their way to the Test Station!

[monsterness]

or a race track

[Dave]

There is that!

[geesmith]

I thought the green lights were like aircraft warning lights in case the contents ignited and launched the trailer like a rocket. I was wrong then?

[monsterness]

No abs i remember when they first came out on trucks ,that is why they can stop a hell of a lot quicker than they use to do

[geesmith]

...not rocket warning lights then.

[monsterness]

i wish i could have blown up a few numpty car drivers in my time like Boulevard Périphérique or the Amalfi Coast road Italy