Is it the end of the road for the A frame drawbar ,are they just to hard to reverse for some driver ■■?
JJ1633:
Is it the end of the road for the A frame drawbar ,are they just to hard to reverse for some driver ■■?
I’m just glad I’m now retired so don’t have to endure reversing one of those again, not that I did it very often but where I did there was no room at all. I did however drive a wagon and drag for Argos for a few years and they were no bother whatsoever.
JJ1633:
Is it the end of the road for the A frame drawbar
Obviously not.It’s still very much alive and kicking. 
I was on wagon and “A” frame drags on nights for 6 years,just something you got good at with practice.
They were a pain in the zb for a start though.When I got in an artic I kept putting wrong lock on. 
Drove an ‘A’ frame drawbar for many years with no problems reversing them, the main advice I would give is never let the angle of the trailer get more than 45 degrees from the prime mover. Probably the fact that I learnt to drive on a farm tractor at 10 years old and and could reverse an ‘A’ frame farm trailer at 11 years helped. Became a drawbar instructor on United Carriers/Soverign Distribution for my sins but would agree a 44 foot artic trailer is a hell of a lot easier to reverse.
Still very popular here in Scandinavia,but thats probably due to the distance\weight\volume difference.Running at 50-60 and up to 90t with drawbar outfits,and 25mtr length.
Boy’s trailers “A” frames how about reversing a turn table trailer ? Now they sorted the Boys from the men ! Those that couldn’t had to put the turn table trailers onto the “nose” of the motor and “shunt and ■■■■ about” trying to put the trailer into position ! I was privileged to be a trailer mate with probably one of the finest waggon and trailer drivers in the UK during the 60’s, the late Eric Postlethwaite. From memory there was only one drop where the trailer had to shunted in by the “nose” and that was at MB Breeze Lane in Liverpool,. otherwise Eric reversed the trailer in always. I am not claiming to have mastered the technique but I was given many opportunities to “play about” and I did eventually grasp the basics i.e. “keep the corner of the flat on the Octopus in line with the corner of the trailer” sounds simple but it ■■■■■■■ wasn’t !! Watching Eric pop the trailer into bays or loading positions was perfection to behold ! Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
Boy’s trailers “A” frames how about reversing a turn table trailer ? Now they sorted the Boys from the men ! Those that couldn’t had to put the turn table trailers onto the “nose” of the motor and “shunt and [zb] about” trying to put the trailer into position ! I was privileged to be a trailer mate with probably one of the finest waggon and trailer drivers in the UK during the 60’s, the late Eric Postlethwaite. From memory there was only one drop where the trailer had to shunted in by the “nose” and that was at MB Breeze Lane in Liverpool,. otherwise Eric reversed the trailer in always. I am not claiming to have mastered the technique but I was given many opportunities to “play about” and I did eventually grasp the basics i.e. “keep the corner of the flat on the Octopus in line with the corner of the trailer” sounds simple but it [zb] wasn’t !! Watching Eric pop the trailer into bays or loading positions was perfection to behold ! Cheers Bewick.
Not I sure I follow you Dennis! Isn’t an A-frame drawbar and a turn-table drawbar the same thing? The ‘boys’’ trailers you mention are surely the more modern close-coupled outfits with a straight drawbar rather than an A-frame, and wheels situated amidships on the trailer in the fashion of a caravan (I drove some of those - handled like an artic). Unless I’ve read you wrong! Robert 
If I may to help clarify…
A frame
(image on another forum post by bugcos)
Draw bar
(image googled from commercialmotor classifieds)
And where I think the confusion on Bewicks part came from, this is a traditional A frame trailer.
(image googled from traylatrailer dot co dot nz)
My dad drove 1 identical to this for years , 9.6 with a 5 speed box 38 mph , it refused some hills .
Reef:
If I may to help clarify…And where I think the confusion on Bewicks part came from
To be fair as a dyed in the wool artic operator Bewick can be forgiven for not being familiar with the finer points of how to put together a proper truck and trailer outfit. 
Carryfast:
Reef:
If I may to help clarify…And where I think the confusion on Bewicks part came from
To be fair as a dyed in the wool artic operator Bewick can be forgiven for not being familiar with the finer points of how to put together a proper truck and trailer outfit.
loading without dropping the trailer
ramone:
My dad drove 1 identical to this for years , 9.6 with a 5 speed box 38 mph , it refused some hills .
This AEC MM is coupled to a “turn table” drawbar which has two points where it can pivot. 1) The turntable itself and 2) where the pin goes through the “eye” at the front of the drawbar. I am obviously not clued up on the exact designations but any trailer without a turntable is a “boys” trailer and whether it has an “A” frame that is fixed to the trailer bogie or has a straight single bar close coupled to the motor they are both “boys” trailers in my book. I rest my case and I would like to see “CF” reverse that Henry Long MM ! Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
ramone:
My dad drove 1 identical to this for years , 9.6 with a 5 speed box 38 mph , it refused some hills .This AEC MM is coupled to a “turn table” drawbar which has two points where it can pivot. 1) The turntable itself and 2) where the pin goes through the “eye” at the front of the drawbar. I am obviously not clued up on the exact designations but any trailer without a turntable is a “boys” trailer and whether it has an “A” frame that is fixed to the trailer bogie or has a straight single bar close coupled to the motor they are both “boys” trailers in my book. I rest my case and I would like to see “CF” reverse that Henry Long MM !
Not wishing to brag.I think that I could at least still put that Hovis type outfit through a reverse slalom course.Then maybe even put the trailer under a demount box from 90 degrees blindside in the dark with only one hand on the wheel at any time and without needing a shunt.But unfortunately never got the chance to drive and 8 wheeler and trailer but sure I’d have enjoyed that even more just so long as it had power steering.
I did seven years on A frame drawbars and never once nosed the drawbar in to a drop , even when we were box swapping ,and we were on shop deliveries .
Bewick:
ramone:
My dad drove 1 identical to this for years , 9.6 with a 5 speed box 38 mph , it refused some hills .This AEC MM is coupled to a “turn table” drawbar which has two points where it can pivot. 1) The turntable itself and 2) where the pin goes through the “eye” at the front of the drawbar. I am obviously not clued up on the exact designations but any trailer without a turntable is a “boys” trailer and whether it has an “A” frame that is fixed to the trailer bogie or has a straight single bar close coupled to the motor they are both “boys” trailers in my book. I rest my case and I would like to see “CF” reverse that Henry Long MM !
This must be a Barrow term Dennis, because to the rest of the world what you have described so accurately is called an A frame trailer.
acd1202:
Bewick:
ramone:
My dad drove 1 identical to this for years , 9.6 with a 5 speed box 38 mph , it refused some hills .This AEC MM is coupled to a “turn table” drawbar which has two points where it can pivot. 1) The turntable itself and 2) where the pin goes through the “eye” at the front of the drawbar. I am obviously not clued up on the exact designations but any trailer without a turntable is a “boys” trailer and whether it has an “A” frame that is fixed to the trailer bogie or has a straight single bar close coupled to the motor they are both “boys” trailers in my book. I rest my case and I would like to see “CF” reverse that Henry Long MM !
This must be a Barrow term Dennis, because to the rest of the world what you have described so accurately is called an A frame trailer.
I’d guess the A frame type as we know it was probably only given that term at the point when the solid bar close coupled type started to appear in common use and which wasn’t necessarily an A frame drawbar it could be just a single straight bar or at least not a proper letter A shape ?.
Before that point it was just a trailer and taken for granted as being ‘A frame/turntable’ type design ?.While close coupled would expected to have been laughed at by operators because why would anyone with any sense want to have all the needless aggro of weight transfer from the trailer onto the rear axle/s of the prime mover thereby wrecking its axle weight capacity in the case of solid bar close coupled.IE operators going for the close coupled solid bar type trailers really just means dumbing down the job and an insult to drivers while shooting themselves in the foot by compromising the weight capacity of the outfit.