After looking through the trailer spec link that Rikki sent, I have a few observations:
UK trailers ar limited to 2.55m width. This equals 8’6". US trailers are likewise limited to 8’6". There is no width difference on trailers.
The pic I posted was of a Freightliner COE. This unit is the same as a Mercedes Argosy from about 5 years ago, but with a longer sleeper. It is no wider than any other COE on the market, and certainly isn’t any wider than the trailer it pulls. Neither are the tractor units in Europe-the tractor is never wider than the trailer. The trailer is never wider than 2.55m, therefore, European tractors are not wider than American tractors.
True, the cab on a conventional is a bit narrower than a cabover, and some of the sleepers are narrower as well, but British/European tractors and trailers are no wider than American units.
Trailer length in Britain is limited to 12.2m, which is 40’. There is a total length of 16.5m, but that includes the tractor unit. This has nothing to do with height, but it sounds like drivers are confusing the two dimensions. After looking at several pictures here, on other sites, and in my last 2 issues of Truck magazine, by using a ruler and comparing width/height ratio on trailers (assuming each trailer is a full 8’6" wide), I have yet to see one over 13’ high, with most closer to 12’6". Even the talles cabs (such as a Globetrotter, Magnum, etc) never are higher than 13’.
In all my years driving in the US, I’ve only twice seen trailers built taller than 14’. One was a trailer about 15’ tall and 12’ wide, maybe 60’ long. It was built to carry machine parts made on one assembly line at the GM plant in Lockport NY from one building to another on on the premises. It never leaves the property. The other was a trailer owned by Boeing in the Seattle area, designed to carry the wing assembly of a 747 to the main plant from the wing plant. This trailer was at least 15’ high, 80’ long, and was allowed only on a specific route, using yellow flashers front and rear, “oversize load” signs, and had a second driver steering the trailer axles from a cab slung under the trailer body, in front of the axles. Very odd trailer.
I’ll still consider the existence of these mysterious 16’ trailers to be another trucking myth (like the water-powered turbo or the 100mph truck with the 900hp motor). Show me a picture, and maybe I’ll change my mind. If these units are as common as people say they are, it shouldn’t be difficult to find one.
You’d think I don’t drive the things every day…
