carnival in Germany

[peter2]

Hi,

I live in a part of Germany, where carnival is very popular. Today my Major and me were part of it:



In this picture we are waiting for the rest of the parade.

Peter

[henk]

As we say in Holland, ALAAF

[Dandy Dave]

Nice! And the Fordson looks like a Champ! I'm sure the load was no problem to pull.

[peter2]

Helau (back to Holland ),

after filling air in the tyres of the trailer I could push it alone. Slowest speed today was about 1.1km/h, first gear and idle rpm, so "no load".

People liked the tractor.

Peter

[ford5000y]

Hi,

I live in a part of Germany, where carnival is very popular. Today my Major and me were part of it:



In this picture we are waiting for the rest of the parade.

Peter

Looks like you tractor have no trouble at all pulling that trailer. In fact, I think your tractor went so fast that you have to wait for them!

[peter2]

Hi,

Looks like you tractor have no trouble at all pulling that trailer. In fact, I think your tractor went so fast that you have to wait for them!

even with handbrake on on the trailer there was no problem to pull it. Only warm brakes
Speed was limited to about 15kmh after the parade, because the decoration should last all four days.

Peter

[ford5000y]

Just out of curiosity, because I have seen that you're using a four-wheeled trailer, has anyone ever tried to maneuver a four-wheeled trailer in reverse? And, how hard can it be?

[oehrick]

Just out of curiosity, because I have seen that you're using a four-wheeled trailer, has anyone ever tried to maneuver a four-wheeled trailer in reverse? And, how hard can it be?

Reversing a steering front axle fixed rear axle trailer is not so easy as a fixed wheel trailer (or an artic / semi trailer for that matter) I used to do a spell on the water bowser for traction engines at a local rally and was forever having to re-reverse as 1st attempt I'd defaulted to ordinary trailer mode

No doubt with enough practice it becomes simple enough but start with an open field and work your way up

Oh and its even more fun with a rear wheel steering tractor

[peter2]

Hi,

I think you have to practice it a lot, then it'll work.
This trailer was my first four-wheeler, so I'm not used to go reverse with it. I had a situation on Monday where I went in a very small lane, hill down and with a 90 degree curve. I had to go reverse round the curve but there was no room for any maneuver, the lane was too narrow.
We took the trailer off the tractor and pushed it in a small gateway with four people helping me. It was an embarrassing situation for me.
Power steering would have been helpful in that situation. Plus, my major goes smaller circles left than right.

Peter

[Pavel]

I guess a lot of things are possible with practice -- sometimes a lot of practice.
As a youngster [15yo] on a farm in Wiltshire reversing a 2 wheeled trailer was a problem for me; yet we had two 4 wheelers used for bale cart that I was expected to handle. Fortunately for me the tractor I used, an International W4, had a front trailer hitch which, when used, made backing them possible rather than calling for the 'experts' to help.
Some months ago we took delivery of 500 sheep which arrived on a road train [a semi(artic) with 2 trailers.] This guy reversed the rig for about 75 yards through trees onto our pens without having to stop once. I took me hat off to him -- but as he said -- he'd been doing it for 20 years.

Pavel

[oehrick]

Hey Pavel,

We have had some TV series here about the Aus road train drivers, never mind the state of some of the roads & fords they contend with (which some UK offroaders would love as driving courses !) or the fact that graders are needed to fill in the grooves and provide traction, the thing that gets me is how they can effortlessly reverse an artic and two 4 wheel trailers on the wing mirrors, I take me hat off to 'em. Practice as you say makes it easy

Thinking back to my four wheel trailer experiences, I found if I tried to think of the pivot of the trailer as being the 'normal' tow hitch and to steer the vehicle to position this so while vehicle movements may be a bit wavery the trailer (mostly)goes where needed, small steering movements seem to make proportionally larger results than a straight trailer. As our friend in Germany now knows, it is sooo much simpler with an audience to watch / offer helpfull comments

Pulling more than one tractor on push poles can be interesting when you have to reverse, especially if they are Field Marshalls with floppy kingpins & sloppy steering boxes.

Incidentally my biggest embarrasment was as a teenager after bringing back a Marshall 'roadtrain', putting 2 Fowler VF crawlers and 4 wheeled Marshalls away in their shed after a rally, went home congratulating myself that putting them sardinewise, head against tail, had created so much more shed space, that was until the owner called and asked me to come over and extract one of them as he had a winching job to do, only then did I appreciate the need for sufficient space to fit and swing the handle was a vital element overlooked in my scheme, the wheeled tractors took me a while shunting to get out but I had to jack and skid the first VF sideways, of course the concrete floor bore the marks of my shame for many years after the deed The true reward for knowing it all !

[Pavel]

I'm pretty sure that the road train episodes you mention are still screening here on TV. Rough as they are they don't show just how bad some of those 1000k plus journeys were before the 80s. Even on the 'highway' servicing the mid west [600 clicks north of Perth] the bitumen ended 300ks before reaching there. In the 'wet' [at this time of the year] rivers, such as the Fitzroy, would be swollen to about half a kilometre wide, with the bridges and causeways under 4 or 5 feet of water. Road trains would assemble, often a dozen or more, and be chained together. Going across the rear rigs would push whilst they had traction and the front ones pull when they had. Whilst most times this was successful it played havoc with lights and alternators. During the early 70s I worked as an auto electrician for one of the companys supplying the North and in nearly all cases prime movers and trailers would come back with water in the headlamps and all running lights, plus burnt out alternators [good job they were diesels]. Usually they would be festooned with wire draped around the whole train with small bulbs connected up at various places -- a bit like large fairy lights on a Christmas tree. What always, and still does, amaze me is why Mercedes mounted their alternators at low sump positions instead of up near the cylinder head.
You mentioned Field Marshalls. I have fond memories of these single cylinder beasts. As a 16yo I was considered competent enough to use them for hammer-milling and ploughing. Felt like a king!

Pavel

PS. Reversing 4 wheel trailers is taboo when my daughter visits -- she's good at it, but I'm a duffer still.

[Jerry Coles]

Had 4 wheel trailers in the Army, spent a lot of time reversing them and am proud to say never bent the towing eye once.
The main problem was in a truck you could never see the angle of the wheels so needed someone to observe for you.
Anticipation help!
Theres a great youetube vido of a Scandinavian log lorry and trailer achieving the impossible with his trailer at one point parallel to the lorry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coa4sWcDCXc
Cheers
Jerry

[Dandy Dave]

Backed a lot of old 4 wheel wagons up in the old days. We had hay, and self unloading silage wagons on the farm. A lot of them had worn out and loose front ends. It is an art. You have to learn to "chase" the draw pole to keep the back of the wagon where you want it to go. Yes, you need room to do it. Dandy Dave!

[ford5000y]

Here, in the Philippines, we use two wheeled trailers for maneuverability. Some of them were in fact, back end of old trucks. In fact, my grandfather's trailer for his ford 4000 was (I think American members would somehow know this) the back end of a Jeep m715 truck formerly used by the U.S. Navy (because the remnants of the stickers at the back says U.S. NAVY with some numbers on it)

I could reverse those two wheeled trailers but I'm rather thin for a 17 year-old so the manual steering of our ford 5000 was a little hard.

But, some of the experienced farmers here could even reverse those two wheeled trailers in high gear!