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Comment by ska | Hacker News Reader

The article brings all of this up, as well as the prevalence of "sleeper" cabs in US but not EU. This all seems pretty obviously likely to contribute.

One non obvious thing in article; apparently up until 1986 both US and Europe had a strict limit on length of trailer + truck, which is a clear incentive to shorter cabs (gets you more trailer). In 86 US relaxed this, correlates pretty well with the fall off on cab-over designs.

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In the US I see many dump trucks pulling trailers with a very long extension rod (the thing that connects to the motorized truck; I don’t know the actual name for it). Even on the Puget Sound I see them entering the ferries with a ton of wasted space.

Do you have any idea why dump trucks make them self so much longer without providing any more load capacity?

Edit: Here is an example. You could fit another truck in the space between the truck and the trailer: https://d2uhsaoc6ysewq.cloudfront.net/53248/Dump-Trucks-West...

Maneuverability. There's no articulation point between the cab and the dump. The gap between the dump and trailer allows for very tight turns.

I would guess this has to do with maneuverability. It's very hard to back up a trailer when the drive vehicle wheelbase is long compared to the trailer. Adding a bunch of tongue length helps a lot.

The bit between the truck and trailer is a drawbar. As mentioned, it is indeed mainly for manoeuvreability. In Australia, that combination is called a 'truck and dog', the dog being the rear trailer. The front axle(s) on the dog are steerable by the drawbar. The upshot of this combination is that you can tip the truck without having to disconnect the trailer, by 'folding' the combination up on itself, turning the whole lot into a U-shape.

As for load, these trucks are completely loaded, there is no waste. This is simply because the things that a tipper transports (bitumen, dirt, grain, gravel etc.) are very dense. Load limits, at least in Australia, are based on the amount of axles under the vehicle, so the only way to increase the load capacity of these trucks is to increase axle count. Example: https://www.aeitransport.com.au/biggest-load-to-be-moved-in-...

The image of the truck and dog you linked seems especially long. This might be a specialised setup for roadworks, where the driver can actually tip the load (in a controlled manner) through the drawbar and drive the dog over the top of it. The longer drawbar would leave room for the tipping body on the truck to raise completely, and also lower the angles experienced by the hitch if the driver offloads too much material between the truck and dog.

I'm late to this party, but I didn't see an answer that got to one of the big reasons for the large distance between a truck and trailer. There are laws about weight, specifically measurements called bridge and inner bridge.

My father and grandfather spent a lot of time reading the laws and charts every time they'd build out a new truck or trailer to try and maximize what they could haul. More axels allows for more weight, that seems obvious, but more distance is required between the truck and trailer as well.

It gets to be a really fun problem when one state wants a tongue/drawbar length of 28' and the neighboring state says that is too long and only wants 16'. What to do? Make the length adjustable and switch it over at the state line.

The last and biggest combo they ran was over 100' long, 9 axels, 34 tires and hauled 80,000 pounds. I don't remember the gross weight.

Sleeper cabs are popular in Europe too. But sleeper part is rather tiny. Yet trucker still sleep in them for weeks.

Fair enough, that was sloppy terminology of me!

And that is the difference between a hired employee and an owner-operator.

I doubt euro trucks had different chassis designs if trucks were owned by truckers.

But trucking in Europe is a mess with massive companies squeezing truckers and importing cheaper workers from wherever to keep salaries low and conditions shitty.

At least one sector where Europe out-big-corps US?

Rest assured: the American trucking industry abuses workers too.

I mean, I'm sure European truckers would love a full kitchen, a shower and a double bed if they could get it. But the length limits would still be a problem and it would be hard enough to stay competitive without having to refuse the standard length trailers.

You're not going to see a full kitchen and shower in a standard sleeper cab. You'll get one or two beds, maybe a dinette, a microwave, and a fridge. To get the kitchen and shower, you're going to have to go custom. Going custom, you're only limited by money, space, and regulations.

And the 'dinette' is literally a fold down table in front of the bunk.

Cabovers had all of those things too.

Most truckers in Denmark own their own trucks?

In NL plenty of truckers own their own truck.

Because US truck drivers are well known for their amazing working conditions and financial independence?

In the US a lot more truck drivers are owner operators, so yes to the financial independence part.

Is that true? Contractors supplying their own tractors is the norm in Ireland, at least.

I imagine the truckers in Europe are also smaller than their American counterparts.

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