What do you do for seeing behind you?

[cranetruck]

The bikini top works great for me, cool in the Summer, okay in the Winter once the engine warms up and 360° visibility at all times.


Driving the xm757 as shown in the rain is not so good, the tires throw a lot of water on your back.

 

[Recovry4x4]

For keeping an eye on the M105 (from a deuce anyway) you an just see the lugnuts under the bed on the drivers side. Unless I need it for cargo, I leave the end gate on the passenger side mounts all the time. It gets you a bit of visibility of the passenger side of the trailer.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

June 30th, 2015.


You might want to get used to not seeing your M105A2 trailer unless you are in a sharp turn, because otherwise, IF you do see the trailer, something's going really wrong with it. Normally, in daylight, if I see that shadow on the ground, I know where my trailer is at.

If you set you west coast mirrors so you can see what is beside your truck (without the convex fisheye mirrors), you have them set wrong and all you are going to see behind your truck is little or nothing...... The trick is to get used to monitoring your rearview mirrors and have an awareness of what's around you, because without the fisheye mirrors, any small vehicle that gets in the blind spot is apt to get run over... Most cops will not fault you if the mirrors are set right and the car driver did something typically stupid....

We had a 1960's Autocar tractor that because of the length and height of the engine hood, it was always well to have a rider on the passenger side as the blind spot was humongous to the right front side of the hood... Especially if used in a parade to haul a float, it was pretty much mandatory. Most deuces and most Unimogs in the military always had a co-driver to handle the right side of the truck for safety purposes and for backing up with trailers and also to loading docks.

To give you some frame of reference, if a locomotive (diesel) is running long hood front (engine end front), the blind spot beyond the hood end is better then 400' long if you have a fireman/conductor, more if you are running the engine with the other crewman on the ground (as in switching).


Be aware and be careful, and you will learn to handle the deuce with a trailer. At least you see the trailer (M105) better then towing an M105MM Howitzer....

 

[rhurey]

Backup camera always on.

Hasn't been more distracting than a rearview mirror.

 

[John S-B]

June 30th, 2015.


You might want to get used to not seeing your M105A2 trailer unless you are in a sharp turn, because otherwise, IF you do see the trailer, something's going really wrong with it. Normally, in daylight, if I see that shadow on the ground, I know where my trailer is at.

If you set you west coast mirrors so you can see what is beside your truck (without the convex fisheye mirrors), you have them set wrong and all you are going to see behind your truck is little or nothing...... The trick is to get used to monitoring your rearview mirrors and have an awareness of what's around you, because without the fisheye mirrors, any small vehicle that gets in the blind spot is apt to get run over... Most cops will not fault you if the mirrors are set right and the car driver did something typically stupid....

We had a 1960's Autocar tractor that because of the length and height of the engine hood, it was always well to have a rider on the passenger side as the blind spot was humongous to the right front side of the hood... Especially if used in a parade to haul a float, it was pretty much mandatory. Most deuces and most Unimogs in the military always had a co-driver to handle the right side of the truck for safety purposes and for backing up with trailers and also to loading docks.

To give you some frame of reference, if a locomotive (diesel) is running long hood front (engine end front), the blind spot beyond the hood end is better then 400' long if you have a fireman/conductor, more if you are running the engine with the other crewman on the ground (as in switching).


Be aware and be careful, and you will learn to handle the deuce with a trailer. At least you see the trailer (M105) better then towing an M105MM Howitzer....

And you should ALWAYS make sure the person riding shotgun is COMPENTENT.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

August 18th, 2015.

Gents:


When I owned a deuce and a half, my mirrors were set so I could just see the rear corner of the bed, otherwise I needed to see what was further back. If I had to make any quick evasive moves, the fish eye mirrors on the west coasts, and a general awareness of what was around me was all I had to work with.

However, if you can't slow down or stop to avoid something in your traffic lane without hitting it, your either going too fast for your brakes and gears, you've been cut off by a bung-hole, or you aren't paying attention far enough ahead and behind you! This situation (inability to stop or maneuver) would seem to indicate that the truck driver's being careless. Taking weather, road, traffic and other apparent conditions into your consideration is also very good driving, plus since most of us are driving trucks with NDCC's on them, remembering that you have 10 bald tires on the road in rain and snow is good planning also.

Having a plan in your mind already worked out prior to needing to react to a situation is about 98% of the game.

 

[Gralmk]

And you should ALWAYS make sure the person riding shotgun is COMPENTENT.

Everyone as far as I've seen have, covered all the bases! So the balls in your court! I did as some have said on small trailers add marker sticks on the trailers so I knew where they were at all times, we mounted them high and pointing up so as not to add to them hitting anything.

As for a camera, shouldn't be more of a distraction then anything else going on around you, it's not like your gonna drive down the road only looking at the camera! The camera is and added method of safety, it won't hurt!

And yes the Military always said use a co-driver, not that we did half the time, but if you do, I always taught my drivers to double check what they can see as well, because the competent co-drive may not judge things the same way you do, REMEMBER the Driver is responsible for his vehicle!

Enjoy your ride!

 

[Robo McDuff]

According the Dutch DoT, I should install special mirrors for minimizing any dead angle. Unfortunately, those mirrors are often mounted on truck door frames. Our trucks do not have fixed door frames, so I got an automatic waiver. My biggest problem is not only back view but ESPECIALLY a right turn with a biker very close to the truck. You do not see them in time and risk hitting them when going through the corner. Even with modern trucks, that hurts or kills a lot of people each year.

As to backing up, did anybody install the modern back-up sensors that start beep or whistle when something is getting close to the back of your truck? Its one improvement I want on my 5-ton.

When driving, I do try to keep an eye on all sides, but that is not always easy. So in emergency situations, my first priority is the safety of everything in front of me, including myself. Keeping distance does help a lot. If by braking quickly to safe the forward situation, a person in the back rear-ends me because he/she is too lose or not paying attention, there is not a lot I can do about that.