"Pivot Points?"

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Soupy

Soupy

Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2016
Posts
9
Location
Connecticut
I was reading a thread in here about learning to drive a Class A vehicle. 

Obviously there is a "learning curve" just like anything else.

Someone mentioned learning the "Pivot Points."  What's that about?  Turning radius?

 
It hard to know without seeing the topic you reference, but I think Ernie's guess is probably right.  A motorhome pivots on its rear axle when turning, and coaches with a long rear overhang can swing out quite a bit. Gas chassis coaches with a front engine typically have long overhangs that can be troublesome when making sharp turns in tight quarters.
 
On thread, backing up with a towed vehicle was being discussed.
You can end up dealing with multiple pivot points which make backing up nearly impossible.
One point is the rear axle, the second is the trailer hitch, the other can be the Front axle wheels, and with some tow bars and tow dollies, you can have even a third. That makes it pretty darned difficult to back a rig up.

I once got called out to tow an RV that broke down on the Turnpike. The customer was driving a 1 1/2 ton Pickup with a TT, and towing a boat. We had to put the rig in a spot in the back lot of the shop. I tried three times before deciding to drop the TT and the boat, and move each one separately.
 
When I replied to the post about getting used to driving a large rig, I referred to new fire apparatus drivers learning their unit's pivot point. For lack of a better description, that is the point along the rigs length an obstruction must be past before you can turn towards said obstruction without hitting it. For example: you're finished gassing up and are pulling away from the pumps. Let's say your fuel fill is on the left side and you have to make a left turn to get out of pump lanes.  The pivot point is how far down the side of the rig the pumps must be before you can make your turn without running up on the pump as you make the turn. We use the term "kick-out" to describe the distance the distance the rear of the rig travels away from the turn. A sharp left turn will cause the right rear of the unit to swing out to the right a considerable distance. Especially if the distance from the rear axle to the rear bumper is long.  Kind of a long explanation, but hopefully it will help.
 
The pivot point on a motorhome is generally the rear tires. In a sharp turn anything forward of the rear tires is moving in one direction, anything behind is moving the opposite direction. Hence, a pivot point.
 
Soupy said:
I was reading a thread in here about learning to drive a Class A vehicle. 

Obviously there is a "learning curve" just like anything else.

Someone mentioned learning the "Pivot Points."  What's that about?  Turning radius?
Click to expand...

lots of youtube videos on this subject
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,068 (members: 26, guests: 1,042)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,985
Posts
1,388,665
Members
137,734
Latest member
[email protected] Ke
Back
Top Bottom