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I worked on farms as a kid. We expressly didn't allow backing up in farm trucks. To the point where that part of the transmission was removed on most big farm

I worked on farms as a kid. We expressly didn't allow backing up in farm trucks. To the point where that part of the transmission was removed on most big farm trucks and we were told to park in a way that allowed only going forward. Pretty easy when you spend most of your time parking in giant fields, but even now in my city life I try to avoid the risk of driving backwards.

bmelton 12y ago
I generally prefer to either "pull through" into a spot so that I can "leave forward" or, if the lot is full enough, back into a spot... logic being that I either have to back in to the spot or out of the spot, and backing into the spot is slightly more controlled (given the minimal foot traffic into a spot) compared to the challenge of backing out of a spot into the lanes where people/children/etc are walking. I can't imagine a reason you wouldn't be able to do the same in a farm truck, except for the sometimes when it's towing something. Care to expound?
- jethro_tell 12y ago
  Sure, in the parking lot, you are choosing between backing in or backing out. I find backing in to be the better option for two reasons. The first being that you can drive by and see who/what is in the spot. Second, like you said, the access to the spot is better controlled. In the farm case, you can always drive forward. It was part of the engineering of the workflow for that operation; for every operation, there is a forward path to completion. You don't have to chose between anything, you just have to know that you can't drive backwards. Comparing the risk of parking a car backward into a parking spot and backing a large truck with no rear windows is apples to oranges. But if we must compare, the risk of damage is much higher with a truck that can back over a small car with little effort, when you are in the middle of a field you don't expect anyone to be there, like in a parking lot. But people do drive out into the middle of a field in a little pickup to deliver that case of oil or a sandwich or fuel up your truck or combine. (Sidebar, it's not uncommon to bring a fuel truck along side another truck or machinery and fuel it in motion). During harvest, the work day is usually 16+ hours which doesn't include breakfast or dinner and from the start of harvest to the end there are no days off unless it's raining. Add to that that driving in circles for 16 hours a day is a very boring job. Also note that many old grain trucks have poor breaks or breaks that are overloaded when filled. Needing to drive backwards implies that you've pulled the nose of the truck into something of value then used your breaks to stop before you hit it. Given all that and the space that you find around most farms, why would you risk driving backwards?
  - bmelton 12y ago
    "No rear windows" is the thing I was missing. Thanks for the explanation.

bmelton 12y ago

I generally prefer to either "pull through" into a spot so that I can "leave forward" or, if the lot is full enough, back into a spot... logic being that I either have to back in to the spot or out of the spot, and backing into the spot is slightly more controlled (given the minimal foot traffic into a spot) compared to the challenge of backing out of a spot into the lanes where people/children/etc are walking. I can't imagine a reason you wouldn't be able to do the same in a farm truck, except for the sometimes when it's towing something. Care to expound?

jethro_tell 12y ago
Sure, in the parking lot, you are choosing between backing in or backing out. I find backing in to be the better option for two reasons. The first being that you can drive by and see who/what is in the spot. Second, like you said, the access to the spot is better controlled. In the farm case, you can always drive forward. It was part of the engineering of the workflow for that operation; for every operation, there is a forward path to completion. You don't have to chose between anything, you just have to know that you can't drive backwards. Comparing the risk of parking a car backward into a parking spot and backing a large truck with no rear windows is apples to oranges. But if we must compare, the risk of damage is much higher with a truck that can back over a small car with little effort, when you are in the middle of a field you don't expect anyone to be there, like in a parking lot. But people do drive out into the middle of a field in a little pickup to deliver that case of oil or a sandwich or fuel up your truck or combine. (Sidebar, it's not uncommon to bring a fuel truck along side another truck or machinery and fuel it in motion). During harvest, the work day is usually 16+ hours which doesn't include breakfast or dinner and from the start of harvest to the end there are no days off unless it's raining. Add to that that driving in circles for 16 hours a day is a very boring job. Also note that many old grain trucks have poor breaks or breaks that are overloaded when filled. Needing to drive backwards implies that you've pulled the nose of the truck into something of value then used your breaks to stop before you hit it. Given all that and the space that you find around most farms, why would you risk driving backwards?
- bmelton 12y ago
  "No rear windows" is the thing I was missing. Thanks for the explanation.