?Tips and tricks to backing a spread axle?

back up slow dont over correct your steering thats what the biggest problem is cranking that wheel to much GOAL and if you have a dump valve use it does very little when you are loaded but it will slide the axel enough to let you back up and dont be shy about pulling up a few times its best to have people talk crap becouse you couldn't get it in the hole in the 1st try than to hit a truck

 

i run a 53 foot flatbed with a 2012 t660, so i need all the room i can get, what i do when i have the room is a basically a offset an a 45 into a 90. hug the tractors and then turn out at a 90 real quck to the right and then back to the left which well kick my rear end facing the slot i want. now this only works most of the time, depending on my load and the levelness of the ground would dictate how well the trailer would do what i want it to. if i can i either offset back or pull straight thru and left the tight spots to the tandem boys.

 

Approach is key, I can put my spread axle anywhere from years of practice but that doesn't mean I will. I still look for the easy stuff, the spaces where I can pull up straight and back in, if not the set up for an angle spot is everything. Use the tractor as the tool, the trailer is what you want in the hole not the tractor, the tractor will follow. Look down the side of the trailer as a gun site and point it at the spot on set up. Slower is faster, go slow no matter how much the guy waiting for you is getting excited just don't hit anything. If the guy waiting on you is cool he will get on the radio and watch your blind side for you but you should know where it is anyway, get out and look if you are not sure. I still practice, in the middle of the day if I pull in somewhere for a break and the place is empty I find a row in the back pick a spot just to see if I can hit it first time, just something to keep my mind spinning. Just cause someone has driven for 20yrs doesn't mean that he does everything perfect everytime, if he says so he is full of it.....

 

The first time I had to back into a tight spot after I put a dump valve on my back axle I almost cried. From happiness!

 

Finding two spots next to eachother is pretty much my method as well, unless I can find a nearside angled spot, which is easy enough to glide into with a pull-up. When I go for a double wide, it seems I can either aim for the inside, and drift to the outside, or really, really try for the inside spot, and overcorrect, turning a nearside back into a blindside. I don't have my power mirrors installed yet, so there is a whole lot of getting out and looking on blindside backs, and I still get nervous having to blindside into 4 empty spaces, just because I have no feel for where the trailer is going, and my face is glued to the windshield trying to watch the blind side mirror.

 

tip #1- dont hit me

tip#2-practice practice practice

tip#3- while performing tip #2 PLEASE refer to tip #1

 

seems like set-up is more important with spread then with tandem, especially without a dump valve, (i've never had/used one), blow the set-up with spreads and your going to give the peanut gallery a hell of a show. I also agree with what's previously stated about weight and terrain, sometimes it just wont do what you think it should do. It's just a feel you get for it after a while, kind of becomes a game i suppose, especially when the only thing left at the truckstop at 11:30 are those ###### spots nobody else could hit.

practice, practice, practice, and several ###### jobsights/bay's/docks/etc...it get's pretty easy.

 

Good one , simple version

 

great tips.