How long did it take for you to learn to back-up a truck & trailor?

Just like Dakota said.... You'll have good days and you'll have bad days. I've been at this almost 20 years and I still have my moments of, dang! I sure looked like a rookie with that back. I seem to have more trouble with wide open docks than tight spots. Give me a tight dock with trucks on both sides and 99% of the time I nail that back 1st try. Give me 3 open docks with nothing around and I'll struggle to not do a pull up Always remember though, it's far better to make some pull ups and NOT hit anything than to be more worried about looking like a rookie and tearing something up! I was just at a dock in Turtle Creek, PA this past week that had a chain link fence on one side, a falling over, towards the truck, brick wall on the other that "guided" me into the building I had to back into. No lights at all, just my trailer 4 ways, 4:30 in the morning and raining, the dock was not parallel with the fence and the brick wall so I had to follow the wall until almost inside the building then jack the trailer to line up with the dock. Fun times indeed, I didn't have to pull up but I did get out a couple of times with my flashlight to see where the trailer was actually at in relation to the wall on my blind side.

You'll get better and thus more confident, with more experience, it takes time, no one comes out of the womb knowing how to back

 

I was in the same boat you are in about 20 years ago... It took me about 2 weeks of work to get it... The first time you have a tight dock to get into and you nail it.. you will be fine from then on.. Just remember don't get over confident once you know what you are doing.. I drive better backwards than forward now...

Having just said that.. You may never get it as well as others...I waited for a 30 year veteran the other night to back in and it took him about 10 minutes in a huge parking lot.. It took me about 30 seconds... both of us had the same result though.. we made the delivery safely and on time.. Remember just because some other guy can back it in without pulling up doesn't mean you have to...

and don't ever try to back in on the high side of the transmission. Slow and steady don't over correct... just follow the trailer into the hole with the truck.. I know that sounds simple but that is all you do.. chase the trailer with the truck...

 

If I make it, March will be 2 yrs solo OTR for me. I didn't get real good at backing until...well, I'm shooting for sometime next summer.

 

I agree with everyone here. On the plus side, if you can back up straight you're already leaps and bounds above some other drivers!

 

I hear that,I back 12 plus times a day.The beginning im fine but when I know the day is about over,sometimes its a struggle like yesterday.Took 15 minutes just to get set up when it should have taken me 5 minutes to back and unhook.

 

Remember that when backing into a dock, your setup is everything. Poor setup means difficult backing. The things that you should remember to make your life easier where backing is concerned are:

1. Always look for a way to line up for a straight line back.

2. Use all of the space available in front of you to get lined up.

I'm always amazed when I see drivers lining up at 90 degrees to back into a dock at a warehouse when there is PLENTY of space in front of the dock for them to get lined up for a straight line back into a hole. And if there isn't, then there is almost ALWAYS enough room to set up for a 45 degree back which is preferable to a 90 degree setup.

 

I was put in a class at Trucking school where the other students were a week ahead of me. I was given a truck/trailer and was told to practice straight backing by myself. This lasted 5 hr. till lunch break. I thought i was getting screwed. Little did i know they were setting me up for a succesful career as
An LTL City driver. Backing is a Non issue for me.

 

And I thought I was the only one that did that! LOL. I actually prefer finding a walmart over a ts. ease of parking is one of the reasons. the other is, imo most truck stops are down right depressing to me. between the drivers doing 35mph through the lot, the supertruckers that were born in the sleeper of a truck. the "ladies of the night" and the price gouging most truckstops do, walmart seems to be a better option for me when available. but back to the subject.

something I read somewhere once about backing: place your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel (by your gut) then whichever way you want the trailer to go, move your hand that direction.
or: if you have a small utility trailer you could practice with on your own time in a parking lot. or rent a uhaul trailer for a day.
or if you have kids borrow one of their toy trucks, as another post said, it may sound silly but it does help give you the concept by "practicing" with a toy.
good luck. you will get it with practice and most importantly patience.

 

I'm no veteran at this game by any means. 3 months into driving, and I tend to still struggle backing in quite a few spots. BUT I have NEVER touched anything with a truck or trailer I wasn't suppose to. It may not be veteran or sagely advice. Hell it may not even be the "right" way, but here's a few things I do. Hope I don't confuse you.

When you do your off-set setup, you will usually end up with a bend in the trailer. As I think about which way to steer initially, I think of it as "right bends it, left straightens it". So, for example, you are coming in at a goofy angle to your slot. You reach a point where you need to jackknife the trailer to get it lining up. Right turn to bend the truck.

As you are approach the trailer lining up, you need to straighten it out before it is straight, because it takes time for things to happen. This is where I start thinking about the nose of the trailer and how it's sitting.

Avoid making an easy back into a PITA blindside by steering too far past parallel to the slot. I kick my self every time this happens to me and I fight to avoid it. I will pull up before I'm going past straight and take another shot at bending it correctly. Sometimes you need to pull all the way out if you're screwed up bad enough. I've fought and fought and fought to get into a spot, just to pull out, reset, and slam it into the spot with a fraction of the frustration as I initially had. If you end up having to blindside it, remember everything reverses - LEFT bends it and Right straightens it back out.

Live docking - I sometimes fight to get lined up on a dock door in any fashion of "straight" or even straight-ish. I have to calm down, slow down, sit a brief moment (remember there are probably others waiting for you lol), and think about what I need. For this part let's assume I'm sitting straight at the dock. The left side would be the drivers side, or near side, and right would be curb/passenger side or far side. I ALWAYS aim to be tight on my near side. Reason being that if you can tell the slot is wide enough for your rig and you aim near, you know you should be pretty good on your far side. Still GOAL though (more on that below). I hate trying to correct if I'm too far past the far side of the dock & slot. Once I'm sorta kinda in there, to wiggle it the right way on a pull up, you pull to the left to move your butt towards the end right, or far side, and right to move it left. It's counter intuitive.

You will back in very very tight spots more frequently than you'd think. You need to remember to allow room for your truck's nose to swing in front of the tractor. Hard to explain without someone showing you, but it's critical.

Remember, in school they may limit how many pull ups you can take to pass the backing portion of your CDL exam, but in the real world you do what it takes to get it done.

Take the easiest path. If you can find a pull-through at a distribution center to avoid backing - take it. If there are 3 spots in the TS all next to each other, grab the middle one. No shame in trying to make your life as easy as possible, esp starting out. I parked in many rest areas the first 2.5mo just because I was too nervous trying to back at the TS. It gets better. Just make sure that when you take the easy spot that you are as straight as straight can get to make life a little easier on those other 2 drivers.

Single most important thing to remember: G-O-A-f-L
Get Out And f%$&#%& Look.

I worried about this a lot when I first started. I tried to be all cool and pro and never have to get out because I'm holding everyone else up. Guess what? I realized I'd look pretty darn dumb standing in the TS in front of everyone having to fill out an accident report because I was too good to GOAL. I realized that if it's a time thing, how long does sorting an accident out take? I've sat for 2 hours at a live dock waiting for a simple accident that did barely any damage to get cleared up. GOAL GOAL GOAL. It was -10° here last night at this TS and I still GOALed 3 times to make sure I wasn't going to hit a fixed object I couldn't see. GOAL as many times as you need to to make sure you will not hit anything. Practice GOAL in CDL school. Imprint it on your brain, on your forehead, get a tattoo. Do whatever you need to do to keep GOAL in mind.

 

The day you stop learning how to back your truck, will probably be the day you hit someone. The day you hit someone, will likely be the day someone hits you, but probably with a tire knocker, not a truck.

In short; don't stop learning how to back a truck- you always figure new things out about handling a rig, if AND ONLY IF you're paying attention.
Talking to older (but not necessarily more experienced) drivers will help to a degree.