My advice on backing

I know what you meant, and i say again. You're nuts. The 45 degree parking spots are much easier, both on the driver and the equipment. Especially on a spread axle. Those pilots and loves don't have enough room between the isles to get your trailer set up at a soft enough angle to not put so much stress on the suspension parts that hold the axle to the frame rails. Next time you see a spread axle backing up, look at the tires on the front axle, you will understand what I'm talking about.

 

I had a road test Thursday with a 10 spd day cab pulling a van trailer. I have only pulled tankers in the past, and grain trailer. Anyway, the dock was on the back of a grocery store and had one slot open. The setup was a bit of an angle, but not bad. I idled in and bumped the dock without stopping or a pull up....was a good day for backing! Of course I was fresh and not tired, so it is easier when not tired. The GM offered me a job, so I will now be pulling reefers to shoprite stores in nj from their dc in PA.

I think I will like grocery docks. They had double yellow lines so you could aim for your tandems to be right on your yellow line or right next to it. It is really helpful to me to have a visual guide to aim for.

 

Yea you have those stoner trailers that are slow to respond. I'm in Colorado and see a lot of those stoner trailers here too. They also smell like skunk

 

here is a unique view video from my girl Allie Knight. filmed with a drone overhead

 

You're method is good and works great. It's called steer towards danger

 

I agree completely. I drover OTR for years and after 1 years I KNEW I could back into any spot ANY driver could get into, and I could. I didn't care if it took me 3 hours or 3 seconds, I will get into that spot.

Then I got a job dropping and hooking 6-12 times each night and each trailer was backed into a dock. In one month my backing skills were improved 500%.

I laugh each time I hear/read drivers making some justification for NEVER BACKING UNLESS YOU HAVE TO. Backing must be the only human skill that can be improved or learned by doing it as little as possible. Backing is a necessary part of the job, maybe the most important part of the job. Practice it enough to do it well. Would a teacher claim spelling is too important to do it unless there was no alternative?

You either need the truck to bend more or bend less. The truck/trailer is either too far left or too far right. Practice solving those problems. The steering input need when going forward is the opposite of that needed when going backwards. My first trainer would not let me ever use a pull-through spot while he was in the truck and advised me to avoid them my first year of driving.

Frist be consistent, even consistently wrong. Then solve that consistent problem. Trying "this" sometimes and "that" sometimes and not noting what works just develops the pattern of random steering inputs and years of poor backing.

 

What I consistently notice about most OTR drivers when they are backing is they waste "acres" of space when they have very little room to throw away.
1) they won't turn the steering wheel until AFTER they are rolling because the steering wheel spins more easily. You're not paid to spin the steering wheel with the least effort, but put a trailer where it's need. Before you roll forward or back spin the steering wheel the desired amount. If you do this while stationary the effect on the trailer begins ASAP (P stands for Possible.)

2) OTR drivers seem only to have 1 strategy. Get as straight as possible as far in front of the hole as possible before backing. Sometimes you have space in front of the "hole" and sometimes you have minimum space in front but plenty of room past the "hole". You need a strategy that use minimum space in front of the "hole" and another for minimum space beyond the hole.

3) The people working at the customer property probably didn't engineer the location and they aren't going to re-engineer the location based on your exasperated suggestions. That junk they have parked around making it hard to back in will almost certainly be there years from now. Rather than lecture them when you are done, ask if they have seen other trucks back in to this spot before you begin.

4) when space is tight and you have SOME bend between truck & trailer, you can maneuver the trailer by rolling about one tire's circumference (roll just enough for the tire to make exactly one rotation) forward or back, stopping, putting in the opposite steering input and reversing your direction to roll one tire circumference. Do this over and over and you can get in a "hole" with the absolute minimum of space. You'll also build up your arm muscles and burn some calories.

 

Please quit while you're still ahead of the game....going downhill fast!

 

Here's my advice to everyone newbie or veterans. GOAL Get out and look. If you can't get in the hole turn the steering wheel a different direction. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Take your time and for God's sake if you can't see ask someone to spot you. I've been pulling all types of trailers since I was 16. Had a class b for a long time and a class A about 18 months ago. I'm not afraid to ask someone to spot me. 3 to 4 times a week I will spot someone after 2 or 3 attempts but I'm the one who asks if they need an extra set of eyes. It's better to have someone spot you than take forever, hit something or just give up and leave. DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK OR OFFER HELP

 

On my backing videos I keep talking about pre-loading the steering angle but I never seem to get around to explaining it. For example I see so many drivers doing their set-up as they drive by the hole they want, they peel off to the right then turn to the left to bend their unit to see the corner of the trailer and the hole then just stop. Then they try to turn the wheel right which scrubs off some little bit of tread but also loses just a little bit of time compared to if they had turned the wheel just a bit to the right while still rolling forward before selecting reverse.

That's what I call pre-loading the steer angle, kind of a carryover from the olden days before they had power steering. I come from a construction background and we had this 100 ton truck crane with 2 steer axles. The old guys knew best how to maneuver it. The young guys wouldn't. If we needed to turn the rig around what you do is drive forward cranking the wheels hard right say, then right before you want to stop, you crank hard left and then select reverse, back up to the limit and at the end turn hard right again and select forward. go forward to the limit and turn hard left again and back up again and turn hard right. In just a few moves the rig could be turned 180 degrees. The young oilers didn't understand that simple concept.