End of week 1 at academy. Having trouble(PLEASE Help)

Watching other students helped me, seeing what they did when they were successful and what they shouldn't have done when unsuccessful

 

Backing just takes a lot of practice.

I had a HECK of a time with it. Others got it no problem, very quickly.

One of the main things you can do is make sure your mirrors are set right for you.

2 methods for that:

1. Get the truck perfectly (or mostly perfectly) straight between two lines on the ground. Adjust your mirrors so you can see IN BOTH a perfectly straight line, front to tandems.

2. Get the TRUCK straight, align a straight line of cones on either side and adjust mirrors as above.

Half the trouble people have with backing is badly aligned mirrors. Hope that helps. It's tough when you're hopping into a truck right aftrer someone else, cause what was straight for them is totally WRONG for you.

 

Well, interesting question. When I was learning this stuff many moons ago, it was all about practice, but there were a few things you could do. As stated, getting your side mirrors straight is a good thing, but make sure your SPOT mirrors are in a position where you can see out of them as well. I've moved my blind side spot mirror to the point I could see the entirety of the trailer as I was turning it on the blind side. It gives you a general idea of where the trailer is going, up to a certain point. After that, it's time to GOAL.

I know this is training, but I was always taught you should look for a way to driver side back. The only time you blind side back is when you have no other choices left to you. So, practice, get as good at it as you possibly can, then make sure to driver side back or spend however much time you need to GOAL. I'd rather a safe driver than a cowboy any day of the week.

I'm not sure about Swift, but what I use to tell my trainees was simple: "The company is paying you to move the freight in a safe and timely manner with no damage to either the truck or the load. I don't care if you have to get out 30 times to figure out if you are backing correctly, do it. Ignore anyone who is giving you a hard time, don't get nervous, you've done this before and can easily do it again."

After a few times backing with the same truck and trailer, you'll be fine. Just take your time and put it in the hole safely.

Also, I know this might sound a bit off the wall, but if you know someone or have access / can download a game called "Eurotruck Simulator", download the demo and practice with that. The demo lets you carry loads, look at it from all different angles to see how your trailer reacts to adjustments on the steering wheel while dropping it in a 'dock'.

Best of luck, and remember, stay calm

 

VERY good advice. and I agree. Better to be embarrassed and take 30 minutes than take off someone's bumper and cost him 1-3 days off the road.

JJ Keller (among others) says to NEVER do a blind-side maneuver (other than parralell) without a spotter. That's darned good advice AKAIC. I've HAD to do it a couple of times at a shipper/receiver. But usually you can find a way to sight-side in. A couple of weeks ago I had to back in 1000 feet+ straight to set up a tight 90-degree back. Beat holy heck out of trying to blind-side that same spot. (15 minutes vs 45)

 

First load I ever hauled in the US was in a cabover Kenworth, no power steering and pulling a 48' reefer unit loading in at a chicken plant.. It was a 90 degree back into a dock with 2 inches of spare room either side of your open trailer door. You had to fire up the reefer before you back into the 'alley' to get there because you couldn't get to it otherwise. Had to climb out the passenger door to go into the office. lol.

I was fresh out of school and did a fair bit of getting out and looking on that one, I can assure you. Nobody said nothing, but then again, it took them 4 hours to load me anyway. They didn't get in much of a rush.

And unfortunately, sometimes you really don't have a choice but to blindside. Just do it safely.

 

Seriously, like some drivers have stated, practice and watch and apply. It is NOT a contest. Do not let other drivers pressure you. I would rather take 45min to get it right, than have to talk to safety about a preventable accident.

Use your mirrors, all of them. Get out and look. Good luck!

 

That is one good thing about a volvo you can spin it around the smallest area as to not have to blindside it

 

Sounds like you have your mirrors all jacked up. For the most part, once they are set, you should not have to ever move them again. Sitting in your normal seated, driving position, you should look over to either mirror and be able to see the back of the trailer at the inside portion of the mirror, and the rest of the mirror displays area out away from the trailer. Also, you should be able to see the trailer tandems down in the bottom area of the mirror.

If you are always dealing with different mirror positions, you will never get your backing technique ironed out.

Blind side parallel parking, you still should leave the mirror set where it should normally be. I doubt very seriously they are doing any backing maneuvers that would ever require the mirrors to be "motored" out. If you are moving the mirrors to make these backs, that's probably a lot of your problem. You need to have a good mental image in your head of what the back of your trailer is doing and about where it is, with no more then leaning forward to gauge it's position, attitude, and projected position. More confused now?

Changing the mirror position outward is very disorienting, even for seasoned drivers. Also, don't forget to use the "convex mirrors" and to learn to gauge a lot of what's going on with these.

 

Practice Practice Practice
Every chance you get, Practice

 

Ok, I'm going to go over the parallel steps with you, because I just went through learning the parallel myself.

-Make sure your truck is straight, and the back trailer tires are lined up within a couple feet of the front cone of the parking space.
-Make one full turn in the direction away from the space, example if the space is on your right turn left.
-Back up until your tractor and trailer are 45 degree angle from each other. This happens when you can see the bottom of the "V" of the landing gear supports in your mirrors ( you can see exactly half the landing gear).
- Turn the wheel ALL the way the other way.
- Back up until your truck and trailer are straight again ( the amount of trailer shoulder looks equal on both sides, you can see the back of the trailer on both sides, drive tires look lined up with the trailer on both sides).
-Turn the wheels back to straight again. Usually about 2 full turns. You can lean out the window and see the tires/lug nuts to tell where the tires are pointing.
- Back up until the back trailer tires on the opposite side from the parking space (if the space is on your right you're looking at the left back trailer tires) are almost touching the line marking the outside of the space. Stop.
- Now, you want the trailer to move gradually towards the outside of the space as you're backing in, correct? So turn the wheel ALL the way the opposite way. Example if you're backing into a space on your right, you want the trailer to start heading left as you back in, so turn the wheel all the way 2 turns+ to the right.
- Back until your rear drive tires are almost on the line marking the outside of the space. You're looking at the drive tires on the inside of your angle, the drive tires that are moving towards the landing gear. Stop when the tires almost are on the line.
-Turn the wheel ALL the WAY back the other way, like 4 turns+ to get the tires going all the way in the opposite direction.
-Back until the tractor is mostly in the space, keeping an eye on not going too far and hitting the rear cones or the outside drive tires going outside of the space.
-Now all you should have to do is turn the wheel back the other way and drive forward a bit to get straight and make sure the nose is in.

Step by step, there you have it. Got me in every time.