flatbed parking

Open the roll up screen in your bunk. Now you have a tiny window to peek thru when doing blind-side backing. It helps.

 

You can actually see better when backing a flat if you don't have a headboard and don't have a full deck (as in hauling a coil and whatnot). When hauling something small volume wise or empty, you can see across the trailer to the other side and see exactly where the back of the trailer is.

I drive a day cab and pull all open decks. Unless i'm hauling a big box or something, I can blind side back just as easy as any.

Learning how to back is almost as important as learning how to drive forward. Most truck accidents happen when somebody is backing up. I don't care what you pull, sooner or later you're going to have to do a tight back up to get yourself out of trouble.

 

A day can with the rear window is just chatting when it comes to blind side backing.

 

No problem admitting I have the same problem. In my short career, 95% of my trailers have been 39’ and 40’ tankers and end dumps. First time ever pulling a 53’, and spread axle at that....when I get to a truck stop I try to find a spot or two away from everyone, don’t care how far away it is from the store. Between that and bumping docks to unload equipment, I’m slowly getting better. Gonna be just like when ya first started driving....one day it’s just gonna click and you’ll never have a problem again ! At least I hope....LOL

 

It's all in what you are used to. I'm usually pulling long trailers, often over-length. What screws me up is short trailers. We've got a customer that has a portable boiler mounted on a trailer that is around 30', that thing is hard to back if you are used to long trailers. Whenever we pull it, I'll almost always cut it too sharp backing and you can't get back under it without pulling up.

Personally, I'd rather back a long trailer than a super short one. Everything moves much slower, the longer you are.

 

There was a space I could just pull up into tonight.

 

short truck - long trailer = easy
long truck - short trailer = hard

 

I’ve only been on my own since November as a driver and pulling flatbed. The first big surprise I got was the frequency of having to do tight backing jobs. In my silly thinking I had reasoned that when you’re hauling raw materials, you’re more likely to stay away from the congested metropolitan areas dry van and reefer haulers deliver to and travel between rural areas much of the time. .....Boy was I wrong !

I found myself delivering aluminum billet to Chi-Town today. I picked it up in Baltimore. That’s pretty normal for me. New Orleans, Atlanta, Tampa, Phoenix, Dallas, Tulsa, Los Angeles, etc....and you’ll do your share of backing every week.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing but respect for the way I see those experienced van drivers effortlessly putting their rig in that last remaining hole at a crowded truckstop. I envy their skill set. But I’d love to hear their reaction when some foreman at a construction site says, “Yeah, can you just put it over there ?”

Lots of times we don’t get docks designed for semi trucks. We get idiots who failed to plan for this delivery and don’t understand that a tractor trailer is a little bigger beast than their F-250.

In the very short time I’ve been at this, I’ve been put in insane tight spots more times than I can count on my fingers and toes.

 

Congested jobsites can be the worst.

You see, when they are building a terminal, dock area, or truck stop, they design it with thought in mind of having enough room for the trucks to maneuver. Jobsites can just be a big cluster with little thought put into trucks having room to come and go, and you have numerous contractors all jockeying for every square foot or room.

 

Throw in some mud. makes for a great day