Offset/Parallel

FALL OFF

I use a term when training new drivers how to back: Fall Off. Let's imagine you are parked, with your steer tires dead straight, and your trailer is 5° off straight towards the driver side. Put it in reverse and back the TRACTOR straight back.

What happens to the trailer when you back up? It will "Fall Off" the straight line and start getting closer and closer to a 90° jacknife as you back.

Use this concept to your advantage. A shorter trailer (or dry/reefer van with the tandems slid all the way up) will "Fall Off" faster than a long trailer (or dry/reefer with the tandems slid all the way back). As you are backing up, wait for the right angle between the tractor and trailer and then "Follow The Fall Off". In other words, you are following the tandems of the trailer, with your steer tires turned left (assuming you are backing to the left) to let those trailer tandems describe a nice, wide radius.

Sometimes in REALLY TIGHT truck stops or customer yards it's necessary to start your backing just this way, with VERY LITTLE angle between your tractor and trailer, allow the fall off to start, then follow it as you watch your passenger side bumper like a HAWK so you don't put a trucker out of commission for a month because you tore off his hood, condenser, charge air cooler, and radiator.

ALWAYS be a professional and GOAL as many times as you need to finish the back safely. Sure, on the DOT test you can't do that, but in the REAL WORLD you had pretty well #### sure better do it.

 

I am also having issues backing the 28ft pup. When I went to school, we tested on a 48ft. Now at this job, we are learning a 28ft and its killing me. I can straight line back which is fine. But if I do a swing to either the left or right and then try to do a straight back, I just cannot seem to line it up correctly and always need at least 1-2 pull ups.Oversteering is a huge problem with me.

 

Amen. Shorter trailers are more difficult to back than longer trailers, ESPECIALLY if your tractor has a long wheel base and wide turning radius. When I have that setup I back at a much slower speed and pay more attention to trying to follow the fall off much earlier and at a shallower angle than I do with a longer trailer.

A short trailer with a spread axle absolutely owns me. I can't back those for ####.

There's no shame pulling up and goaling the #### out of it.

 

I was given steps in writing. Once I memorized the steps, the truck went right in every single time. There were 5 separate steps for the whole maneuver if I remember right. If they didnt give you the steps in writing, you can probably find them online.

It hasnt done me too much good in the real world. Things are never lined up perfectly like on the range.

 

This is an issue I have with the DMV testing guidelines. Punishing a new driver for pull-ups and GOALS is totally wrong. Pull ups are fine. Just like GOALS, take all you need and don’t even think twice about it.

The fact that they punish you on the test for doing exactly what you should be doing is completely insane and assinine to me.

 

You are doing this with a 28 foot?

You ROCK Dude. You RULEZ.

I tell you why. I have handled 20 foot containers on triaxle chassis before with tractors longer than that it seems. No power steering either in them days. Those things are super hard to dock, back into anything and so on because they are short.

If you really want some fun, buy a 7 foot trailer for a few hundred dollars and try to back that with your pickup truck. =) Only don't you are setting up for a complex that will cause you to hate those small trailers forever.

It is very easy to chivvy a 53 foot Mr Long trailer into a spot you want it to be in any old way you want to get in there. By the same token the short 28 foot demands your undivided attention like a Teenager provided a first smart phone at 13 years old, one for which you pay over minutes at time and half for the month. If you don't make mistakes you will get it in there.

I probably used parralel parking several times in my entire life. Once in a fishing seaport on the coast of mass with 7 parking meters fed so I can have breakfast across the street (All wheels within 3 inches of curbing, quarters in the 2 hour meters and reefer howling in high range and main engine off brakes set and drives chocked due to slight slope.

Police were called, they checked everything out aokay. Nothing to do here.

On the other side of the coin I have once parraleled parked on a bit of gravel in Jersey across from the 76 once off I-78. There was a awful lot of signs and posts in the gravel and dirt ground under by many trucks before me. What do you know, they all say do not park. No parking or some variation.

I paid that ticket and a little extra for teddy bears or whatever they do for the kids in trouble that are very young that evening. Ive told this story a few times in the past on TTR and ranks as one of the more memorable tickets that I had no trouble paying and wished I had a camera with all those no parking metal signs and posts piled under the drives. =)

You will be fine. Just don't hit anything and keep a baggie of small change. Preferably 20 dollars worth.

 

Fall Off, thats good, I like that. Used that method backing into an alley that two right hand turns going back. I just straight line back the first turn with my trailer pinted towards the right, I just kept it straight and let my trailer do all the work. It was beautiful.

The problem I kept running into was turning my tractor, making my tractor do all the work I would run out of space on my left no room to get behind it. So after 15 or 20 minutes of failure, that idea just popped into my head.

 

I got my state test last year. This year it is training for a new job and instead of using a 48ft trailer like I have done in the test, I am using a 28ft trailer. Hope to get it right tomorrow.

 

Offset

1. Turn away from the box and make your cut
2. Counter steer to get back under
3. Straight line back until you're on top of the box
4. Turn towards the box to make your cut
5. Counter steer to get back under

Parallel is basically the same manuever, you're just coming in the side of the box instead of the top

 

My head has again exploded like in scanners.