A question I have that I do not understand from my instructer

I'VE BEEN TO THAT PRINTING OUTFIT!!! Still got the rash I developed getting into that blank blankety blank dock. My company dropped them after a month because of all the driver complaints. (What was the name of the place?)

 

Aaaah, screw it, just go drive a flatbed; they don't even have a reverse gear.

 

To the OP, the one thing I would say is you need what find what works for you. My first day of backing, I was told just to watch the driver's mirror and steer toward the trailer if it got bigger and away from it if it got smaller. Didn't work for me. As soon as I started looking in both mirrors and steering toward the side getting bigger, just a quarter turn at a time, I could keep it smack dab between the cones.

 

Ok, so what happened? Did you run over all the cones sending the English instructor packing back to the U.K. ? I would have practiced G.O.A.L. and found that the cones were in the wrong place, then moved them to the correct position with my truck.

 

Two things to remember when backing - pure and simple:

You're steering the trailer's tandems, and you're monitoring the position of the front, right fender of the truck. If either is out of position, then you've lost control of your maneuver, and you need to begin it again.

These schools and even certified DOT testing facilities, teach and demand technique. I have news for every new driver; there is NO set technique to backing a truck. These techniques they are teaching, very seldom if ever have any real application when backing a truck in the real world.

Sure, there is technique to setting up, but when it comes to backing, it turns from technique to watching what you are doing, doing it slowly, and exercising patience.

There will always be these arsehole drivers in truck stops who will make fun of you if you can't slot a truck into a spot in just a few minutes. There will always be drivers who will sit and glare angrily at you if you are holding them up because you need to reset a maneuver. They're arseholes, they're too impatient, and they just need to get over it. They won't pay for the damage if you hit something, by trying to make them happy by "hurrying up".

But back to backing. Here are some simple steps to follow:

• At truck stops, pick a spot to back into, commit to it after you've picked it. Size it up, driving a circuit around the truck stop even, if necessary, to size up this spot you've picked.
• At docks, where you are assigned doors, do the same thing - size up the dock before even thinking about committing to your setup. Where you aren't assigned a dock, and there are multiple docks, pick the easiest to back into. NEVER the hardest. You're not showing off your skills. You're backing a 70-foot-long, 80,000-pound, $150,000 truck and trailer into a space often scarcely large enough to accommodate it.
  • This might mean hopping out and looking at the area you want/need to back into. It might mean little more than stopping and looking into it, or doing a simple driveby. But always, always size up where you want to back, before you start to think about how you are going to do your setup.
• Once you have done this, do your setup. In this, do what feels natural to you. If you don't get a good setup the first try, pull out of it, drive around and do your setup again. Do this repeatedly, until you are comfortable with it. Never EVER push a bad setup and try to back from it. What you'll get from doing it, is a situation you won't like, and you will look like a boneheaded idiot. Not to mention the possibility of you taking out someone's fender! Get the setup the way that feels best to you. You will know when this happens. It will feel right, and it will make sense to you. THERE IS NO SPECIFIC POSITION A TRUCK NEEDS TO BE IN TO BE QUALIFIED AS A PROPER SETUP!!
• A setup is pulling past your chosen backing slot and pulling out hard in the opposite direction of where you want to back. Then pulling in hard the other way, the point being to get the arseend of your trailer facing in towards where you want to back. Screw all of this business of holding the wheel all the way over for this long, then the other way for that long. That works only in a set course, where the distances between parked vehicles and other obstacles are known. These distances are never set in the REAL WORLD!
• Once you are comfortable with your setup, there are only two things to worry about. And ONLY these two!
  • Where your trailer tandems are going,
  • And where the right front fender of your truck is.
  • If you're needing to worry about ANYTHING else, then you have messed up somewhere, and you need to stop and at the very least, do a pull up to get things back where you are having to worry about only these two things again. You find yourself needing to worry about ANYTHING ELSE, then you need to stop! If you don't, there is a good chance you're on your way to hitting something! Again, never push a setup that isn't working, or has stopped working for you!
• If your trailer tandems are going where you want them to - which is a smoothly round arc around the obstacle you are steering them around, then likelihood is, the other side of the back of your trailer is going where you want it to, too. If you aren't sure, pull the knobs and get out and look. If you're doing it right, getting out and looking will only make you smile, because it will confirm to you that you are getting it right. If you aren't getting it right, don't get frustrated. Getting out and looking and FINDING the problem before your TRUCK has found it, has just saved you a crapton of grief you very much do not want!
• Once you are sure that your trailer is going where you want it to go, start pulling your wheel around to start steering that right, front fender, the idea being to bring the right side of your tractor even with the right side of your trailer, without sweeping your right, front fender over anything it will damage, or that will damage it. And don't worry, one out a hundred drivers gets this right on the first try, one out of a hundred times. I am able to one-shot back into a spot maybe one out of ever 200 tries. So, if it ain't lining up as you're backing into the slot, stop and do a pull up. Pull it up as far as you can, the idea being to get the tractor and the trailer on a nice neat parallel with the slot you are backing into.
• Do all of this nice, slow and easy. Roll your windows down and turn off your radio. Because if you do mess up, maybe there'll be a driver walking by who can shout "STOP!!" at you before you have backed over something and torn it up.
• Never exceed the blindside parallel. What?! What is a blindside parallel?
• Remember those two things you are worrying about, and only worrying about? If you find yourself suddenly needing to worry about what the right (blindside) of your trailer is doing, then you need to stop and figure out why!
• If you exceed the blindside parallel, then you're on your way of running that side of your trailer over the front of the truck parked next to you. So then, the right, front fender should NEVER go past the right, front of your trailer when you are backing your truck! If it does, then it means you didn't know where the right side of your trailer was, and hence, you were worrying about it! If you think you're going to need to swing wide right to see where the right side of your trailer is, then you need to do a pull up and FIND OUT where the right side of your trailer is by finding it in the right mirror while pulling forward! Or you need to get out and look! Never EVER guess at where it is while you are backing your truck. The trailer tandems and the right, front fender of your truck, are the ONLY things that should have your concentration when you are backing your truck! When you find yourself needing to concentrate on only these two things, and the rest takes neatly care of itself!

Serious business. These are the two critical points when backing a truck. If you're worrying about anything else, then you are backing a truck that may be on its way to damaging something.

And simply, because you can't know where it is, and thus it should not be occupying your concentration. If you're needing to concentrate on them, or they have you worried, then you need to STOP and take steps to find out what they are doing, while the truck is stopped! The left, front fender won't hit anything if your tractor is pulling to the right during a backing, will it? It is pulling AWAY from stuff! If it isn't, then you're blindside backing, and you're just plain stupid and shouldn't be backing the truck!

And when you are backing, you are STEERING the tandems with the trailer. Make them go where you want. This takes a little thought a some practice, but you want the tandems to steer a nice pretty arc around the obstacle. You don't want to back them to the obstacle and then start turning. You want them to STEER around the obstacle. Want some practice with this, get yourself one of those nifty Radio Flyer wagons. Steer it backwards around stuff. Yep, how it is done will click in your head pretty quick.

But seriously, the watch words are "Careful", "Patience" and "Taking it slow". You do these things, and you'll be backing like an old pro in no time, no matter that you're just out of school.

Got any questions or need clarification on anything, hit me up. I''l try my best to have an answer that works for ya!