Advice wanted for doing 90 & 45 setup

To many factors to have a "pre set up". Every dock or facility you'll have to back into is gonna be different with different obstacles (trailers, other rigs, concrete ledges, railings, telephone poles, buildings, overhangs, cars, trees etc you name it and it will be in your way) not to mention your trailer length, fifth wheel, where your trailer tandems are etc. It just takes patience, real time experience and practice, practice, practice.

 

There are all kinds of formulas and calculated maneuvers. Yes practice is going to be your best bet. You can practice one particular set up 100 times and have it down perfect then move the tandems and now your screwed! Just going to take some time behind the wheel.

 

Well Im add my two cents for what its worth: When backing up whether its a 90 or 45 the best advice I can give you on the set up is try to position the trailer so that you are close to being lined up with the dock and the cab of the truck is in a position where you can get back under the trailer within the amount of distance you have to the dock. Some set ups will be a piece of cake, others will require you to scratch your original plan and start over from the beginning, but there are many factors that come into play as mentioned early. I might add the time of day, hours driven and position of the sun. Remember GOAL and do not be afraid to ask a fellow trucker to spot you on your blindside as you back up. Also remember the slower you back up the more time you will have to correct trailer drift. Also it doesnt matter how many times you have to pull up. Pulling up is better than replacing a mirror or fender on someone else's truck. Good Luck

 

Slow down, take your time, think about what you want to happen. Try to get the trailer pointed in the right direction when starting your back-up. As far as 45 or 90 degree set-up forget about it, use what you have. It all takes time patience and practice. GOAL, do not be embarassed, use pull-ups. There is a wharehouse I go to on a weekley basis, it is not that ,big or busy, you have to back through a set of overhead doors and then to the docks, well the docks are offset from sides of the overhead doors buy about 2ft, If you are not paying attention you will catch 2 different docks in your mirrors, used to be a b----, know since I have been going there awhile I have adjusted how I set-up to give me the easiest way in I almost always use a pull-up know matter where I am at. Point is learn and understand the basics of backing up and pick the easiest path in. The set-ups taught in school are just to get you started there are no 2 situations the same, so like I said slow down take your time, think about it for a minute if you have to, better to think a minute, than get rushed and back in to something, that will cost you more than a minute.