backing question

when in doubt get out and look!

 

Ive gotten pretty good at backing a truck.But I heard this from another driver on the forumn.I drive for Stevens,not ashamed to admit it.As Im pulling into the truckstop,I get on the cb and say.Stevens coming in,does anybody need a new bumper,lol.Should see some of the owner operators jump to guide me in,lol.I can back my truck with anybody,not even so much as a nudge on anything,knock on wood.Try that pulling in,you will get all the help you need.I.E Swift,Schneider,CRE,et,al.

 

fear of hitting something is in every trucker. its nothing to be ashamed of. the only thing to be ashamed of is if you loose that fear. one tip that helped me,,,when u are alone in the back row of a truck stop and you have the time to practice. do it. and/or walk your way through the parking process. hell if it helps get a remote controled truck/trailer and play with that. it helped alot of people in some difficult vairiables.

 

Wow, reading what you wrote jogged my memory back to when I just started driving. I use to do the same thing. I would watch and test myself on which way the driver would turn his wheel next, that was back in '78. Boy time fly's.

 

Yep, I drop and hook6 trailers per night, 5-6 nights per week, 48 weeks per year for 12 years, plus my OTR experience, which is back into a spot once or twice a day. I can back into any spot any driver can put a trailer, even if it takes me 10 hours or fifty pull-ups. Usually I can put my trailer in tight doors with 0-1 pull-ups. But, if I get the least little feeling someone is rushing me I will make backing that trailer longer than WWII. There is no excuse for rushing a driver while backing. You think he's taking a long time, wait until he hits something and see how long that takes to get everything out of your way. I leave the CB on until I hear the first smart remark, and then is goes off. If you are being rushed, it's usually one jerk rushing you and everyone else is happy to wait.

One trick that works to keep rushing a-holes in place, and is very valuable when you have to back using a public street, is you don't vacate the valuable real estate in front of you until you won't need it any more. I can move a trailer left/right a foot or two by rolling back and pulling up within 3 or 4 feet, it just tales multiple forward/backs. Before I've completely gotten out of the street, I make sure I won't have to go back into the street for a pull-up. Those cars you are holding up are looking at you. Once you vacate that street, the cars rushing by have no reason to expect a big truck to stop sideways across the street.

If nobody is rushing me, I will be happy to stop backing and let a waiting truck go around, but only in front. YOU WILL NEVER DRIVE BEHIND ME WHILE I"M BACKING. I never leave time or space for that to happen.

I don't pull straight forward of my spot to open/close doors. I stop at a right angle to my spot to open/close doors. When I make the swing from driving in front of the spot in the direction of pulling straight in front of the spot, there is no time wasted from going forward until I begin going in reverse.

Pulling straight ahead, if you aren't very experienced at backing, is a lazy shortcut that wastes an opportunity for backing practice. You probably need more practice, so practice. Use the empty space as an imaginary obstruction and back in like there is minimum space in front of your parked trailer.

If you make it a habit to pull straight ahead of your parking spot you leave people guessing about how long you will stay there, do they have time to go behind you, what are you doing, etc. Just like going around a corner with a trailer, expect the stupid to be stupid, but don't give them the space to be stupid between you and the curb.

 

Get Out And Look. i still get out and look. i dont give a flip who gets mad. i had one driver say something smart on the radio one time when i was backing out of a nose in truckstop one time. i quipped back to him to screw him and the horse he rode in on, his arrogance would not pay for any damage that MY truck might do if i hit something.

the ones who are smart about it are the super truckers, so dont listen to them in the first place. a good driver no matter how long he or she has been driving will always be careful and get out and look.

i saw a Prime owner/op of more than 25 years tear the right side off a Swift international a few months back. he was attempting to blind side into the parking spot in BROAD DAYLIGHT and because he did not simply get out and look, he tore the nose of the truck off from the passenger headlamp all the way to the mirror on the door.

never assume you are clear. if i am in a tight loading/unloading zone, i will watch the blind side while talking to the driver on the CB.

another example of the super trucker mentality happened to me this past friday. i delivered my load at coca cola here in chattanooga, and the rules of the yard are to slide the tandems to the rear, drop the trailer and stage your tractor in front of your trailer. i disconnect and leave about 2 inches of my fifth wheel touching the trailer so i can feel when the load starts and stops.

anyways, it was well over 120 with the heat index, and i am like many others here. i avoid getting out of the truck when at all possible, screw any extra work that is not needed. i was done. got my papers, etc, reconnected, and went to my next stop 45 miles away to the water plant in benton TN. the rules there are slide the tandems to the rear and chock your wheels.

as i get there, the parking lot is jammed. probably 20 or more trucks to get loaded, so that makes parking difficult, even if your tandems are to the front. as i was creeping forward, some jerk said on the radio hey why dont you slide your tandems and back in right there? i simply ignored him. i go to this place all the time and i know where i will be docking. plenty of room to turn around so there is no need to manipulate the trailer turning radius to get backed in to the door.

maybe these super truckers have showers and stuff in the truck. i know i dont. and if i can avoid getting hot and sweaty, then by all means i will. there are some drivers out there who do not care what they look like, i on the other hand try to maintain a clean appearance. i may not shave every day, but by god i have clean clothes and i do wear them when i am around my customers. i get a shower credit a day from fueling, so that is no problem either.

it only takes one bad apple to ruin everyone for everyone else. is my company perfect? not by a long shot. but i can say that the company i work for has no dress code, just look presentable. it is also one of the VERY FEW that allows the drivers to carry your pistol as long as the driver has a permit. and i can not tell you how wonderful that has been.

didnt mean to rant, carry on drivers.

 

This what i learned over the years, first thing i do is stop the truck were i want too park, if i decide too park on the blacktop, i get out and walk around and get the big picture , were i want too back up, looking for broken bottles and trash ect, in the truckstop,but i always go too too the back and find the dirt , much cooler too sleep on and less stinky too,unless there's a bull hauler next too you, anyway, on lot up front, i wacthed a driver hit a drain hole in the stall, it tilted his van and whipped out the other guy driver mirror, there was a cone in front of stall at one time, but he thought he could move it and back in , bad idea, next when backing , pay close att, to wide load signs on the tractor parking there, like at night, he might have a wide flat sheets of 1 inch thick sheets of steel on there flat bed , that will rip a nice gash down your van trl in a hurry,something you cant see at night,then for awhile, back in 95 , they had those yellow speed bumps at end of the stall, those are blast too back over, they were the internet-phone, ect were you plug your cables in, seen one driver didnt see it and was off the ground upside down and ripped up his tires, but for me i ran reefer and would park out back in the dirt and all by myself , no trucks around till morn or they come in sometime during the night, next with your skills of backing comes backing into buildings toatly blind backing till you get inside, that post ofice is a blast over in detroit, mich, you drive under the building and back into the dock,same as the caves down in mo, theres fun too back into docks in the caves, becuse not only you wacth your 4 points , you have more point too check and thats so your top clearance lights dont get ripped off or worse you get stuck on the downward cones that holds the caves up, but its fun down there , driving thru the caves and so eriee sounding,

 

An old timer taught me this trick, but only works on certain days, like on sunny day's, so i thought i give a test too see iff true or not, but the sun was high, nice shadows on the ground as i cruising the lot for a parking spot, got it line up square and slowly back in , the i noticed it, the back of trl , it was his shadow on the ground of his trl,way out there on the ground , so slow i went then the shadow slowy went away, when i got down too a foot, i stopped and walk back, dang i was right on the line, it worked , i really didnt belive that old timmer but he proved me wroung so now i dont dought any old timer advice anymore

 

This what i lernt too,you can the world's best backer, but i noticed all the mega carriers will use there trl's till the wheel's drop off, so that's means these trls been thru heck, like run off the road, there rusty under there, wont slide on the rail's, bent axel's, rear dot bumper draggen on the ground, just general junk trls and thats the only one for 234 miles , so your stuck with that choice as you have a drop and hook and hate too see your new shiney trl go, or wait a week too get that trl back,so with that said , i get out my tape measure and measure the center of axel grease cap too the front of the axel grease cap , this will tell me if the ether axel is moved foward or back, then i check the the mounting plates for any rust, all part of my pre tripping a trl,and the reason i do all this, goes right back too backing up this trl, if ether axel is off on the tape measure, that trl will ether back right or left big time,gotta love junk trls,then i know how correct myself, too backing up, far as street backing, i just call up the street cops up, like i was down south, with a load of washer's and dryer's in my reefer,at thelma, ga, got there , o boy this gonna be fun too unload, this guy had a hole he knocked in the side of store , then put in a reg garage door, with 2x bys too back up onto too get trl tail even with his door, whole place was surrounded by 7 feet wrought fence, had two narrow gates too back into, and a one way street in front place, ya this going too be a fun day, so i get out big picture, call up the local police, got two units, one too block traffic, and the other took me and got me turn around and then going up the street the wroung way and then back in thru that tiny gate, ya i got out many times inch by inch ever so slow , got thru that got it square with building en back up on the two bys and unhook the tractor en parked it over across the street and then he's comes over ands says i have too unload the trl he had no help that day, i said not problem i got it in there you go find help, he called up the my company , they said as along not on the bills, thats his choice, ya that was a fun day. just the joy 's of backing up a trl in a tight space.

 

I am a few months out of my training and I avoid backing whenever possible. But when I do, I remember one of the few bits of useful advice my trainer gave me, never back up faster than you can think. It also applies to driving forward.