Extremely nervous about backing

That wasn't a recruiter....That was a supposedly experienced O/O who btw...Went broke in under a year...Who told that whopper....

 

Yeah....He was the same one who told me back in '08 that brokers stopped using "Steps" as well.....

Man....If I just followed my gut instead of listening to him and...bought a "Step" instead of a standard "Flat"...I wouldn't be tarping as much...Oh well....We have to make what we have work.....

 

Everyone is nervous when backing for the first time. It will probably take you a good three to four months before you are comfortable with it. Also keep in mind most of your time spent in the tractor is going forward. Don't worry though once you get out in the real world you will have all kinds of backing situations thrown at you with traffic and people watching etc... The most important thing to remember is take your time and GET OUT AND LOOK! Not only does getting out and looking help you avoid hitting things but it gives a you a good mental photo so you have a better idea of what to do when you are back in the cab.

 

Ok so I'm currently attending National Tractor Trailer School (N.T.T.S.) in NY and im finding that everything is based off strait line backing (as i'm told by my instructors) and so far i've found this to be true....some things to remember are relax and take your time.....ALWAYS do a walk-around when you can look for objects to use as markers.....theres not always gonna be cones to mark the way lol.....if your unsure of your distance get out and check and the second you know its not gonna work stop and do a pull up dont try to be a macho hero it will just make you look more stupid when you fail or hit something or someone.....when I say turn toward trouble I mean watch your trailer.....your not driving the truck when your backing your driving the trailer and using the truck to do it watch your back tandems and when you see your trailer start to drift turn you wheel in the direction it is drifting to (fyi little turns!!!! you dont want to over correct)....

 

Hell I've been doing this for 8 years and I still get nervous, and I still get out and look.

 

thats what i would say

 

It depends on the rules at the given shipper/receiver. Some places want you to slide them back before you dock, some won't let you on the property until they are slid back (Home Depot for example), other places don't care. I picked up at a fence company in Lewisville, TX where it was simply impossible to dock the trailer unless the tandems were slid all the way FOWARD, there simply wasn't enough room to back in with them in any other position, there was no room at all with all the crap in their yard.

 

It comes with time, and you'll realize once you get out on the road that you didn't actually learn how to back up in school either way. I think everyone gets nervous heading to school though. You'll get it, we all do.

The best thing you can do when you get out there with a company is back up any chance you can get. If you're getting food at a truck stop, don't pull up in the fuel island, go back in somewhere. It helped me out immensely when I first started.

 

It will seem hard until you finally get it down. My backing is really good now. One day I made a wrong turn and entered a no trucks allowed neighborhood and was able to back into another two lane street to my left with no shoulder to turn around and did it with no problem. I basically treated the street like a truck stop parking space. No big deal to the pros here, but just letting you know that I was nervous for the first couple of months and now after backing in so many different areas all over the US and Canada I feel like I can do anything. I dont want to get too confident as I know I could still hit something, but I am not afraid anymore and you will be the same way in time.

My advice differs from what others say... I would say try to take it easy while you are still new and nervous, because in time you will HAVE to back into hard spaces at shippers/receivers. When that happens, you could ask for a spotter or take your time and try to get it. After you get more confidence then you can try the harder spots. If you try to do the hard things while you are still new, you might hit something or lose confidence so try to get more experience first. Because I picked up things that I learned on my own just from seeing how the trailer reacts when I do different things which cannot be explained.