Humbled and frustrated already.

Everybody starts from the same place, more or less. Millions of drivers have learned to back, more or less, you can do it, too. The basic "trick" is in setting up where the backing part of the maneuver is easy.

Really, there's not much to teach a driver about backing until they start asking questions. There's bound to be a lot of trial and error, so repetition is key. Then you get frustrated. Then it's time to watch the errors of others, you can learn as much from those.

 

2 yr exp here...this past week I finally had a good blind side back.....its all in practice practice practice

 

Your description of the monkey had me laughing LOL... I hope to heck I don't ever resemble that while backing but I tend to over correct when in my pickup and backing a trailer... Glad to know there is a accurate description to squirrely backing.
Thank you for the laughter, and just breathe ~ Practice will help, it really isn't as easy as some of these drivers make it seem.
Good luck!

 

Best advice is something that I learned from watching a classmate in my CDL school. Slow down! Never use the right foot during backing except to start. Stop after every small move and evaluate where you are and what it will take to make the next move. The GOAL recommendation has already been made, but this will truly help you understand the dynamics of backing. Just be patient and don't get overly confident from you prior experiences! You'll get there! Good luck!

 

Just takes time your used to cadilacin it probly throw the right arm over the seat and back that boat right in first shot once it CLICKS you will find it easier to back a 53 than a boat and the funny thing is same with me once you get it and go to the lake and try to back that dam little boat trailer in your gonna have the same struggle haha just relax stay calm and patient

 

You're used to boat trailers, u-haul, etc. the axles are forward. Tractor trailers the axles are at the rear of the trailer. Big difference in backing. For me, backing a 53' trailer is easy but backing a boat or U-haul is almost impossible.

 

Nothing like first day backing to ##### slap some humbleness into ya LOL. Believe me, I know all too painfully.

Theres no easy way to tell someone, or to type to someone, how to back. Like riding a bicycle, you just have to get the feel for the trailer and how it responds. You'll get there.

Theres no point in worrying anyways, because after you've learned to back and been driving for 3 years, you'll pull into a delivery one night and look like a first day noob backing in. See it all the time... 3 million safe miles printed on the side of the truck, taking 20 minutes to back in. So even when you learn, you'll still mess it up. So don't worry too much.

It only takes a normal person to screw something up the first time they try it. But only a truck driver can screw something up that they've done hundreds of times, and do it with STYLE

 

You'll get it, and yes, you'll have times where you struggle even after you've been on the road a while. I've been doing this 20+ years and last week, I had a stop where I couldn't get my trailer to do what I wanted it to, funny thing is, the more pissed off you get, the harder it fights you.

By the way, I have a little 12 foot cargo trailer at home, and when I pull it, I avoid having to back it up at all costs. That thing hates me, and I hate it.

 

Just relax. Very few people are good backing on the first day... And if they are it's usually on a training pad with cones... Not a tight truck stop with hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment to squeeze between.

It will click for you eventually. It didn't click for me for a long time. In fact even know sometimes I set up wrong and it's all over but the crying.

One thing I've learned about backing is everyone has a method, everyone does it differently, and every situation is different. One guy might look like a pro, but slide his tandems all the way up and he might have some trouble with the extra trailer swing. Or vice versa.

The best backs are those where nothing is struck with the ### end of your trailer.

unloader

 

LOL... One of our trucks is a 5500 with a 44' gooseneck. I can put that thing anywhere but hook me up to the 16' gooseneck and I could not back it up on the salt flats. One thing to remember is that your axles are your pivot point. Start turning your trailer just before the cone you need to go around.

Stick with the longer trailer if you can. Longer trailers give you more time as they react slower. Hence they seem easier to back.

Now the Western Star with the stepdeck is even different from the 5500 with the gooseneck.