Man I hope I get used to trailer backing

I think you are going to do just fine. Take all this advice and see what will best suit you. Its all good advice and every driver has their way in which works best for them. Like one of the other posters mentioned about set-up, this is going to be your key. Your second crucial plan of attack is going to be your speed. The slower you go the more accurate you are going to be. This will allow you to correct yourself. Don't do the snake! This will mess you up everytime. The snake is simply over correcting over and over again. What ever you do to the steering wheel give it a good 6-8 seconds before you see results. Use your steering wheel in small increments. Spinning that wheel all the way to the left or right is just going to send your trailer off into the abyss. If you think you are starting to get off track then pull up. This will correct you easier than the steering wheel.

Sorry I could go and on and I'm sure every other driver could too. Like I said you will find what is best for you out of all this info. Practice, practice, practice!

 

the thing that made it 'click' for me was looking in your mirrors turn toward the side you see more trailer in (to go straight) so to turn just keep more trailer in one side, also I was to draw an imaginary line on the road to follow with the trailer tires, we even had a rope we could use at truckin school.

 

steer the front of the trailer, the rear will follow

 

The "Backing Game". Backing is something that is self acquire. As a rookie, you will get advice from your instructors in your driving school,trainer, and those drivers on the road that will try to help you.
I didn't really get good at it until about six months on my own. A couple of students caught on it off the bat. But the job I took after school (dollar general account) was the king of all backing challenges. You will find out at the start of your career that truck stops are just as big as a challenge as some of the shippers and consignees. You get into a tight spot with a '53 ft trailer as far as backing goes, you can always slide the tandems back. Tandems forward means an overhang that might be strike the vehicle on your blindside. If you have a CB radio, that can help (such as others telling how close you are) or hurt (bad comments when you are backing).
If you got to get out in look several times, do it. You might think that others think you are a fool, but it's less foolish then having a backing accident. Keep practicing, it will come to you sooner or later.

 

I used to practice with a gooseneck stock trailer

 

goes both ways doesn't it? Neither doesn't look good at all

 

You'll get better, it just takes time. I did pretty well for the most part when I first hit the road but it wasn't always pretty. It wasn't until I started driving local where I backed in trailers every hour, an sometimes even more often, that it really began to click for me. In 3 weeks I've increased my backing abilities by a very large margin.

 

Sigh! In running configuration (i.e. 22 pallets 44k lbs), the king pin to tandem distance is the same for these two trailers. Except for tail swing, they drive the same.