Need Help Again

Small steering wheel inputs. Eyeball the 5th wheel plate versus what walls you can see. You will notice the trailer will respond within roughly 7 feet to any input to your steering wheel left or right. One of them will be correct, the other wont be.

Problems come into play when you over correct and fail to monitor that trailer versus the offset walls. Then you are confused and finally mentally quit. And that's that.

The thing that gets people with offset is "Dont hit the wall, please dont hit the wall please don't hit the wall."

No. Think this way instead.

Please just miss the wall, please just miss the wall.... love the wall. Embrace it. Even one inch from the wall is still a mile and 10 acres to work with. Understand? Your tractor's turning radius is larger than that of your trailer. Especially when backing.

 

^^^^^^ Very true. My late father always used to tell me "Watch your wagon, driver." So true.

ps: and that was almost 40 years ago....

 

I do have one more little thing to add. It's 4:25 AM and I'm bored. So here goes. If you ride a motorcycle, I'm sure you've heard, "look at where you want to go". Sometimes a Driver can get so fixated on missing something (Thanks x1Heavy) that they're drawn to it. The trailer is an extension of you. It goes where you go. Drive the trailer, not the tractor. Look at where you want to go. You got this Brother.

 

Something simple that has helped a couple of my struggling students in the past. Don't laugh....it works & helps a heck of a lot.

Go and buy a toy truck! One permanently resides in my truck for students in such a position. Have never had one fail to pass, yet.

You need to see the bigger picture, and a birds eye view will assist showing you how that happens so much more. You should be able to visualize it much clearer, both trailer movement & how it will respond to how you are steering. New guys tend to get myopic & stuck when just staring at the back end out the window & mirrors. Brain kinda freezes.

You have to remember, you are now driving the TRAILER, not the truck.....when backing. Your rear tandems are now your steers & pivot point.

No way you are going to learn to back by reading. May just well serve to further confuse you with so many different comments & thoughts.

Luck out to you, Bud.

Keep at it & it will come. It sure doesn't come overnight!

 

My advice to you is you need to play with the truck and trailer no skill sets to perform. I'm teaching my son to drive a pick up truck in a lot where I park my trucks. I happen to have a trailer hook to the pick up. I said son you know where the brake, gas, you know where reverse, drive is. He said yes. I said ok go play with the truck and trailer see what it can do. My point is you need to know what the truck can do & not do. I hope you relax & get back to having fun in learning everybody learns a different rate. Don't compare yourself to others. You will get it.

 

One of my bosses pointed at the dump truck and pointed to the top of a grassy hill. Yelling I want that thing up there now.

I eyeball the dirt road leading up to grassy hill and figure I have room to get it up there. Down the path I went, K turned and back at the grassy knoll I charged.

Have to go fast enough to get up but not so fast to over shoot and roll off the cliff. Exciting time.

The other dump showed up and we started racing to see who would be first at the top. King of the hill thing.

Customer standing there with boss watching two big trucks race up his hill.... fun times.

 

Watch the action from the end of the lane watching the back of the trailer. Observing others only helps if you do so from different vantage points. Go back super far so you are safe.

 

I cannot tell you how many times Ive gone through Offset at teh school rubbing the wall that is now adjusted by the 10 or so spectators waiting their turn. lol.

 

The way I was taught I was able to get it in successfully the first few times I tried it without any pull-ups. This method is guaranteed to set you up properly. If you screw up, it is because of something you're doing later (most likely over-correcting).

When you drive straight forward and initially stop, turn the steering wheel all the way to the right, as soon as you step off the clutch and the truck starts to accelerate count to 3 while holding the steering all the way to the right. After those three seconds turn the steering wheel all the way to the left.

I Suggest stopping once you can see the front middle cone. That way you can take a moment to figure out how to "aim" your trailer in the rest of the way.