Need tips on backing a 40ft Trailer!

Even still, 53 with tandems at 41 feet, or 40 with tandems at 1 foot. Your still steering the trailer by the tandems no matter the location.

Well, that wasnt really helpful. Just needed something to say.

 

You just need to adjust .

 

20's are even more fun. The only saving grace for them is you can usually stretch the chassis out but good luck doing that when the chassis is older than X-1 and it's loaded with 200k lbs of neutron star material.

 

The shorter the trailer the harder they are to back. I rented a little U-Haul box truck with a car dolly - that was the hardest back I've ever done!

 

I have heard folks say that shorter trailers are harder to back than longer ones, but it just aint so.

I had been backing 53 foot trailers sometimes ten times a day for over two years. Then one day I get a 48 foot trailer and I could not believe how much easier it was to back up with that thing the very first day using it.

Hard to imagine that just five feet difference in length would make me feel like super trucker.

 

That's because a 48 is still pretty long compared to the tractor. It's a whole new ball game once you start getting below 40' and the ratio of trailer length to tractor length gets closer to 1:1. As long as you are decent at backing and take it slow you'll be ok, sure.

This is also why it's such entertainment watching an RV backing into a spot at a TS when they are towing a car on a dolly.

 

Just to be clear, are you now asking how to make a right turn in reverse?

Once you have mastered the difference between a reverse button hook and a reverse jug handle you will be doing great.