Over correcting?

Don't look at the hood....Look ahead of the truck at the road, It will help you keep the thing straight.
If your perspective is too small you'll find yourself constantly correcting for minor variances in trajectory and it'll make you weave.
This is especially true in curves...If you're not looking ahead at the curve and are instead looking at the end of the hood, You'll find yourself overcorrecting in the curve and fighting with trying to find the right line through it... Once again, If you look at the overall picture you'll have a better idea about how to negotiate the position of your truck in that picture.

 

Yeah, What he said!

Also keep glancing at your mirrors every six seconds or so to make sure your rig is centered properly. If you only stare at your hood your truck is always going to seem bigger than the road. Keep practicing and eventually you will get a "feel" for when your truck is where it should be. Practice this plus everything Black W 9 said and you will do fine. Practice, Practice, Practice...

 

From my limited experience, also keep in mind that not every trailer tracks perfectly straight behind the tractor. (Yeah...really...no kidding) LOL

The old beat to death trailers we had in school were pretty bad for this. The month I spent before school OTR wih a friend showed me some pretty ugly ones as well. We had one so bad she actually had to ride over the zipper a bit to keep the tandoms inside the line.

So at times, you'll find it necessary to "hug" one line or the other to keep the "whole" rig in the lane. If you have one like that, say the trailer tracks to the right, keep this in mind when driving through curves and making turns as well.

In such cases, it can/will also effect straight-line backing too.

 

The mirrors should be adjusted so that you see only the front corners of the trailer unless you are turning. Otherwise, you look in one mirror and the trailer seems to be dog-tracking. You look in the other mirror and the trailer seems to be dog-tracking the other way. The brackets from the door to the mirror may need to be shortened.

 

Even if you were not pulling doubles you should look way ahead in your steering. Take the advice given here and you should be ok. I've pulled triples and have not had any problems with the trailers getting out of shape. If you're pulling emptys and there are whipping out of shape then there's something wrong with the set. Do a good pre-trip and check the tires. If the trailers were loaded and getting out of shape then it would be the way it's loaded or I should say that would be the first thing to check. They're going to move a little and you should let them. But if they get out of the lane then there's a problem. Next time you drive sit back and aim straight ahead and see what happens.

 

look out ahead a good bit, and drive the truck, the trailer will follow you, forget it is back there.

 

As Black said don't look at the hood.
Reason... That hood like the trailer will always be there! Don't worry about them until it IS time to turn the steering wheel when it's time to do more than drive down a long road. You should be looking 100 yards at least in front of the truck. Look at the hood when coming to a stop behind something! Or in a turn but other than that, unless there are dancing girls on it don't worry about it! it ain't going anywhere! loosen up your death grip on the wheel also! Take a deep breath and relax!

It's like when you were a kid and dad put you in his lap to drive that old Studebaker down the street and all you could look at was that big steering wheel and if your dad hadn't straightened you out the ditch was the next place that car would have gone! Oh, wait, that was me but it's the same thing! That hood looks awesome but not that awesome!

Good Luck
Rollover

 

I was taught (by my Dad) to look as far ahead as you can comfortably see and too trust your peripheral vision to hold place in the lane. Works great for me and my student drivers (wife, daughters, etc), and has translated very well to the semi as well.