Straight line backing

No, don't worry about the instructor...it is just your first day. I found it easiest to hold the wheel at the bottom so the break in the trailer (which direction it breaks) matches the direction my hand moves. Trailer needs to break right, my hand moves to the right. Easier done than explained. Good luck to you!

 

for straight line backing line the trailer up straight with where you want it to go, and when you stop make sure your steers are straight as well, then you should only have to move the wheel very little to correct. If you start backing and your steers are turned you will be screwing yourself before you even start.

 

At the 12 o'clock position, turn the steering wheel toward the mirror in which you see the trailer heading towards. ALWAYS use small corrections, and go slow. And, the best advice - don't sweat it, it'll come to ya. I cheated a bit in school; I bought a toy truck to help me visualize the moves from the outside...

 

Go slow, and keep checking the mirrors. The trucks we had in school would back at a good slow speed with the clutch out, so you could pull up to get everything straight, then put it in reverse, let the clutch out and keep your foot off of it. Slow, small movements are all that are needed if you start off straight. If you look in your mirror and see too much trailer showing, turn the wheel (12 O'clock hold), a very small amount, towards the trailer until you see the same amount of trailer out of both mirrors. Proper mirror setup helps in my opinion. I like to be able to see the same amount of trailer on either side when I am straight, but sometimes you have your drivers mirror perfect, but can only adjust the passenger side to just catch the right front corner of the headerboard of the trailer. When that happened, if I could see the right side of the trailer I knew it was kicking over to my right too far, so I focused on the drivers side mirror instead to keep it straight.

Remember: slow small movements are all that is needed if you start off straight.

 

get a remote control truck with the steering wheel (if they still make them). and watch the tandems more so than the actual trailer. It's hard to explain but, alot of guys get use to backing one particular length trailer, then can't back up a pup but, if you realize your following the tires, not the box, you can back anything. Ofcourse, you have to take in account the overhang of the tail of a 53' backing into a spot or swinging around in a tight spot but, you'll get that with experience. Just picture what the tire tracks would look like going forward and trace them backwards. Most docks will have tire tracks in the asphalt coming out, well... just follow them backing in, and "set up" is everything. With the proper set up, you will just have to follow the trailer in, cause when you set up, it will already be pointing in the right direction. It's easier to show, then tell