Trailer swing while backing and position of tandems?

I find the my load always pretty much dictate where I have my tandems. I run CA alot, so often the 40' mark is as far as I can go back, they usually don't go much further forward. I tend to like my tandems at around the 40' to begin with. To me, it's a good middle ground on maneuvability verse swing out problems. Farther the tandems are back, more maneuvering room is needed. But, the farther they are forward the more you have to be careful of the trailer swing out on your blind side. For me, that 40' mark is a good middle ground.

 

The trailer swing becomes a problem on really tight maneuvers. Assuming you leave appropriate gap between the truck and vehicles on your side the swing becomes something you have to worry about when the trailer stops traveling and instead just pivots. There is a small amount of swing before the pivot though. I almost always drive with them all the way to the front because I do a lot of NYC my advise is avoid button hooks when you got a hard turn near cars instead open up as wide as you can and try to reduce the amount of time your trailer pivots. Generally on the t680’s I drive a one shot turn you don’t need to worry about the swing too much. It’s when you gotta turn the wheel the other wheel and do a 2 or more step turn is where you’re likely to scrape fenders. On daycabs you have to be mindful of your turns because their shorter wheelbase let’s them have a tighter turning angle and the trailer will pivot earlier.

 

This is why so many mirrors get ripped off at truck stops. I'm not trying to bust your chops, but it bewilders me how someone cannot immediately see how this works.

 

No thank you… lol

 

Sound more like team driving vs training… but I know companies do that. Use trainees/trainers as team drivers.

 

The mirror is the first thing to go with that trailer swing.
But in tight quarters, the fender and hood might be next.

And how about making a tight u-turn in a yard?
With the tandems too far forward the back of the trailer will actually go backwards to hit something.