Another question and its about backing.

[zipy46]

Ok I seem like I'm having problems backing into a spot at a truck stop, can anyone give me some pointers on the best way to set myself up to get into a spot easier, I try and seem like I'm turning to soon or something so I'll get Pi#@ed and move on and try to find a straight spot.

Pull forward in order to point the trailer towards the hole

[wot i life]

http://www.valleyforgelabs.com/reverse_movement.pdf

[TomB985]

Contrary to much said here, I don't recommend a new driver EVER go for the easy spots!

If you do nothing but easy spots when you're first starting out, what do you do when you have a really tight one that you HAVE to get into...like a tough customer location, or worse the last, TIGHT spot in a truck stop when you are out of hours!

On the comments on blindside backing...yeah, it's tough...but you WILL be in situations where you will HAVE TO DO IT! Better to get some practice by DOING IT then just by going to the easy ones. Just get out and look...OFTEN! It's every bit as possible as a sight-side back, the difference being you have to GOAL every couple of feet...

Very valuable experience....fear no back... :twisted:

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Contrary to much said here, I don't recommend a new driver EVER go for the easy spots!

If you do nothing but easy spots when you're first starting out, what do you do when you have a really tight one that you HAVE to get into...like a tough customer location, or worse the last, TIGHT spot in a truck stop when you are out of hours!

On the comments on blindside backing...yeah, it's tough...but you WILL be in situations where you will HAVE TO DO IT! Better to get some practice by DOING IT then just by going to the easy ones. Just get out and look...OFTEN! It's every bit as possible as a sight-side back, the difference being you have to GOAL every couple of feet...

Very valuable experience....fear no back... :twisted:

a driver who has'nt mastered sight side is wasting his/her time practicing blind side...because if your set up sucks and you can't make the trailer do what you want sight side then your double screwed blind side...in 3 yrs i've backed blind side about 10 times... a couple were practice 1x was needed ,and it was not a tight angle...the rest were for show...Avoiding backing won't make you good but trying to run b4 you can crawl is just a waste of time.

[BigDiesel]

You need to find your reference points. Find a big open parking lot with no cars. Then select one parking space and try to back in. Look at the spot on the road where you started to turn before backing up and where you end up once your backing up. The next time try doing the exact same thing but from a different starting point, it could be a couple feet further down or a couple feet earlier. Maybe your reference point is the door. See where you line your truck up so when you turn the wheel you are lined up to go in straight. That is your reference point. It is trial and error but once you find your reference point you will be able to back in every time the exact same way without having to think about things.

On my bus the reference point is the center of the passenger door. Once I see that line up with the parking spot next to the one I want (right before my parking spot), I turn the wheel all the way to the left, hard left and go until I am lined up perfectly straight with the spot. I then back in straight. Works every time.

One more thing you want to do is when your actually backing up is use your drivers side flat mirrors and watch to see your truck get close to the parking line. Use those mirrors. Don't try and stick your head out the window or use some other system. Don't worry about the passenger side mirrors. If you're lined up straight and your tires are close to the parking line on the drivers side, you won't hit anything on the other side. You can look from time to time to the passenger mirrors, but don't use them to line yourself up.

Good luck. Once you learn your reference points and back in a couple times it becomes very easy to do. Go slow the first couple times and learn from each attempt at backing up. It is much easier to line yourself up and go back straight than to try and turn in at an angle.

Have you ever backed a 28' or a 48' or even a 53' ??

A trailer is bit different than a bus....

Another blind leading the blind post.....


To the OP.... Take your time, go slow slow slow, G.O.A.L. , Turn off that damn CB, be patient, relax, and do not be afraid to ask for help.

[golfhobo]

Have you ever backed a 28' or a 48' or even a 53' ??

A trailer is bit different than a bus....

Another blind leading the blind post.....


To the OP.... Take your time, go slow slow slow, G.O.A.L. , Turn off that damn CB, be patient, relax, and do not be afraid to ask for help.

WOW!!! Big D's actually offering ADVICE for once? I think I'm gonna faint!

But.... you JUST couldn't do it without getting in an insult first, could ya? :wink:

Now, I wouldn't want to contradict the 30 yr expert on anything..... but, personally.... I find that if you go TOO slow, you don't actually SEE the results of the stupid stuff you are doing on the steering wheel!

The CB is a tough call! If you're a Swifty.... it might be a good idea. But, if not.... I'd say leave it ON, but turned down low! You never know when someone is gonna offer to HELP you over the CB..... OR, warn you of impending danger!

[bikerboy]

some spots are almost impossible to back into with a 48 foot spread axle flatbed loaded with 47 000 pounds and a long hood pete 379

i avoid whenever i can, it twists the h*ll out of the trailer and axles and tires, spread axles are a PAIN to back up unless you have a axle dump valve to dump one trailer axle. and when the trailer is part way turned, everytime i try to feather the clutch, the truck will start bouncing, from all the stress of the twisted trailer.

Thats one thing i hate about spread axles.



and these new '05 and newer petes have the mirrors mounted to the cab, and i can;t see around the stack on the good side, and can;t use the door to change the mirror angle. so i usually don't try hard spots.


usually i don;t even sleep at truckstops much anymore, there just aren;t enough of them in the US northeast, so i sleep at customers.

[ct77]

Spreadaxles gotta just love em!!!

Remember unloading some steel for a fencing company in Miami, they did not want you to back into their yard, so I had to pull in forward and angle the cab around their office so that the trailer was sitting at a 45 degree angle to the entrance gate so they could unload, that was all the room they had behind the office. Now the fun part was not that I had to back out into four lanes of Miami traffic blind, they helped me there by stopping the traffic. When the forklift unloaded the steel the weight came off the front axle resulting in the tire shifting to a new angle in effect steering the trailer towards their fence instead of the entrance which I had just drove thru, I got it out but it was work. For those of you who dont know what I mean watch a spread axle take a tight turn at the truck stop and watch how the front tire leans one way and the rear another way. now stop it in the middle of the turn and when you remove the weight the force holding the angle is gone and the tires will straighten themselves up resulting in new steering angle at the rear.

[cdreid]

Having said that i dont hit sh*t and have put my truck in holes most people would be a fraid to put a car into.

1: truck stops. Only morons park in truck stops if they dont have too. Where do most preventables happen? thats right. Try not to be a moron. Its a good life rule.

2: look for the easiest back. You dont get extra points for doing something dangerous and probably above yoru ability.

3: GOAL

4: PULL UP. Does that idiot on the cb pay your salary? If he's dissing you its because he cant drive so wants to put down others. PULL UP. That preventable will stay with you for years. That scumbag on the cb is gone with the click of a button.

5: Try to always back the same way. There are a lot of different techniques. Practice one. A friend of mine used to practice blindsiding in his spare time (Whereas i would sleep in my spare time!). He got to be a master at it. Another always sets up the same way. Wheels in the same place relative to the hole. He can pop it in 90% of the time in one shot in a heartbeat.


6: Try seeing the "circle" your tandems need dto make. A friend taught me this. If you get into practice you can see the arc between your tandems and the hole and that helps a Lot.

7: Dont overcorrect. Overcorrecting causes 5 times the problems it solves. Jackknifing your truck can damage the truck and you often cant fix the turn.

8: If you cant see the line or cant judge the hole find things to use as landmarks like rocks, twigs, etc or get out and move some. When you can just put yoru tandems on a "line" of refuse and tell whre your drives are by that refuse it makes things a lot easier.

9: GOAL goal goal goal. You know those guys talking trash on the cb or whatever? Been outa school 2 months and hit 4 things. That guy who gets out and directs you in? Probably been driving 20 years. Think about it.

NOBODY is supertrucker. Locals are great backers because they hit the same hole every time in short trucks. We otr guys are great at taking our truck places that would terrify a 4 wheeler. But none of us are perfect. Just destress. Turn the cb off. Professionals take their time and get it in the hole without any preventables. Thats the ONLY measure that counts.

[wot i life]

NOBODY is supertrucker.

I`m fair close to it!(lol) I backed this on my blind side into a factory in Doncaster. That trailer has self tracking, which makes reversing even harder.

[cdreid]

I stand corrected sir.

Nobody but WOT is a supertrucker heh.

I once saw two guys pulling double 53 lowboys in the jacksonville pilot. THOSE guys were supertruckers.

[BigWheels]

G.O.A.L.

Put the flashers on.
Get out and look.
Take your time (but not too much time).
If need be, get out and look again.
Once you're in...take a deep breath, smile, and tell yourself "well done!"
Don't forget to say "thanks" to anyone who helped you on the radio or who was guiding you back.

Although "practice makes perfect", there is no excuse for G.O.A.L. when there is any doubt in getting in the hole.

[wot i life]

I stand corrected sir.

Nobody but WOT is a supertrucker heh.

I once saw two guys pulling double 53 lowboys in the jacksonville pilot. THOSE guys were supertruckers.

When those guys have taken class 4 rail carriages into London with all its narrow streets and horrendous traffic, thats when I will bow to them; not before.
Again, with tongue in cheek :wink: