[golfhobo]

Uturn said:

I am going to chime in on the nose in issue.

Good deal, Uturn, I needed a challenge tonight! :wink:

There are a couple of things that I have concerns with. One is visibility while trying to back out. Unless you are from Krypton I doubt you can see through a trailer, and I know I have come close to being hit several times by drivers trying to back out of a parking space.

That is because they are lousy drivers/backers! NOT because the geometry isn't a proven fact. As for being from Krypton, I can "see" where the back of my trailer is, even on the blind side. But, if I have any question about it, I Get Out And Look!

[quote]The other issue is the pivot point and the statement of

But, IF you PULLED IN THERE, you shoud be able to reverse the process, and back OUT!

If your truck and trailer had the same wheel base and were equal in length then that statement would hold true, but a tractor trailer is not that way. You have about 70 feet of rig when hooked up, about 2/3 of which is trailer. Because of this you can not really copy your tracks going in reverse as you do going forward.

Here, you are absolutely wrong. It is precisely BECAUSE your tandems are further back than 2/3rds of your length, that you can use them to Pivot out of a slot! When you are setting up to NOSE in, you pull your trailer as far away from the slot as possible, and then USUALLY, drive your cab PAST the slot and "jack" it inside of the truck/trailer to your "outside." Then, you sneak your reefer control unit by his corner, then pull your cab over close to the truck to your outside. If, you timed everything right, your tandems will just barely clear the nose of the trailer on your INSIDE. and you will drag it into the slot. If you're smart, you won't try to straigten the trailer perfectly in the slot. You will leave it with a SLIGHT angle towards the inside truck.

That way, when you start to back out, the trailer is allready heading to the inside, you just have to "jack" the cab (in an EXACT reversal of how you got it IN there, without scraping mirrors, etc, and you will be PUSHING the trailer out at an angle, pivoting at the tandems which are just beyond the nose of the inside truck, and even to the point that when your cab clears the back of the trailer on the OUTSIDE, you keep jacking it outside of THAT. This will keep your trailer tracking close to the line of trucks you were parked with.

This is essentially the same process as jacking and chasing a trailer INTO a slot while backing in. You are just somewhat limited in your range with the cab, but the process of "pivoting" on the tandems is the same.

I've done it 50-100 times in the last year, and NEVER came close to hitting the trucks on the row "behind" me.

IMHO it is usually safer and easier to back in and pull out unless you can pull through into a spot where when you leave you can pull out.

For the most part, I agree! However, I would rather nose in and back out than have to BLIND SIDE in, which MANY truckstop layouts require!

Someone said:

There is a difference between IdleAire slots and the other parking spaces at most t/s. The IdleAire slots are angled and are wider than than normal.

You are absolutely correct! The angling DOES make it easier to chase the trailer towards the "open" angle. And the wider slots will give many of you a chance to PRACTICE the art. When you get good at getting out of an idleaire spot, you MIGHT have the confidence to get out of a regulation width slot, and MAYBE even one that is not angled, but rather straight opposite the other line of trucks!

The fact is, it is easier to sneak 3/4ths of your truck into a hole, and barely drag the tandems in, than to set up with 3/4ths of your truck out in the alley, and have room to jack it all around the tandems that must be near the nose of the trucks beside you (when backing in.)

And IF you nose it in, it is a very SIMPLE process to reverse your actions and push the trailer OUT of the slot on the EXACT same track that you drug it IN there on! Geometry does NOT lie!