[Musicman]

Originally Posted by avc

So lightly bumping is acceptable by the drivers in the trade as a tactic to tell when you are properly backed up in a truck stop ?

I wouldn’t say it’s acceptable. I reluctantly tolerate it, now that I’m not pulling an enclosed auto transport, but it shows that you’re too lazy to GOAL when backing up – it’s amateurish. I think a lot of it has to do with the driver you bump and what kind of trailer he or she has. Company driver with a cheapo trailer… I doubt they’ll care; but an O/O with an enclosed auto transport with either a stainless, polished aluminum or chrome tail end, or any flat bed, especially an all aluminum one and you may not only damage the trailer but put your life at risk.

[Musicman]

Originally Posted by Scottt

I had the ultimate (worst) blindside back ever this week or some may say the dumbest thing I ever did.

I got unloaded in Riverside Ca a day early so I decided to get a motel room for the night. I called the motel and they said they had truck parking.....

Lesson learned, NEVER pull into a driveway that you don't know where it goes.

I never pull into anyplace if I’m not sure of where it goes. That’s what cell phones are for. You should have asked the motel when you called them about room availability how you should pull into the lot. When you got there and it wasn’t obvious how you should enter the property, you probably still had the motel’s number in your phone and could have sat out on the street and called then to get advice. My wife / co-driver gets pissed at me because I’m always yelling at her to get directions from our stops if she has them on the phone. Six years of LTL to mom and pop places up and down the east coast and a couple of years pulling an enclosed auto transport definitely reinforced the old saying that “the only stupid question is the question not asked.”

[VPIDarkAngel]

That little 'fish-eye' on the right side of my hood is what I use when I have to blind-side (usually off the street or road). I do get out and look. I also set the brakes and look out the passenger's side window to look. I also look at where the trailer tires are going, but I cannot slide my axles all the way back to the ICC bumper, due to a liftgate.

[bigjeff]

Hi everybody, 1st time here.
I've seen that post last month, and decided to order that mirror.
received last week, and I have used it so far 5 times.
At first needed to GOAL as usual, but after 3 times, wow, its working fine.
the thing is , its a really large mirror, so you can see how deep is the trlr end.
With the side electric mirror, once turn all the way , you can't see in 3D(if you know what i mean).
I have to recommend it to everybody that have to backup from the blind side.
Nobody like to do that, but when you have no other choice....

Jeff

[sportster65]

Blindside backing, SNI did not even teach us blindside backing at the STA in Fontana. When I asked my instructor about it he said "Don't do it, you should never have to". OK, the first load I ever got when out on my own, going to West Chicago, guess what, yeah blindside back to dock. So much "You should never have to do it". I got it in there, luckily there was no one else around, because it took me 30 minutes to back in there, and all I did was creep back, GOAL, creep back, GOAL......until I got in. Its amazing how many places I went to that were not set up to accomadate 53' trailers, you learn to get into places that you have to stop and look and say are you kidding me, while the dock workers are saying evrybody else gets in here with no problem, seems on the east coast they are all like that.

[Fredog]

the best thing to do is get out and move the dock to the other side so you dont have to blind side

[Kevin0915]

Originally Posted by sportster65

Blindside backing, SNI did not even teach us blindside backing at the STA in Fontana. When I asked my instructor about it he said "Don't do it, you should never have to". OK, the first load I ever got when out on my own, going to West Chicago, guess what, yeah blindside back to dock. So much "You should never have to do it". I got it in there, luckily there was no one else around, because it took me 30 minutes to back in there, and all I did was creep back, GOAL, creep back, GOAL......until I got in. Its amazing how many places I went to that were not set up to accomadate 53' trailers, you learn to get into places that you have to stop and look and say are you kidding me, while the dock workers are saying evrybody else gets in here with no problem, seems on the east coast they are all like that.

its not that it isnt set up to accomadate 53' trailers, it is because it was built back before the Mayflower. When the place was designed and built, they had 48' trailers with cabovers. Joe Blow could back (blind or not) in a 48' w/ cabover. Imagine your 53 long nose if you had an additional 10' of pavement to manouver....would be pretty easy. Forgot where i was, somewhere just south of chicago, and had a place like this. Me and another driver were assigned a door, i was first up, and ended up having to pull out into the roadway and almost into the drive of the business across the street to get lined up. There was no way to 45 or 90 degree back this one. Once i bumped the dock, i ended up dropping my trailer and moving my truck out of the way cause i knew the other driver was going to have a heluva time getting in with me and another guy beside him still hooked up to our trailers. (yeah, i actually will look out for another driver, and not just think i'm the only one on the road)

[sportster65]

Originally Posted by Kevin0915

its not that it isnt set up to accomadate 53' trailers, it is because it was built back before the Mayflower. When the place was designed and built, they had 48' trailers with cabovers. Joe Blow could back (blind or not) in a 48' w/ cabover. Imagine your 53 long nose if you had an additional 10' of pavement to manouver....would be pretty easy. Forgot where i was, somewhere just south of chicago, and had a place like this. Me and another driver were assigned a door, i was first up, and ended up having to pull out into the roadway and almost into the drive of the business across the street to get lined up. There was no way to 45 or 90 degree back this one. Once i bumped the dock, i ended up dropping my trailer and moving my truck out of the way cause i knew the other driver was going to have a heluva time getting in with me and another guy beside him still hooked up to our trailers. (yeah, i actually will look out for another driver, and not just think i'm the only one on the road)

There is a great place in Jersey City that is like that. You have to go across the street to line up, right off the curb, in fact, luckily I had a team partner, who managed to stop traffic so I could get in. New Jersey drivers are not real courteous when you ask them to wait a second. We were called every name you can think of and saw more birds than you would believe. Even when I got to the dock, my front wheels were hanging off the curb. That is one place I was glad to never go back to, I was lost going in and going out, stopped to ask a cop for directions, and he said, no lie, "What the Hell do you want?" I said i was lost and needed some help finding a street. He then said "get out of here, you are blocking traffic." I said thanks and drove off. That whole city is so tight, that I drove on more curbs in one day than I ever have. Not a good place for trucks.

[bigjeff]

Hi , I gave my blindside helper to my buddy Mike and order another one for me.
He simply love it !!! didnt want to give it back !!

[avc]

When are you guys going to install cameras on your trucks ?

You would figure as screwed up as the industry is kissing insurance companies arses that this would be standard gear on all rigs by now.