90 Degree Backing
 

Do anyone have any tips on setting up for this type of back?? i was at Cargill in Harrisonburg/Mt. Crawford, VA off I-81 last night and i caught complete HELLLLLL trying to backup in this tight ass place!! Any tips???

I try never to have to do a 90 degree, if I can possibly do a 45 degree, but if I must.... here's what I do.

Lets' say you have a row of trucks in the dock to your left, and a row of trucks or parked cars on your right. Divide the space between them as if it were a 3 lane road. You'll need the better part of the two right lanes for your cab and front of trailer to swing out, and the better part of the left lane for your trailer swing behind your tandems to TRY and get straight between the two trucks without being close enough to hit either one's front bumper in case you overswing or your right rear corner is too far over.

Allow as much extra room as you can in lane one (the left one) and still have enough to clear the opposite row of vehicles. A little extra room there is also desired for pull ups.

So, like you're straddling the lane marker between left and middle lanes, with at least the distance of your trailer swing between your left side and the row of trucks on your left. Stop when your front tandem axle is directly in front of the lights on the corner of the truck you are going "around." No matter how tight you jack, it will probably move backwards and over as you go around.

Now, turn your steers all the way to the right BEFORE you start backing. As you start, watch how close your cab comes to the truck outside your left window. You may be too close and have to countersteer a little. Also, watch your rear trailer corner to make sure it doesn't swing into the front fender of the truck.

Start backing and watch that corner AND the row of trucks out your right window. If all is well, before you get to THEM, you will be able to start turning OUT of your jack, (which brings your cab closer to them very quickly) and see your trailer start sliding towards the hole with about 1 foot or two clearance of the fender of the truck you are going around.

If you have set up far enough out, and start turning OUT of the jack BEFORE you really think you need to, you should reach a point of equilibrium where the trailer can start going back towards and into the hole and yet stay parallel to the side of that truck.

It is desirable to have it going straight into the hole BEFORE your DOT bar is even with the front of the two trucks you are splitting. If you are cutting the corner too close to the sight side fender. Pull forward a little and left turn to move over. If you are over far enough but the trailer is over swinging toward the sight side truck, pull forward a little and left turn to LESSEN the angle of your trailer swing.

Somewhere in here would be a great time to G.O.A.L the far side of your trailer, but if you set up right, and are far enough OUT of the hole before going into it, and within a foot and 1/2 of the fender you are going around, you SHOULD not hit the farside truck.

Don't forget to keep looking out your right window every few seconds to make sure your cab doesn't swing into a truck! And if all goes well, as you swing around to the right.... make SURE to not let your cab take you over into the front of the blind side truck!

Once you start into the hole, there should be enough room for you to do a pullup if necessary to adjust the angle and distance from the sight side truck.

Don't worry about hitting the dock perfect on the first try. Just make sure the sight side of your trailer is parralelling the truck you went around. About halfway back into the hole, you can always pull forward a little to straighten out or equalize the distance on both sides of you.

Remember that the amount of trailer swing (dependant on how far up your tandems are) will dictate how far IN FRONT of the hole you need to be when you get straight. And try to have it straight and not swinging BEFORE you cross the line of the two bumpers you are splitting.

More or less, you need the LEFT lane I mentioned earlier to "set" the back of your trailer without hitting something... and you need enough room in the two right lanes for the length of your trailer and cab.

If your tandems are not too far forward, you can be swinging a little as you go around the fender, but it is always best to "set" it between the trucks before you back between them.

If anyone has any corrections, PLEASE do. Like I said, I don't do too many of these.

I do 1 every night and could show you or talk you thur one in person but trying to write it? Not gonna happen, best thing is to another driver you trust show you how to set up and watch you in

Look for an oppurtunity to practice . . it should resemble a narrow two lane road and a perpendicular one lane driveway . . a "T" . . a place with nothing to hit and little, if any traffic. Then, practice, practice, practice. Once you have a sense for it, you'll see that the same principals are going to apply, every time. By all means, don't ever hesitate to get out and look.

I don't care (and neither should you) if you shut down the whole operation while you park. Think COSTCO. If you can't park at a COSTCO DC, then perhaps you should go back to nuclear physiobiwuddyfux. On the other hand, a lot of "our customers" that see hundreds of trucks a day deserve to be shutdown if their lots are so poorly designed that a geometric theorist can't squeeze their azz in.

That said, the goal is to NOT hit anything. If your CB is on, turn it off. If you need help, look for a truck with an awake (portable) driver. If you don't have one, get a handheld (portable) CB to offer the person who will assist you. Then turn your CB back on.

Practice, practice, practice. Away from any and all distractions, practice.

well since that happen friday and i havent been to work since, i work on a wal-mart account for the good ol' pumpkin, so i'm thinking at one of my stops if i have a enough room i'm going to work on the 90 degree back.. Schools are a bunch of BS!!! i wasn't taught this maneuver at my first school nor at Schneider's STA!! (supposedly they WERE the best). And at my first job i never had a reason to do a ninety degree back... but i appreciate you guys help.. ANY MORE OPINIONS???

http://www.angelfire.com/va3/vavega/trucksatdock.jpg

please excuse the amateurishness of my paint skills, i really do suck at it. :D

it represents what golfhobo explained. the red line is the line you follow to set yourself up. it's a form of a question mark. by doing this it sets the trailer to automatically go into the hole, and allows you to be jacked to where you can see it.

when you do this, start by following a parallel line to the building, staying somewhat close to the fronts of the other trailers if you need the room on the opposite side to swing the cab around. if not, then i usually stay @ 3' away.

if it helps, when you get your dock, stop and survey the dock. if there are no lines, imagine a line out from the right side dock bumper and lay down a glove at the front of where your trailer will end up. this will give you something to guide off of. then slowly start to aim for the glove with your tires. get out and check as much as you need too.

hth

edit do the opposite to set yourself up to blind side.

backing up

this is the best youtube video i can find that illustrates it, only from the blindside view.

No offense, Vavega, but I don't think that is exactly what I was trying to describe. That looks more like a setup for a 45 degree. But then, I don't know that I can picture a situation where one couldn't set up for a 45 degree, and would NEED a 90 degree.

In my discussion, your whole truck is straight and perpendicular to the hole. (and not so close on the left side.) You can see everything to your left just by looking out your window or in your left mirror.

Maybe my explanation was faulty and I shouldn't have posted it.

HUH? just leave plenty of room for tractor to swing. dont hit anything. get out and look. when you catch hell turn off the cb, get er done. if they got no sense of humor too bad.

Scuze me for trying to help a new driver out. I should've just said "swing 'er around and stick 'er in the hole!" :roll2:

. . and grab 4 or 5 gears everytime you move, including reverse . .

Thank you hobo and others... but i will give it a try next time i have to have 90 degree back!!

OK, tonight I paid a little more attention on how I set up for a 90. I pull up across the frt of the trucks at the dock with about 8-10' of room(to my left) and with my doors about 1 trailer space past the hole, reverse and cut the wheel and just steer the trailer in BUT watch out for the right front corner of you trailer and of course your front bumper. I hit the same dock every night so I don't even thick about it.

just a side note, if they told me to pick a dock between the white and blue trailers in the middle of the pic I swear it would take me 3 pull ups to get it in there, but if they told me to put it in the dock between the white trailer and the stairs (bottom of pic) I would prolly nail it first shot. funny how that works

Coming from a real newbie...

Do you think, Got Mud, it is because there is more there to judge your space with. The other land marks to help guide?

Maybe I've just been lucky, but in the year I've been driving, I have NEVER, EVER had to do a real 90 degree back. Oh, I don't think I've done too many true 45s, either...normally it's some variant of the two, depending on what space is available to use at the time...

I see guys doing 90s at the truck stops all the time, for no good reason, other than to put themselves at a HUGE disadvantage. If there's room to do a 90, most often you have room ahead and to the right to bring the whole thing out a bit, and make the back more 45-ish. This gives you more room, minimizes the area behind the blind side of your trailer, and gives you the best shot at putting it in the hole WITHOUT hitting anything.

yup it is

That's a driver from Australia, so it's not blindside.

There is a very good tip in that video.

The driver starts by turning away from the row being backed into, the sharply toward it right before he stops. This sets up the tractor to already be pointed in the correct direction to direct the trailer into the slot. After that it's all minor adjustments.

i know when i arrive at a tough stop with a ****ed up dock location, i spend a minute to analys the situation. the more calm i stay the better it goes. sometimes in nyc when i need to blinside or back into a hole off a main street no one will stop and allow me to do it. and no one will stop traffic for me. so i rush and i get paniced and usually make it worse and i miss the hole and look like a ****. people blow horns and get pissed. just try to stay calm. the more u do it the more confidence ull get. the harder stops are good because theyll allow u to improve on everything else

I agree, having seen one driver do a 90. It was impressive...but why do it? Take a minute to see, the approach, what is in you way, what to avoid. Keeping "close" to things you can see {in your mirrors}, can you make the maneuver? Maybe slide your tandems up short to help the pivoting, just be careful not to "tail" something.

What I like about a proper setup is that you can imagine that you're simply following the same line as your trailer would if it was being pulled out of the spot. This applies mainly to a drop yard situation with trailer next to trailer and so on. Sometimes you can even see the tire marks that were left by trailers being pulled out. Be careful of course.

I really like the keeping close idea. I always hugged the driver's side trailer when 90 degree backing. Once backed in some of the way and straight that makes it easier to pull forward and adjust 12 inches to the right.