Backing Fundamentals
Description
The goal is to get the trailer into the space
How do you back? Backing can be hard to do. You have to teach your mind a completely new set of skills that does not come naturally to most. You have to back up looking in a mirror and everything can be just turn around and just gets really confusing.
Ok, …lets imagine for a second, If you were able to pick upfront of the trailer to move the trailer into to space you want, that would be pretty easy. You see, what you are doing is controlling the front of the trailer to guide the axles where to go. The front of the trailer needs to do a lot of maneuvering to make the back of the trailer to do a little amount. But we are not able to just pick up the front of the trailer and maneuver it around we have to do it with a truck, not so easy now. There is a lot of predictions involved, it just something you are going to have to do, try and try again.
But first you are going to have to know what the trailer has does when you turn the steering wheel.
If the front of the trailer goes the left the back is going to go to the right, but not very much compared to the front of the trailer.
To straighten up the truck and trailer you are going to have to turn the steering wheel into the direction where the trailer is. And most of the time you are going to have to turn the steering wheel all the way until the truck and trailer are nearly straight. If you wait till the truck and trailer are straight to straighten up the steer tires you will be angled in the other direction. So it is best to get the steer axle pointing straight right before your truck and trailer are straight.
Before you start to back up into different spaces you will need to be able to control the trailer.
45 Degree backs
The 45 Degree Back is the most important back to learn after the straight back. This is the most common backing situation that you will come across. Every truck stop you go to will probably have you spaces that you are going to have to do a 45 into. And most docks you will have to do that too.
When you are finished setting up for your 45 you need to be finished where you are already jackknifed. Your trailer should be pointing towards the space before your space, and start your backing with your steers point straight forward and guide it back from there. Get it back as far as possible before going a pull forward, then a straight back.
The Pull Up
This is half the tasks you are going to do when you are trying to get your trailer into a space of a dock. When a driver pulls forward their goal is to better set themselves up for the next time you are going to throw the truck in reverse. But I see too many drivers not understand the physics of what happens.
My goal when backing into a tight spot it not to get it in one shot to where I don’t have to pull forward. I back up to a point that when I do pull forward all I have to do is straight back into my spot.
Rotation of the trailer. This is where you are trying to point the back of your trailer towards a certain point in front of the space you are going into, and then doing a straight back. I see so many drivers not doing this. If you can understand the concept of this maneuver, life in the backing world will be so much easier for you.
Maneuvering Your Trailer
This is half the tasks you are going to do when you are trying to get your trailer into a space of a dock. When a driver pulls forward their goal is to better set themselves up for the next time you are going to throw the truck in reverse. But I see too many drivers not understand the physics of what happens.
My goal when backing into a tight spot it not to get it in one shot to where I don’t have to pull forward. I back up to a point that when I do pull forward all I have to do is straight back into my spot.
Rotation of the trailer. This is where you are trying to point the back of your trailer towards a certain point in front of the space you are going into, and then doing a straight back. I see so many drivers not doing this. If you can understand the concept of this maneuver, life in the backing world will be so much easier for you.
Straight Back
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The Straight Back is the most used back of all the backs. This back is a part of every back that you will ever do. If you cant straight back properly it is going to be very difficult to be able to back into any dock of truck stop space. If you have the option to setup for a space or dock and all you have to do is a straight back TAKE THAT OPTION!! The less angle that your truck and trailer have to do in reverse the better!!!
Blind side Back
This is where you have to do a 45 degree back or 90 degree back or anything in between but you are angled to the right, where you are unable to stick you head out the window and watch what you are doing and you are only able to use the right convex mirror, ( the small bubble mirror) so it requires you to get our and look a bunch and every better if you have another person near by can help you and spot you. It is always better to avoid the blind side backs. But if you have the room and time you should practice them. Just pretend that there is a fence there. Just don’t practice if there are trucks driving around.
I have spoke to tons of drivers and most of them have told me that they have never needed to do one, except during their CDL test. Then I reminded them that they have done it lots more time then they think. They may not have been actually parallel parking into a spot but many times they have been doing the same maneuvers to get into a dock without even know they where doing the same thing as if they were parallel parking.
Alley back / 90 Degree Backing
Description
The 90 degree / Alley Dock back is another option but not recommending if you can do a 45. It requires you to jack knife you truck and trailer a lot to get it into the space. Hard to control and to predict when you chase or to follow the trailer and the swing of the trailer is a lot too. But it is a very valuable back to learn and when you have the room and time you should do it that when you have to do it you will know what to do.
Parallel Parking
Description
Parallel parking is not a task that you will need to do on a regular basis. But you will need to learn it to pass your CLD test in most states. It is a very valuable lesson to learn. There are multiple setups, some are easier than others.
OffSet Backing
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Basically, it’s moving from one space to another in a way that you would never ever do in the real world. Offset backing is something that you learn to do in CDL school, its a requirement to teach newer drivers how to maneuver their trailer from one side to the other. Site side to blind side.
You start off in one space and then drive straight till you are like 30-50 feet in front of the space you came out of, the more the better, it all depends on the size trailer you are driving. The small the trailer the less space you need.
If you need to go to the space to the right the first thing you need to do is turn the steers to the left, which will bring the front of the trailer to the left to point the back of the trailer to the right. Now you are blindsided and you need to straighten the truck and trailer and correcting what you just did by turning the steers all the way to the right, once you are straight I would stop and analyse what you need to do next. When you look in the left mirror you would be able to see the middle of the front space, usualy that is a bright orange cone and you should see no cone on the right mirror, that is a good thing. Now you need to do a straight back til you left trailer axles are right in front of the bright orange cone, now we need to swing the front of the trailer to the right by turning the steering wheel all the way to the right, when your trailer is nearly parallel to the space you need to straighten up. The closer to the left the better, it means that you are further away from the part that you can not see. But it is best to get out and look to make sure. You may need to adjust by pulling forward and again get out and check to make sure that you are not going to hit anything by the time you are nearly all the way to the back.
Connecting to a trailer
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When you are bobtailing you are going to have to back up to a trailer and connect to it. Most of the time when you are setting up to back you will be driving at 90 degrees to the trailer. So…when to turn the steering wheel so you are perfectly set up to back underneath it.My when the hood of the truck is lined up with the side of the trailer, that is the time to turn your steers. Presuming you are driving at a crawl speed you will need to turn the steers all the way. Newer drivers have a tendency to lose the trailer in their mirror, that is because they stop looking at the trailer. If you have to turn to the right, 1st you look right to make sure that the area is clear to turn, after you turn then keep an eye on the bottom left convex mirror, you see the trailer the whole time and when you are pointing towards the front of the trailer your can stop and back under it with small adjustments. By the time your back drive axle get to be underneath the trailer, you should have felt the trailer touching the 5th wheel. If not STOP!!!! The trailer might be too high and you are going to have to lower the trailer to the right height. If you feel something then you can just keep backing up til you hear the jaws of the 5th Wheel close around the Kingpin.
Some Difficult Backs
You are going to be asked to do some near impossible backs. If your set up not perfect you may not be able to get into the space. You are going to need a spotter a lot of the time, and you are going to have to get out and look a bunch.
