Backing Fun!

Well, I didn't notice that my appointment time for delivery had changed, and wound up stuck in Atlanta a day early. With maybe an hour left on the clock, it was off to find a spot. I finally got to the petro off 285 and found that there was a spot left. An easy, sight side 45 degree back...or so I thought. Unfortunately, a couple people parked in an unauthorized zone, leaving me very little room to get back in front of the trailer. I basically had to pull forward where the back of the entire trailer was past the spot, and just slightly bend it into the spot.

It took many resets and many GOAL's but I finally got it at the right angle to walk it in the spot. It turned into a slight blindside at the end since it was so hard to get the front end back around. Fortunately, I got a spotter at the end to help with that part, mostly by saving me a bunch more get out and looks.

After finally getting in the spot, I was feeling a little down about struggling so hard with the spot. I talked to the guy in the spot next to mine and got some confidence building words. He basically said that he had seen several guys try for this spot tonight and none of them got it. He then said I was a pretty good backer to have pulled it off. He also had some choice words about the drivers who had parked inappropriately and had made this spot so difficult, but those words cannot be repeated here. After a rough day, that was exactly what I needed to hear.

Nice. always good to have someone give kind words rather than be rude. :)

Nice. always good to have someone give kind words rather than be rude. :)

True.

I forgot to point out to be careful of advice from a spotter though. The first guy who came along, sad to say it, didn't really know what he was doing and nearly backed me right into the driver next to my spot's headlight.

Be sure to still get out and look and don't be afraid to ignore the guys instructions if you think he is putting you in a bad spot. I did so, and the first guy walked off no doubt upset, but i'd rather hurt someones feelings than pick up another preventable. I got out and looked for the second guy as well until I was confident he wasn't going to put me in a bad spot. At that point, it was just a matter of straightening back out so I just needed to be sure I wasn't going to hit the side of the trailer on my drivers side. But I still got out and verified his spotting.

I was assigned dock #2 at DelMonte in Galveston a couple days ago, and all the parking in front of the docks was full. The backing was going to be a tight maneuver. I started my approach to set up, thought better of it, and rolled around the parking lot to set up again, a little better.

It was still an ugly back, with my truck very close to parked trucks. I was going to have to make a long, shallow approach, with tandems full back.

While I was slowly working my way in, right off the front bumper of the guy in dock #3, I did a GOAL and saw the guy from dock #1 get out of his truck. He walked up to me and said. "I've been driving 25 years. That's a tight spot. Want me to park it?"

I thought about it, and figured that the guy was probably on the level since he'd just gotten out of the truck that I was most likely to hit.

I set the brake, got out, and let him park it. He did one pull up and made a much shallower approach than I had, and backed it in with only one short worm forward after his initial setup. I bought him a bottle of water from the soda machine. I would have given him money, but the $75 port fee had taken most of my cash :(

Wait...does having the tandems all the way to the rear help when there is very little room out front? I had mine all the way to the front...

Wait...does having the tandems all the way to the rear help when there is very little room out front? I had mine all the way to the front...

Definitely not, especially for an inexperienced driver. Having the tandems all the way back lengthens the pivot point and will also cause the trailer to respond much slower to steering adjustments.

The inverse, having the tandems in the one hole although at times might be necessary, beware of trailer overhang in the opposite direction. Easy to side-swipe another trailer, wall or worst case, a tractor.

The majority of my backing is done in holes 6-11.

Wait...does having the tandems all the way to the rear help when there is very little room out front? I had mine all the way to the front...

Definitely not, especially for an inexperienced driver. Having the tandems all the way back lengthens the pivot point and will also cause the trailer to respond much slower to steering adjustments.

The inverse, having the tandems in the one hole although at times might be necessary, beware of trailer overhang in the opposite direction. Easy to side-swipe another trailer, wall or worst case, a tractor.

The majority of my backing is done in holes 6-11.

OK, that's what I thought. I've been keeping mine all the way to the front whenever possible. I know about the overhang, and do lots of GOALS, especially as I enter the space, to the possible frustration of my fellow truck drivers. Oh well, their frustration is better than my having to report to safety again...

There seems to be varying opinions on this. Some trainers told me to put them all the way back cause slower movement meant less correction. They even put them all the way back during the test for this reason. I leave them up until I'm mostly in the hole.. then I move them cause I need to anyway and use them in the back to perfect the door alignment

I do pretty well with my tandems in hole 7. Not too much tail swing and the tandems react fairly quickly.

As far as having a bad spotter, I was at a reciever in NY and accidentally rubbed the rubber on my trailer doors on someone's mirror, moving it just a hair. No damage, just a rub. But this guy jumped out of his truck, yelling at me and then proceed to say that he was an experienced driver and knew what he was talking about and began telling me what to do. I followed his directions for a few minutes and then realized I was going to hit the truck on the other side and started correcting. At this point, he jumped up on the passenger steps and was hanging in my window yelling at me and telling me to keep going which would have caused me to hit the other truck. So I raised my voice and brought out the inner ChickieMonster and told him to get the heck off my truck. He started saying if I hit his truck he was going to call the cops. Right then a yard dog showed up and told him to get down and move his truck. Turns out he was parked too far over in his spot!! The yard dog very kindly helped me to get in my door and told me that I was doing just fine and that the other guy obviously couldn't park because he wasn't in the door properly.

I say all that to say that sometimes you have to be assertive and tell someone to back off when they are giving you bad instructions. Don't just blindly follow someone's instructions. Just because they can back up well doesn't mean they can help someone else do it!

And for the record, I would never have someone else drive my truck. For one thing, if they were to dock too hard, they would set off my camera and then it would be my job. Second, that's my home and sanctuary and I don't want some stranger in there. If this had been at a shipper/reciever, I would have taken Rainy's approach and got a yard dog to put it in the spot.

There seems to be varying opinions on this. Some trainers told me to put them all the way back cause slower movement meant less correction. They even put them all the way back during the test for this reason. I leave them up until I'm mostly in the hole.. then I move them cause I need to anyway and use them in the back to perfect the door alignment

Agreed.

That's a sound plan though. Many places are too tight to attempt backing with the tandems set all the way back.