hi all, been tramping now since beginning of April.
But while I can get the trailer wherever I need to … EVENTUALLY! easier reverses are not a problem however getting in between trucks at small services with not much room to manovere in front and basically have to jack knife in are problematic to the point where sometimes it takes that long I have to abort for the huge queue of lorries waiting to get in!
we have a small yard and tight bays so reversing in then takes a while too with multiple times having to get out and check to make sure the line looks right and that I’m going in etc.
getting perfectly straight at times is also an issue I think I’m straight then get out and I’m slightly on the pass! lol.
When does it get to the point where you don’t need to get out and look and put it in between trucks in small spaces in seconds like 80% of people do? is there anything I can do to speed up the process.
I even run out Sunday sometimes to practice in the mostly empty services but obviously it’s pretty easy then as no one is there! any advice, tips or anything would be much appreciated! Alex
It’s painfully obvious I suppose but practice. I wasn’t confident with reversing until I spent time working as a shunter, which had me doing more reverses in one shift than most drivers do in a fortnight.
If you’re able to get some time to yourself to practice the sorts of manoeuvres you find yourself doing in the normal course of your work it’ll pay dividends in building your competence and confidence.
It always seems harder with an audience and however good you get sometimes you’ll mess it up. Just go back to your starting position and start again rather than trying to rescue a balls-up.
imagine your pushing the trailer back with your hands, also when reversing the main thing people mess up on is the starting position IMO, if you get that right the reverse will be plss easy.
if your at a service station, or any tight place, just take the reverse as wide as possible making sure cab wont hit truck infront that way you got maximum room to play round with trailer but as above practise
Practice practice practice. That’s all it takes. And don’t shy away from harder ones. And don’t worry about what others think, nobody who’s opinion matters has a problem with someone trying to improve.
I am relatively new to class 1 (last 4 years), so the learning experience is reasonably fresh.
In terms of digestible tips I can give, I would offer:
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The middle wheel of a three axle trailer will indicate where the trailer is ending up.
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The rear of the trailer and how far it is away from the line you can see can be an indicator if you are in danger of hitting anything on the other side.
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If you reverse in close to the side you can see you can always shunt forward to get more in the middle. The hard part was getting in the space in the first place.
Other than this, if you observe drivers reversing you will notice they put a bend on and quite often all they have to do is manipulate how much there are taking off the bend by steering into the trailer to varying degrees.
Also, if what to do next isn’t instinctive yet, stop for a moment to think it through. If you carry on without a plan, then your trailer usually won’t go where you want it to be. It literally is a case of reacting to the trailer and having your hands go the correct way and the only way of doing that is building it up slowly. There is no such thing as a perfect reverse, just continually correcting until you are where you want to be and if not then a shunt forward to try again.
One other thing that I found helpful was when I drove out of a space, to think that a similar trajectory could be used in reverse to get in the space.
Hope this helps.
I’ve been working about 6weeks and my reversing has got better, It’s the easier reverses that I end up making a meal out of. Everyone at my work has been good though and helped when they seen me struggling when I started. When I’m struggling I just drive around the building again and restart,
neon989:
hi all, been tramping now since beginning of April.
But while I can get the trailer wherever I need to … EVENTUALLY! easier reverses are not a problem however getting in between trucks at small services with not much room to manovere in front and basically have to jack knife in are problematic to the point where sometimes it takes that long I have to abort for the huge queue of lorries waiting to get in!
we have a small yard and tight bays so reversing in then takes a while too with multiple times having to get out and check to make sure the line looks right and that I’m going in etc.
getting perfectly straight at times is also an issue I think I’m straight then get out and I’m slightly on the pass! lol.
When does it get to the point where you don’t need to get out and look and put it in between trucks in small spaces in seconds like 80% of people do? is there anything I can do to speed up the process.
I even run out Sunday sometimes to practice in the mostly empty services but obviously it’s pretty easy then as no one is there! any advice, tips or anything would be much appreciated! Alex
I used to be abysmal at reversing when I first started training. In the last few months in my last job I discovered a couple of things on my own through lots of practice and helping other newer drivers in the yard:
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Don’t turn in too soon otherwise the approach angle will be at too sharp an angle and will be harder to correct. Turning in too late is far easier to correct. I try to make a gradual ‘L’ shape line when doing a 90 degree reverse.
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Try not to get to a point where you are having to bend the trailer excessively to correct the line. Excessive bend doesn’t make the trailer move backwards, but instead it pivots at the back wheels if that makes sense. For example, if you’ve bent the trailer too much on a 3-axle trailer and then stuck a huge imaginary pole down though the middle axle at the back into the ground…the trailer will only pivot around in a circle like a merry-go-round.
In short, I try to drive a gradually curved line backwards, not too much steering angle and not too little, and only pivot when necessary i.e when I’ve cocked it up, and even when I need to pivot I do it when the trailer is barely moving or turn the steering wheel when not moving at all.