Thread: Reversing small box trailer

Originally Posted by rammypluge

If you are reversing a small box trailer with a big 4wd and cant see it till it starts turning, one option is to reverse in a bit of an arc such that you can always see it in your drivers side wing mirror. Another option could be to sit or prop something on the trailer that projects out to the side that you can see and reference from.

basically if you cant see it in your mirrors its going straight....simples.....when you see it correct.

My last go at reversing a camper trailer was a lot more successful than trying to get a shopping trolley to track straight through an uneven carpark. Like water , it always wanted to go downhill. Top marks for this design.

Originally Posted by rammypluge

A good way to get better at reversing something is to learn to reverse something more difficult. Your standard is set by the hardest thing you can back well. Anything easier is then a cinch.

The levels of difficulty and skill required just go up and up. If you can back a semi well, then a rigid becomes a cinch. If you can back a double road train well, a bdouble becomes a cinch.

A person might think they are good at reversing a semi, but then ask them to hook it up to a dolly with a ringfeeder that pivots as soon as you are an inch off centre, and then you will find out just how good they are.

Or ask a bdouble driver to reverse around a corner into a park between two other closely spaced bdoubles, or into a bdouble finger dock.

Or reverse a double road train over undulating ground in the dark with a very short dolly drawbar. Ouch. Thats not much different to reversing a box trailer via a trailer in between, and with another trailer on the back.

Doing that nowadays in my new job. Driving a yard tug for a major transport company. Not counted them yet, but feels like around 200 trailer moves per shift. Singles, B doubles and pocket road trains (with those damned short dollies!)

First thing to do with any trailer, is see how it looks in your mirrors when you know it's straight. That alone can save a lot of angst!

Seems more and more so-called drivers are now just steering wheel attendants - we hookup their combinations, make sure the fridge vans are full of diesel, check lights, etc.

We have a few female drivers, most aren't bad, but one has been spotted backing under the trailer, then, without leaving the cab, calling Operations to say she can't get the airline to hookup, and can they get someone to help? She's not doing the sisterhood any favours at all.

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

basically if you cant see it in your mirrors its going straight....simples.....when you see it correct.

With all techniques take it slow until you get the skill, speed comes later, and only under certain circumstances.

A lot of people fail because they go too fast. If you crawl you have a lot more time to correct things.

Originally Posted by donh54

First thing to do with any trailer, is see how it looks in your mirrors when you know it's straight. That alone can save a lot of angst!

..............

We have a few female drivers, most aren't bad, but one has been spotted backing under the trailer, then, without leaving the cab, calling Operations to say she can't get the airline to hookup, and can they get someone to help? She's not doing the sisterhood any favours at all.

And some trailers dont track straight, at least in reverse. Some bdoubles seems to reverse in a mild z shape.

Damn. I have seen some women use straps and hooks to make it easier to get two hands on the turntable release.

With hands on the bottom of steering wheel just move the wheel in the direction you want the trailer to go

Originally Posted by Lewy110

I want to see this guys reverse skills.
YouTube

Three strategies:

1. Hold the steering wheel firm and reverse until a trailer jacknifes but doesnt get damaged. Maybe you can drive forward and out now.

2. Try to keep the front trailers as straight as possible, until a trailer jacknifes but doesnt get damaged. Maybe you can drive forward and out now.

3. If you have to get the rearmost trailer in any given location, or go back further than what option two will get you, you have to work out what you need to do to the rearmost trailer to get it where it needs to go, then what the trailer in front of it needs to do to get it there, then what the trailer in front of that needs to do to get the second last trailer to do what it needs to do, and so on, until you work out what the driven vehicle has to do.

Originally Posted by rammypluge

Damn. I have seen some women use straps and hooks to make it easier to get two hands on the turntable release.

I've done that with a particular trailer PM combination, until I learnt to pull the release before taking the weight in the landing gear. The pin/jaws relationship was just not right. Thank the stars for airbags.