Hey buddie, would you back my trailer for me? Huh?

[csevers]

It is only going to get worse as the number of drivers goes up and there skill level goes down. I have seen some real winners!! Makes a guy wonder some times.



Craig

 

[Coalsmoke]

We have this one triple axle used for hauling our smaller excavators, and it's mudflap hangars are a little close to the rear wheels. Well, one day this yokel in our shop is putting on new mudflaps on this trailer, nice pretty good-quality ones. I never even thought to look before taking the trailer. Boss said it had the new flaps and to get going, need that hoe there PDQ. So, off I go. I load the hoe and take it to the lot where it is to be unloaded. I go to back up and the truck doesn't want to go anywhere, feels like I have wheel chalks behind me. So, I get out and take a look to see what the deal is meanwhile the rig is partially blocking traffic in an industrial complex because I went to swing out before backing in). It turns out that stupid yokel back at the shop put the flaps on so they were only 1/2" off the ground, UNLOADED. Of course I was trying to back over them because they were dragging a good 1" with the hoe on the trailer. Needless to say I climbed back in the cab, gave a little more throttle and *unfastened* those mudflaps. I then called the shop and advised that someone better pick up some road debris next time they came out. Mudflaps arrived back at the shop 1/2 hour after the trailer.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Originally posted by Coalsmoke

That's better than, "Oh, we get trucks your size making it around every day. Don't worry, there will be enough room once you get down to the end. " Right about when you get down to the end, you watch a 40' just barely make it around where your 48' is supposed to go.

This is right after you just spent an exasperating morning trying to find this dump with lousy directions in an area where no one speaks English.

 

[Coalsmoke]

Originally posted by QRTRHRS

This is right after you just spent an exasperating morning trying to find this dump with lousy directions in an area where no one speaks English.

Are you from Vancouver by any chance



(English is almost a minority when it comes to language in Vancouver. You can't ask for directions without bringing a translater )

 

[MidwestMotorman]

I get a good laugh at these driver stories. Do we have any OLD timers out there that remember truck drivers during WWII? When they were giving 13 year olds their driver's licenses/CDL because too many truck drivers were off serving in the war? Scary thing is, I bet that the 13 year olds in the rigs of those days were safer than some of the greenhorn drivers today.

 

[Mike Ellis]

Even growing up on a farm, my backing skills aren't what they should be. I don't pull trailers as much as I used to, and when I do they are usually the good-sized gooseneck jobs. A couple of successful trips with the big trailer, and I start feeling



Then all it takes is ONE TRIP with our demonic Cub Scout trailer (extremely heavy 8-foot bumper pull built on a 1950's kingpin axle setup) to feed me a dose of humble pie:



1. Pull into position, look in mirrors and confidently start backing. JACKNIFE LEFT!

2. Pull forward a bit, wrestle the 20-turns lock-to-lock steering on the Ram and start backing the other way. JACKNIFE RIGHT!

3. Pull forward a bit, begin sweating a little as the cackles and hoots of bystanders begin to filter in through the glass. Yell at wife and kids. Start backing and alllmooost get in then JACKNIFE LEFT!

4. Wipe pouring sweat off face, ram truck into gear and punish trailer by yanking it forward viciously. Curse self for leaving late and arriving in dark. Give wife and kids the menacing "DON'T SAY IT!" glare, try manfully to ignore people rolling on ground outside in laughing fits. Take deep calming breath, muster last tattered shreds of dignity, then take a careful cut toward the space and JACKNIFE RIGHT!

5. Repeat process 10 more times, then finally wedge trailer into space sideways. Get out with face flaming hot with embarassment and clothes wet with sweat. Shamefacedly grin and chuckle with the bystanders while unhooking the trailer, then go park truck a ways off. Sneak back, and while no one is looking, kick the living $%&!! out of the trailer tire.

 

[Grayhackle]

Midwestmotorman, in 1952 I drove a 2 1/2 ton log truck for my Dad saturdays and summers in Arkansas. I was 15. In those days there was no drivers ed in high school. Anyway when I turned 16 the local sheriff made my Dad get me a chauffers (sp)button. Big, deal go into the courthouse pay $5 and get the button for your hat. No test of any kind. Half a days pay though. Their idea was if someone was willing to pay you to drive their truck then they would sell you the button. I was making $10 a day and the day started at 4 am and last load in about dark. Had money in my pocket though. That was in the Korean war days.

 

[Rob Thomas]

LOL@Mikes story





After all the truck driving/ backing/ attempted bridge delivering, ect, ect, things I've seen, the funniest people I've ever seen backing trailers, are the husband/wife, boyfreind/girlfreind teams at any marina.



I am nearly wetting my britches laughing so hard at these people, you can make a day out of just watching them.



They pull in, get the boat ready for launch, and then the female in the party is provoked to back in the 28' long, 8' wide boat, with an Explorer, and of course, NO trailer mirriors, while the male stands on the dock, impatiently, holding the docking line, LMAO.



After she starts backing up, she imeadiatly buggers the straight shot, and nearly jackknifes it, only to hurry up and turn the wheel the other direction ALL THE WAY, and jackknifes it in the opposite direction. At this point the male has completely lost it, and is screeming at the top of his lungs, as is she.



All the while, the docks are filled with people watching the show, boats are lined up in the road waiting to get in, and boats are lined up in the water waiting to get out.



After about 15-20 minutes she gets the boat in launching position, while the male is still verbally whaling on her, as she mashes the go pedal to the floorboard, and boils the tires into ablivian on the way to a parking spot... ... ... ... . a perfect start to a beautiful day!





Watching this stuff is half the fun of boating.



Rob

 

[JyRO]

Rob - LMAO - I absolutely love to hang around boat ramps. The busier the better. Its an absolute hoot.



I used to pull a buddies boat to the lake and we'd ski. I had an '88 3/4 ton 4X4 Suburban. It was a good looking truck, but as for pulling, couldn't even halfway hang with the CTD Ram (I didn't know it back then though). The cool part was I would sneak it into 4-Lo (manual hubs), and when tugging the boat out of the water, I'd just blip the throttle and the truck would walk the boat right out of the water and up the ramp.



Lots of people would come up the ramp with the engine screaming to get their boat out and come ask me what kind of engine the Suburban had. Man, they had no smarts.



Also, I use to back my jet-ski down to the water with that truck. When going forward, all I could see was the handle bars of the jet-ski. I couldn't see the trailer out the mirrors, it was so short!



But when backing it down the ramp the handles would disappear when starting down the ramp. It was hard, I had to go slow, but what I had to do was to wait until I could see the trailer out of either mirror, then make the correction to make it disappear again. But I spent a lot of time at the boat ramp snickering to myself watching others!



- JyRO

 

[Forrest Nearing]

I load/unload trucks sometimes, and it always amazes me how the drivers can back in 6 trucks on one dock under the American Airlines Center... it's a decent dock... never seen anything too hairy, but still amazes me.



worst dock I've seen is Reunion Arena. I'm sure there are worse, but this thing comes straight in downhill, and then the docks are almost 90* to the driveway... it's only three bays wide, and getting two trucks in is hard enough, getting 3 is pretty much impossible unless one of them is just a little box truck.



I have a hard enough time with a 18' pull behind. my hat's off to you big truck drivers that can squeeze a trailer in with half a foot on each side!



Forrest

 

[Rob Thomas]

Originally posted by Forrest Nearing

my hat's off to you big truck drivers that can squeeze a trailer in with half a foot on each side!



Forrest

Mirriors don't lie, your either gonna clear it... ... ... ... . or your not.





Rob

 

[rkelso98]

Baltimore - Russell Street right south of Camden yards - trucks had to cross the medium during morning rush hour. Back it into a hole that had about a foot of clearance and went down hill. Some of these guys could back in so fast you thought they vanished. Then there was the one day, first time for this driver and man it took him 25 minutes with all of Baltimore's commuters from the south waiting and watching. No pressure there I'm sure. Man did I feel bad for him.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

Originally posted by Rob Thomas

Mirriors don't lie, your either gonna clear it... ... ... ... . or your not.





Rob

I hear that... my problem is I end up getting half-knifed and have to pull all the way out and start all over... embarassing!!! but, to my credit, I don't have much experience w/ trailers.



Forrest

 

[Coalsmoke]

The largest mistake I see people making is an initial over turn of the wheel. They tend to give that extra half crank right off the bat instead of tightenting it up a bit if need be once your rolling.

 

[skobylenski]

What I've always found "fun" was trying to haul an empty boat trailer. You can't see ANY of the trailer. The wheel wells are too low to see in the side mirrors, and the pole the winch is mounted on is too low to be seen over the tailgate Then try backing that trailer down a busy ramp and oh yeah, you've got yourself a real handful.



I, too, will extend my sympathy to all you drivers out there, as I worked for a local trucking company last summer. I got to do some yard driving but it was hard to get the hang of backing 53's. At least the "yard truck" was a Pete 362 six wheeler, with a Cummins so it was "rather" short

 

[JyRO]

When in doubt, look about...

Mirriors don't lie, your either gonna clear it... ... ... ... . or your not.

That's true, but when I was driving the switcher for RPS in Chattanooga, the RH mirror kept getting knocked off. So they quit repairing it.



So to judge, we looked at the 2 trailers we were going to park the empty between out in the lot, against the fence. We always put the driver's side trailer tire just off the parking space line (left the line visible). We verified the 2 parked trailers on either side were the same way in their respective spots. Then we just watched the parked trailer on the driver's side and the trailer that we were backing, its tire, and put in just off the line too. We never looked at the trailer on the blind side, or out the right window or toward the broke off mirror on the right side.



As for the dock, it was easier because if you put in against the dock wrong, it couldn't be loaded / unloaded. So they could never be put in wrong. There again, we watched the one driver's side parked trailer, the trailer we were backing and that's it. We never looked out the right side of the switcher. We always hung out the driver's window, looking over our left shoulder. It sucked on rainy days. But fun on all the rest.



- JyRO