[Dick]

Jon, Dick:

When I had my 154 site park and the co-driver got out with a walkie talkie, I got on the golf cart and got out of plate throwing range, because before the rig was parked, the air was gonna be blue and plates would soon start to fly.

One day a really long fifth wheel came in and I showed him the pull thru site. He ask if he could come down the other road and back in…SURE, what ever you want. So he comes in the other road, his wife gets out with the walkie talkie and I start to get nervous. She walks over, looks at the site and keys the mike and says…OK. He pulls forward to a certain point and she again keys the mike and says…OK. He starts to back up to his blind side, she keys the mike and says…Tighten it up…..Ease off……Straighten it out……Stop. It was done! I suggested that the two of them start a school instructing fifth wheelers how to drive and back up. He explained that they had spent several Sundays in a large store parking lot with water filled milk jugs as markers.

As he said, the spotter does not need to give driving instructions over the walkie talkie. No need to say “Take you foot off the brake, move it over the accelerator and press down 3/8 of an inch.” The driver knows they need to go forward, or backward, so after looking at the site and deciding how you want the rig in it, you simply say OK. He said that they had agreed on about 10 words that they BOTH knew what they ment and only used them. None of the old “Turn Right”…My right? or Your right? since we are looking at each other. Or, my favorite, one hand motioning to the right with the other hand motionng to the left, meaning move that way (right) because you are too far over that way (left). (actually happened)

I do have to commend the Canadians as they all seem to know how to back a rig. Maybe it is because they used to have only back in spots in parks.

Fred

[Dick]

Backing a trailer with the bus is not hard if you react quickly and appropriately when you need to adjust the direction the trailer is going.

When we were building our house I rented a short U-Haul trailer and filled it with all the electrical stuff. We were building power outlets so I had access to everything needed to completely wire the house and bus garage at OEM prices. On the way down I spent the night in a truck stop and when I wanted to pull out I headed toward the exit and found it was blocked by a truck that had a problem. So I had to back up the entire length of the truck stop, a 40 foot bus with a 10 foot trailer. For me the key was to just keep my hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and I pushed the steering wheel in whatever direction I wanted the trailer to go.

I use the same practice when backing my pickup or dump truck up the driveway with a trailer hitched on.

I think the people with problems react too slowly and over think the process.

[Dick]

When I was taught to park tractor trailers many moons ago, my old buddy taught me to not try and drive the truck ,but to guide the trailer. React to the trailer movement and don’t oversteer. And if you made a mistake, only pull up to where you made it, otherwise you will forever be running out of parking lot. Best advice I ever got. Put some in some weird places.