Holy Backing Batman!

All right, I turned my condo sleeper truck in on Sunday night and had my first night of yard hostler training last night. It's SOOO fun!! It was a tad harder than I expected at first, but I was starting to get the hang of it by this morning (it was an overnight shift--don't know if I mentioned that).

I'm just really slow right now, which is fine for the time being. Like it usually takes me 1-2 minutes to back into a spot. Eventually I should probably get it down to about 30 seconds or so. No rush though. The nice thing is that we're in the slow season right now and night shift is pretty chill anyways, so I have time to get good before it starts getting busy again.

Oh yeah, I also drove a daycab for the first time last night. Apparently we deliver to the Pueblo store during the night shift and it was my turn to do it. It actually didn't feel much different than my condo sleeper, which kinda surprised me. But, holy crap did that truck need its windows and mirrors cleaned! It was so damn filthy I was just guessing on some of those turns. Guess I'll have to start bringing Windex with me when I slipseat.

Fun fun fun!! Is this supposed to be work or something??

All right, I turned my condo sleeper truck in on Sunday night and had my first night of yard hostler training last night. It's SOOO fun!! It was a tad harder than I expected at first, but I was starting to get the hang of it by this morning (it was an overnight shift--don't know if I mentioned that).

I'm just really slow right now, which is fine for the time being. Like it usually takes me 1-2 minutes to back into a spot. Eventually I should probably get it down to about 30 seconds or so. No rush though. The nice thing is that we're in the slow season right now and night shift is pretty chill anyways, so I have time to get good before it starts getting busy again.

Oh yeah, I also drove a daycab for the first time last night. Apparently we deliver to the Pueblo store during the night shift and it was my turn to do it. It actually didn't feel much different than my condo sleeper, which kinda surprised me. But, holy crap did that truck need its windows and mirrors cleaned! It was so damn filthy I was just guessing on some of those turns. Guess I'll have to start bringing Windex with me when I slipseat.

Fun fun fun!! Is this supposed to be work or something??

Bragger. We hate you.

You will get it down to under 1 minute, sure of that,...follow-up in a month. Critters turn on a dime...your steer axle is under the drivers seat, gaining about 4 feet of clearance, very different than your condo sleeper where the steer axle is 3'-4' in front of you.

Um, yeah any slip seating job it's a good idea to have your catch-all bag as part of your job. That bag includes water snacks gloves flashlight pens medicines (can't tell you how many times I've been glad I had eye drops, advil or Tim's right with me) some music or a book perhaps a couple simple tools and surely a can of aerosol window cleaner (won't leak getting tossed around) and a couple clean terry cloth towels. Also save the other 12 napkins you don't need when you get some fast food. Cleans spills, Kleenex, etc.

Tums. Dang auto correct.

Tums. Dang auto correct.

No, if you are Canadian it is Tims... As in Tim Horton's

Huh. and here I am trying to trade in my spotter for a semi. Small world.

All right, I turned my condo sleeper truck in on Sunday night and had my first night of yard hostler training last night. It's SOOO fun!! It was a tad harder than I expected at first, but I was starting to get the hang of it by this morning (it was an overnight shift--don't know if I mentioned that).

I'm just really slow right now, which is fine for the time being. Like it usually takes me 1-2 minutes to back into a spot. Eventually I should probably get it down to about 30 seconds or so. No rush though. The nice thing is that we're in the slow season right now and night shift is pretty chill anyways, so I have time to get good before it starts getting busy again.

Oh yeah, I also drove a daycab for the first time last night. Apparently we deliver to the Pueblo store during the night shift and it was my turn to do it. It actually didn't feel much different than my condo sleeper, which kinda surprised me. But, holy crap did that truck need its windows and mirrors cleaned! It was so damn filthy I was just guessing on some of those turns. Guess I'll have to start bringing Windex with me when I slipseat.

Fun fun fun!! Is this supposed to be work or something??

Bragger. We hate you.

You will get it down to under 1 minute, sure of that,...follow-up in a month. Critters turn on a dime...your steer axle is under the drivers seat, gaining about 4 feet of clearance, very different than your condo sleeper where the steer axle is 3'-4' in front of you.

Yep. The set-up takes some adjustment. I'm used to going pretty far past the spot and angling away to do a 45º sight-side back. With these it's a lot different. I just don't need all that space. Thankfully this DC isn't very tight so I'm not usually too worried about scraping up neighboring trailers. And most trailers have the tandems all the way back so tail swing isn't an issue (they're all supposed to have the tandems back).

This is pretty fun so far, but I sure am glad this yard isn't tight. I don't envy our spotters in the Denver terminal. I like challenges and all, but when you're backing in dozens of trailers over 10-12 hours you kinda want to keep the stress level down, ya know?

Um, yeah any slip seating job it's a good idea to have your catch-all bag as part of your job. That bag includes water snacks gloves flashlight pens medicines (can't tell you how many times I've been glad I had eye drops, advil or Tim's right with me) some music or a book perhaps a couple simple tools and surely a can of aerosol window cleaner (won't leak getting tossed around) and a couple clean terry cloth towels. Also save the other 12 napkins you don't need when you get some fast food. Cleans spills, Kleenex, etc.

Yep I had most of those already! Rubber mallet, vice grips, gloves, (No food, but it was only a 10 mile run round trip), flashlight, pliers/knife. This truck was a disaster in the inside too--looked like a tornado tore through it.

Huh. and here I am trying to trade in my spotter for a semi. Small world.

Well I still get to drive two or three days a week on local runs. I don't think I'd want to give that up just yet.

Yep. The set-up takes some adjustment. I'm used to going pretty far past the spot and angling away to do a 45º sight-side back. With these it's a lot different. I just don't need all that space. Thankfully this DC isn't very tight so I'm not usually too worried about scraping up neighboring trailers. And most trailers have the tandems all the way back so tail swing isn't an issue (they're all supposed to have the tandems back).

This is pretty fun so far, but I sure am glad this yard isn't tight. I don't envy our spotters in the Denver terminal. I like challenges and all, but when you're backing in dozens of trailers over 10-12 hours you kinda want to keep the stress level down, ya know?

The stuff I did with a spotter was doing 48' container trailers - with the tandems all the way back.

Essentially - you pull about 5' past the hole (at 90 degrees to the hole) crank the wheel all the way over, and essentially "rotate" the tandems right into the hole. Quick pullup to straighten out - and bang. I got to the point where I could get it all the way in without a pullup. The experince doing it with a sleeper and full-size box, made learning to do it in a spotter that much easier.

With no sleeper or "wings" on the back of the cab - you can jackknife the damn thing almost to the point where the front wheels are hitting the trailer.

Fun stuff - compared to trying to do the same with a sleeper in a crowded truckstop in the middle of the night.

Rick

Got an operators license for one of these too - Container Handler (Toploader). These are SCARY.