How long did it take you to get good at it. driven a wag n drag for 6 months and only having to reverse a couple of times a week, but now on a conventional artic and having to reverse multiple times in a day and really stugling any tips.
Took me around 2 weeks to master wag and drag. Artics for some reason I can’t get my head around it at times. Go all blonde. Don’t help that I never have to reverse the artic where I work
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I was trained very badly and, as a result, it took 2 years of practice in the real world before I could be sure that the trailer would end up where I wanted it to be.
Having spent the last 40+ years training other folks in the art, I fully sympathise with anyone who struggles and I have endless patience when teaching the dark art of reversing!
Few folks are really competent at the point of passing their test. It just takes loads and loads of practice and perseverance.
All the best, Pete 
I’m glad you posted this - I hated reversing even a van… just didn’t like reversing on mirrors. When I reverse a car I put my head over the shoulder and all nice and easy. I try and use mirrors as little as possible… it works for me! Half the time reversing a truck it’s raining or bright sun and one’s little vision.
I have done a fair bit of towing with my car and car transporter - the artic is no different in principle. One is pushing the trailer with the towball… if the trailer is to go left - the towball (or fifth wheel) has to go right… right hand down on the steering wheel! The artic trailer is long so only small movement of the towball is required as the length magnifies the movement. For me thinking where the towball needs to go works. It would be easier to do artic reversing practice with a flatbed trailer as one can see where it’s going.
I more confident putting my head out the window and judging distances by the eye or opening the door, putting a foot on the first step with one hand on the handrail and the other on the steering wheel and looking back. I hated reversing rigids until I did dustcarts and had to fold in mirrors so found looking back worked well for me. When reversing I also use the side repeater and judge distance on the ground.
I haven’t got Class 1 yet but have had to do a lot of yard manoeuvring - practice gives one the necessary confidence but I prefer using my eyes.
JaxDemon:
Took me around 2 weeks to master wag and drag. Artics for some reason I can’t get my head around it at times. Go all blonde. Don’t help that I never have to reverse the artic where I work
I haven’t tried w&d but I’d have thought it is harder than with an artic. An instructor did say that it was easier but I don’t understand why. I had to use a LWB van to tow my car transporter once (not far off about the length of an artic and shorter trailer). With the long tow vehicle one has to do more movement due to its length than with a short vehicle and so harder for reversing. I certainly found it so. If towing I use my car or SWB landrover (the LWB landy I avoid). Going forwards the LWB landy is more comfortable on a long run as the length gives stability but I wouldn’t want to do much reversing.
jessejazza:
I’m glad you posted this - I hated reversing even a van… just didn’t like reversing on mirrors. When I reverse a car I put my head over the shoulder and all nice and easy. I try and use mirrors as little as possible… it works for me! Half the time reversing a truck it’s raining or bright sun and one’s little vision.I have done a fair bit of towing with my car and car transporter - the artic is no different in principle. One is pushing the trailer with the towball… if the trailer is to go left - the towball (or fifth wheel) has to go right… right hand down on the steering wheel! The artic trailer is long so only small movement of the towball is required as the length magnifies the movement. For me thinking where the towball needs to go works. It would be easier to do artic reversing practice with a flatbed trailer as one can see where it’s going.
I more confident putting my head out the window and judging distances by the eye or opening the door, putting a foot on the first step with one hand on the handrail and the other on the steering wheel and looking back. I hated reversing rigids until I did dustcarts and had to fold in mirrors so found looking back worked well for me. When reversing I also use the side repeater and judge distance on the ground.
I haven’t got Class 1 yet but have had to do a lot of yard manoeuvring - practice gives one the necessary confidence but I prefer using my eyes.
JaxDemon:
Took me around 2 weeks to master wag and drag. Artics for some reason I can’t get my head around it at times. Go all blonde. Don’t help that I never have to reverse the artic where I workI haven’t tried w&d but I’d have thought it is harder than with an artic. An instructor did say that it was easier but I don’t understand why. I had to use a LWB van to tow my car transporter once (not far off about the length of an artic and shorter trailer). With the long tow vehicle one has to do more movement due to its length than with a short vehicle and so harder for reversing. I certainly found it so. If towing I use my car or SWB landrover (the LWB landy I avoid). Going forwards the LWB landy is more comfortable on a long run as the length gives stability but I wouldn’t want to do much reversing.
It’s harder to do wag and drag I’ve been told but for some reason I’ve picked it up easily maybe cause I have to do it all the time.
Actually find reversing it between two trucks easier then when 3 empty bays.
I start a new job soon where I’ll have to reverse the artic onto bays I’m pretty confident to assume within 2 weeks of it I’ll be able to do it easier then now once I’m not driving wag and drags any more.
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Struggling with the reversing myself, can’t get my head around it myself, hopefully get it soon as have my test soon and it’s really grinding me down
Clean mirrors/windows get you off to a good start. As for the reverse, take ALL the room available to you. It is far easier to get the hang of reversing an artic when you start off in the best position possible.
SLOW it right down and use smooth steering adjustments. If you feel it’s bending too much…STOP. Move forward and straighten her out a bit. No-one gives a ■■■■ if you take one shunt or fifty!
Remember this; WE HAVE ALL BEEN BRAND NEW TO REVERSING AN ARTIC AT SOME POINT. So forget about who is watching you and concentrate on what you are doing.
Trying to impress/not wanting to look a knob DETRACTS from what you want to achieve. If you are not sure, get out and have a look, it’s not a ■■■■ measuring exercise, you have one aim. And that is to position your truck where you want to without causing damage or injury.
No headstone ever said " He did it in one " or " Worlds best reversing genius ". Drive the truck, get paid, go home…job done.
snowman77:
How long did it take you to get good at it.
You get good at some point? 
Well I look forward to that day! 
A Newbie will improve leaps and bounds in the first few weeks and months, and that comes down to practice and a few things clicking. To start with you’ll probably over do it, under do it, and swing that cab around all over the shop. You’ll probably end up pivoting the unit around the trailer because you panic and try to not reverse in too short a run up, and you need to learn to give yourself more space and allow the kink to develop.
There are lots of things to learn about reversing an artic, and most of them can’t be told, they have to be experienced…
Best of luck Newbies, and remember that even 30 year veterans (who are honest!) screw it up from time to time.
So laugh at yourself, take a shunt and call yourself a … 
i think a few newbies worry about people watching them,and rush things.our depot is very tight,and the newbies (and some visiting drivers),panic slightly and make a right hash of things.i advise them to take their time and ignore any spectators.if you get it wrong big time,drive round the yard again,let the traffic by and have another go! or ask another driver,or the shunter,to help you out…most will be glad to show you their reversing skills. and Evil is probably right…even some of us with 30 plus years sometimes have to take a couple of shunts to get it right 
Don’t be a … take that shunt! Words from an examiner.
I can’t add any useful advice, as my C+E course is coming up in two weeks time.
I just hope that I haven’t shot myself in the foot by playing Euro Truck Simulator for a couple of years! I’ll be in a right state if I’m having to un-learn stuff!
When you first start reversing you don’t have many reference points or experience to know when it is going wrong. What does ‘wrong’ look like? That knowledge takes time to build. Once it does, you’ll start figuring out how to correct it early enough, and that is basically what reversing is all about…constant small error corrections. How long it takes depends largely on how much reversing you do. A driver on a long distance trunking job will not do as much manoeuvring as a multidrop driver so will probably take longer to acquire the skills. An urban multidrop driver thrown in at the deep end and forced into all sorts of nightmare situations will learn fast…or die trying.
Don’t under-estimate the value of even a small shunt. Opposite lock and a couple of feet forward (in a tight space) can have a dramatic effect on the ‘shape’ of your vehicle to get the trailer in a better position.
And if there are people watching, consider this…
- other drivers are probably willing you to succeed, feeling your pain, and/or trying to learn from your mistakes because they know it will be them one day
- non-drivers don’t even have the balls to attempt what you’re doing, so their opinions are unlikely to matter
2 years in on artics and I still get it wrong regular. Although I can get the trailer where I want it to go, I still have a bit of trouble with thinking when to start straightening up so end up with either a little too much or not enough angle to get on a bay so have to pull forward to straighten up a bit. Having said that though, I can blindside like I’ve been doing it 30+ years!
I found, like a lot of people, things can just ‘click’ and not only on reversing, but driving/ gear changing etc. itself. I got comfortable reversing after a year or so of real world situations and I think one of the most important factor is initial placement of the trailer, get that right (in the real world as opposed to training) and it can make it a lot easier (imo).
A lot of newbies (myself included) find they aren’t taking the lock off quickly enough. When the trailer is coming round you need to bring the unit round too but a lot of the time we aren’t quick to do this so the trailer gets pushed out
Isn’t it strange how, in the real world, everyone says that positioning is key, and a saying I like is that most of the reverse is done in forward gear. However, when taking your test they put you in the craziest stupid position to start your reverse into that ‘bay’. What fool thought that was a good position to start the reverse from?
ORC:
Isn’t it strange how, in the real world, everyone says that positioning is key, and a saying I like is that most of the reverse is done in forward gear. However, when taking your test they put you in the craziest stupid position to start your reverse into that ‘bay’. What fool thought that was a good position to start the reverse from?
That is to show a driver can do it from a less easy start position
Practice, thats it, nothing else, none of us were born with the skill.
The problem people who arn’t good at maneuvering have is that they avoid it until no other alternative.
What you do is pull into a quiet service area or lorry park on the way to your destination, find a space where its impossible to do any damage no matter how bad you do it, and spend ten minutes reversing the vehicle into a marked space, do it on the mirrors blind side own side head out the window whatever suits you.
Do that every day, and when you genuinely stop for a break don’t pull into the the ■■■■■’s drive in drive out bays at the MSA find a space and reverse into it.
Within a fortnight of doing this every journey you will feel completely different.
As The Beaver said, clean windows and mirrors is essential to start with, can’t see you’ve already lost, and keep all you lights clean too.
By the way, take no notice of any knuckle draggers who knudge each other and laugh at you practicing, they aint lorry drivers and never will be as long as they have a hole in their arse, we all had to learn, better doing it where you can’t do any damage…if i see you practicing you’ll get a thumbs up from me 
As above practise, practise, practise. And in the real world never be afraid to get out the cab (handbrake on and neutral) and have a quick look. The image in your mirrors, the way the truck is “bent”, how close you are either side will start to make sense. And as said, those who laugh at you think they are self confessed reversing experts, and will have loads of experience filling in accident forms too!