Just be aware of too violent movements when the trailer is at 90’ to the tractor, the trailer is at that point literally an oversized Reliant Robin only worse because the fifth wheel at that point is a free moving pivot, a quick search on YT will provide footage of such maneuvers ending in disaster as the whole load starts to shift into the curtain and takes the trailer over with it.
At a 90’ turn the axles (no matter how many above 1 or on the ground and bearing weight) are no longer turning but being dragged across the surface, if the surface is especially grippy you end up with the tyres skidding/jumping/juddering, if you lift off at that point the bend in the tyres can pull you back several yards, same if you’r reversing, if 90’ angle much of the power you apply is tken by bending the tyres, if you lift off and then restart you are having to overcome the pressure of those now bent tyres wanting to drag you forwards.
Best to avoid tight U turns if you possibly can and whenever possible to use any available space to make yourself as straight as possible with as fewer tight turns as possible whilst still going forwards, this might mean going for a very slight blind side reverse (liitle more than a minor steering adjustment needed) instead of a tyre ripping U turn to go in on your own side with less room to play with, every single maneuver will be different so judge each one on its merits.
Lowest gear possible, learn the vehicle you are in intimately.
It might be a simple ZF box with an obvious Maneuver mode, it might be a Scania where once you select R you can keep pressing R repeatedly and pass through several settings until you find Rm comes up on the dash, now you’re on maneuver mode.
If you have a 3 axle tractor, get in the habit of transferring the weight from the mid lift (usually) onto the drive axle when maneuvering, might be an upside down umbrella on the dash switch, on MAN’s there are two axle switches which annoyingly look almost the same…the one nearest the ASR/TC (anti skid/traction control) button is the weight transfer button, the one on its own further along is the axle lifter button which will have no effect if heavily loaded.
You’ll find the tractor unit much more responsive with better grip and will trun easier with weight transferred onto the drive axle, its one less axle you’ll need to drag sideways, MAN and DAF tractors will actually lift the mid lift after about 20 seconds even fully loaded if you use the weigh transfer button, Scannias won’t but will often show you the weights being transferred on the dash, don’t know about other makes so much these days.
Note, think of the implications for slippery conditions that judiscious use of the weight transfer button has for you.
Also if grip becomes and issue even then, you might find that as soon as the tractor unit senses loss of drive axle grip it will cut the power, if this causes problems press the ASR or TC switch, this should bring a light or '‘offroad’ message on teh dash, you’ve now disabled ASR/TC and the vehicle won’ty cut power if one drive wheel starts to slip.
Sadly you’ll find yourself in a tiny and ever shrinking minority using such advantages as weight transfer and TC/ASR to aid maneuvers or grip.
Gentle progressive throttle action is the key, control the feed in of power with the handbrake as against relying on the auto hold facility…back luck if its one of the unfit for lorry use electric park brakes that no one asked for.
Its lots of practice thats needed, i’m merely pointing out the dangers of hard turns with violent inputs of power and braking.
The weight transfer and TC stuff is getting a bit complicated (or maybe my poor explanations are) but worth noting because at some points you’ll come up to situations where using such devices makes the difference to you getting in or out.
