Swift Mentoring - Teaching Methods, Strategies, General Concerns

I'm with my second trainee now, and he has 60+ hours BTW, but we haven't upgraded to team driving yet. We are under a multi-day run that will deliver tomorrow. After that delivery we will mutually decide whether he is ready for team driving or not. Today was his first "clean" day of driving, without grinding a shift, keeping on top of his lead time visuals, preplanning his moves exiting the freeway and getting into the truck stop, and nailed his back. I mentioned that fact to him and it was good to have that real success under the belt.

Following up regarding time management during the solo hours, with this trainee right off the bat I was forced into running super solo on four different loads in order to get us in position to make deliveries on time. Because of that I ran out of my 70 hour clock and on this multi-day run I've been in negative available hours (-18 hours) as I stay On Duty Not Driving as my trainee drives. Each of my sessions BTW were fairly short, with the longest session at 7 hours to burn up the last of my 70 to end the last run and start this long haul.

If all goes well tomorrow, running through some major metro areas and doing a drop and hook, we'll hopefully have my trainee to a point that team driving will workable and we can take a 34 hour reset to get ready, get laundry done, etc.

Backing

So far with this trainee we have relatively few backs logged, as almost all the truck stops and rest areas we've stopped at are pull throughs. Yesterday I took about an hour at a truck stop to have him do several backs. First I had him try the "Memphis Method" (taught by the Memphis terminal), but I got a sense that he didn't get the setup. Then he explained that in his Swift Academy class out of Fontana that they taught a totally different method. So I told him to go ahead and do the entire thing as he was taught. That was an eye opener.

The SA taught him to stay 10' out from the line of trucks (dropped trailers at the back of the truck stop), pulling forward until the back of the trailer is 3' past the entry to the slot. Then turn hard right and back until you are in a full jackknife, then stop and turn hard left until it goes right into the slot. IF you line it up perfectly and go exactly the right distance past the hole, then it works like a charm. However, judging that initial setup is hard and it doesn't account for where the trailer tandems are to the back of the trailer.

We tried a few more backs using his method, marking the spot for stopping with a flattened coke can. He came close to nailing it, but always had to make adjustments.

After today's driving session I used up half a note pad drawing out the three major scenarios for backing, two that I learned and the SA method, noting the strengths and weaknesses of each. Excellent chance for opening his eyes to the strategies for backing. I'm going to spend some time on this upcoming 34 to create a pdf file for backing strategies:

Swift Academy - aka - "Straight Ahead Setup" method: set up 10' away from the hole and pull forward until your trailer is 3' past the hole (depending on the position of the trailer tandems). Stop then crank hard right and start backing until you are in a full jackknife. Stop then crank hard left to "get under" (in front of) the trailer. By the time you "get under" the trailer you should be lined up straight into the hole.

Memphis Method aka "S Curve Method" - set up about 3-5' away from the hole with your drive tandems at the far end of the hole. Stop then crank the wheel hard right and move forward until your tractor is facing 12 o'clock (if you think of the starting set up position as 9 o'clock). Stop and crank hard left and move until your tractor is at 9 o'clock. Stop and turn steering wheel to straight ahead and pull forward 6'. Stop and crank hard right and back up until you are in a full jackknife. Stop and turn hard left and back up until the trailer is lined up in the hole, maybe a little past lined up. Stop and "jog to get under".

Jogging - these are small movements forward and back, pulling forward 6' and backing up again 6'. For example: Jog to Jack means you turn the wheel hard left and move forward 6' and then stop, then turn the wheel hard right and back up 6'. This will result in the trailer not moving position, but the tractor will have increased the angle of jackknife by about 20-30º. Jog to Get Under is the opposite, moving forward with the wheel turned hard right, then backing with the wheel turned hard left. Before joining Swift I'd never used the "jogging" concept to move the tractor around a stationary trailer, and that was a big help to managing backing and tight maneuvers of all kinds.

The "Slide and Adjust Method" - this is more of a feel method that you see experienced truckers use and it is the way I was originally taught going back to the late '70's. It pretty much follows the Memphis Method, but you aren't stopping to crank the wheel completely. Instead you are continuously moving forward after your set up position in your S curve. When you stop and start backing up you should always have a slight jackknife position of the tractor in relation to the trailer. You can initiate backing by simply backing up straight, since you are in a slight jackknife position the trailer will start "falling off" or increasing the jackknife as it starts turning toward the hole. Now you can do one of the following as you back:

- Jack it - turn the wheel to the right to increase the degree of jackknife and slow down the rate that the trailer tandems are moving back toward 3 o'clock while increasing travel toward 6 o'clock.

- Follow it - meaning holding the steering wheel in a position that will maintain the degree of jackknife between the tractor and the trailer. This causes the trailer tandems to take a radius of a turn, the shallower the jackknife then the longer the radius.

- Get under it - meaning turning the steering wheel to the right to decrease the angle of jackknife and ultimately get straight to the trailer.

Using the Slide and Adjust Method would allow you to learn how to make adjustments when your "by the numbers" method you were taught in school leave you out of position.

No matter what, you have to take into consideration the truck you are driving. If you have a long turning radius then you need to adjust your setup positions and may need to extend parts of the movements to get the tractor into jackknife or straight to the trailer positions.