So I have my CDL but am a functionally incompetent trucker. Now what?

Treat yourself to a treat every time you perform the task well. It worked for my dog.

 

I did the truck stop routine and that worked for me. A few times during the day I would spot a large truck stop and go to the back where no trucks were parked, then practice backing into empty spots, while pretending I was backing between two trucks. I was running solo, so didn't have some trainer running his mouth distracting me.

 

I agree with the other posters. Especially the one that made the comment about the setup. Often times in trucking school, they only teach you to alley dock. Out here in the real trucking world, you'll rarely use the alley dock technique. Instead of trying to back at a 90 degree angle, back at a 45 degree angle. This way, you will resist the urge to over steer the wheel. Also the advantage of backing at a 45 is that you leave a lot of space on your blind side. Yoi only have turn your wheel just a little bit. It's about angles and what your trailer does. You adjust your moves, according to what your trailer does. When turning the wheel, less is more. Go slow. In order to see a 45 degree back, I'd suggest looking at a spread axle flatbed back into a space. A 45 degree back is the only way a spread axle can back into a spot

 

Well, I don't mean to be insensitive,,, but how DID you get your CDL? Backing should be the #1 priority, and it clearly isn't being addressed. Now that automatics are here, seems like every newbies big fear is backing in. It's not that tough, really. Sorry, I see the OP taking down a cement post at the fuel stop,,,either you have it, or you don't, and sadly, from what mjd posts, today, as drivers, they don't have "it". I know, I'd make a lousy trainer,,,

 

I'm gonna have to go ahead and sort of agree with meechyaboy here. I used to run a yard tractor and move 33' twins around in the yard all shift. I probably moved 50 to 60 trailers a shift. And it was always a hurry. It was a company LIKE UPS. When a trailer was filled and sealed, the packages did not stop dropping, they needed an empty and quick, or there was a mess to clean up. So there was no shortage of pressure to hurry. Generally we would go grab an empty when we were caught up. Then we would get yelled at, "NEED AN EMPTY IN 56 … NOW!" We would haul the empty to in front of trailers 58 through about 63, dump the empty there, back into 56, yank the full trailer straight out, then to the right (out of the way), dump it there, hook back up to the empty and slam it into 56 so they get it ASAP. Then go back and store the full trailer in the yard in a spot that was easy for the OTR drivers to get out (and out of our way). Then go yank another empty and wait (or not). We could hook up to trailers without leaving the driver's seat (hook the air up too, no electrical in the yard). There was a trick to this, but you had to be good at "switching."

The difference is, I drove an Ottawa purpose built switch tractor and most places in the yard had room. But sometimes drivers would come in and drop their trailers wherever they took a notion (right in the friggin way). Sometimes we just didn't have time to deal with their dropped trailer for a good long while and just had to back in around them.

I hope the following is helpful to the O.P. There was ONE MOVE that was by far the most helpful, and it was a setup move. The final left hand turn. Even with the space we had we didn't have room to get lined up straight to the spot we had to put it in. 95%, we had to come in at an angle. 95% NOT via blind side. If we were coming at it at a blind side, we would drive past and pull a big ole U-Turn somewhere. But … that was with a 33' trailer and a switch tractor. Took a lot less space.

With a 33' trailer we came close alongside the row of trailers (trailers on our left) and just after passing the spot we needed to go in, we would slam as hard right as we could and just before running out of room, we would slam as sharp to the left as we could. We tried to wind up with the tractor pointing ~45° left of the trailer we were pulling (like when making a left turn going forward), with the trailer pointing into the hole (not too far from it), and that's where we would stop. That final left turn was the most important. With that angle, backing up didn't require too much adjustment to that tractor/trailer angle. We got so good at it, we could back in at full throttle. And had about 2' or 3' of space between the trailer and all the others. We never ever worried about the trailer on the blind side. As long as the trailer we were moving was going in with the correct gap to the trailer on the side we could see, there was no way it could hit the blind side trailer. All trailers had to be parked correctly at the dock or the loading system wouldn't work.

Anyway, with a conventional tractor with a sleeper (long wheelbase), and a 53' trailer, it IS different. More room is needed. But that final left turn would still be key.

It was fun when we were caught up. Had to do this on snow and ice at times and I might have scared an OTR driver one time flying around the dock (maybe 35 mph, the thing was governed) with an empty trailer on snow/ice and he was coming the other way and we were head-on. I just touched the brakes and the Ottawa darn near jack-knifed. My only choice was to let off the brakes and as if I were really trying, because it was sideways, it just missed the driver's tractor and the trailer did too since he stopped. Scared the crap out of me, and I wanted to go back and apologize to him, but was being yelled at on the radio, "NEEDED 2 EMPTIES YESTERDAY! HURRY THE HELL UP!" The driver was being careful, but I was going as fast as the Ottawa could on that snow/ice surface.

I can imagine what that driver saw when all of a sudden there's a (23 year old) kid hauling butt right at him (coming around a sharp corner) on snow/ice and then the son of a gun slides the tractor sideways right at you! It was hairy. I had no choice but to left off the brakes. I never stopped. I can hear the guy now, "that crazy such and such, I oughta chase him down and whip his butt!" It was C-L-O-S-E, I had major pucker factor going on. I bet I got a good cussing, and I can't say I blame the guy. Ahhhhh the good ole days.

 

Sorry, I just can't. You know me, I've been here a while, and I do try to help, but new drivers today asking the easiest questions, like they've never heard of a truck before. How hard could it be,, you just sit there. If I'd have asked those questions, I wouldn't have gotten hired at half the companies. Matter of fact, the fact you have to even "train" someone to drive a truck, to me, is a recipe for disaster in the making. Years ago, most drove a truck because they couldn't do anything else but pull leeevers and we did a good job. Today, it seems, it's the bottom of the barrel for many with no other options, and THAT's why mjd is so busy posting screwups. Seeing what goes on today, ( tearing cement posts out of fuel islands, driving down RR tracks, come on) I'm almost ashamed to say I spent 35 years in this industry and I don't care if anyone thanks me, I'm very upset who is driving Americas trucks today.

 

The thing I had difficulty with was blindside backing into a tight dock between two trucks (especially at night). I would practice at a truck stop before the place filled up.

 

That set-up you talk about is great. It's something I knew from a youtube video. One extra thinv the guy did was drop his work glove at the end of the stripe or in line with the yellow poll on the dock. Gave a great ref point for where your driver side corner needed to be. Then middle of the trailer next to that slot he did what you instructed. It is helpful as heII. lol

Judt don't forget to p/u you glove as you pass it.

 

I was much like you, I came out of CDL school with very questionable backing skills and practically no shifting skill. After driving around with a trainer for a few weeks, I wasn’t much better, in fact my trainer quit on me and told them that I was hopeless. As you can probably imagine, I felt pretty bad, particularly since I had been a professional driver for 20 years already, driving coach buses (and I was a Jedi master with a bus!).

Fortunately for me, our training manager gave me another chance. He handed me the key to a Kenworth and told me to practice my trailer backing and parking there in our yard for an entire day. I did just that, doing it over and over until finally I started getting the feel of where the rear of the trailer was going. I practiced 45° docking, I practiced 90° docking, I practiced blindside docking. By the end of about ten hours out there, I was a changed man!

Oh, I wasn’t a Jedi, but I was (mostly) competent. They sent me out with another trainer, and he told them (and me) after a few days that I was good to go (I ended up driving with him for another week because they didn’t have a truck for me yet). The shifting got easier, too, after I sat down and memorized all the shift points and ranges (and got more driving time).

It only gets easier from here, as you use those skills every working day. Just two days ago I had to back a trailer into a ridiculously tight space with very little space out in front to maneuver, and I set up and backed in like it was no deal. Just a year ago I would have been sweating bullets!