Alley Docking tips for a newbie?

You must avoid the temptation to oversteer. If you turn the wheel too much, your trailer will do too much. You'll end up jackknifing ut more than you want to. Start a little slower. Experiment with turning the wheel just a hair and watch what the trailer does. As you get that feel for it, you'll improve. Then you'll be able to adjust based on what your trailer is doing. It will tell you if you need to make a harder turn or hold it in place.

 

Amazing Dutch truck driver - YouTube

 

Practice and time, and more practice. I promise you those instructors and trainers had a first time and I doubt it was as good as your first time.
If they’re yelling at someone learning how to do it they’re not good trainers, yelling at someone trying something new they’ve never done before only makes you more nervous than if you were in the truck alone practicing on your own.

Always take your time and before you know it it will just be another day at the office!

 

It's been a few days, how are things going? Better?

 

Congrats

 

The hard part is done now. Learning gets easier when you have unlimited pull-ups. Also, when you're that far off, pulling all the way out and resetting is usually the best idea. Or taking a lap around the lot and taking a fresh crack at it.

 

I somehow wound up with loads that have to be alley docked in a ridiculously tight space. US Foods suck. So far I've been lucky and have had spots with a empty dock next to it. Not sure I can make it in-between two trucks. I'm terrible with my setup. I, like you will get better with time.
Good luck.

 

That's exactly what I did, too.

What really helped me was when somebody told me this: the further the tandems are from pivot point (kingpin), the smaller your steering wheel movements should be.