Today was my first day ever driving a Tractor.

shmelk · Sep 1, 2022

I'm also relatively new. But it seems the trick is to pay attention to your speed to know when to change gears.

MACK E-6 · Sep 1, 2022

Espressolane said: ↑

Be the tortoise. Slow and smooth.
Slow throttle
Slow steering
Smooth throttle
Smooth steering

Don’t get in a hurry. Take your time.
When it starts to not be right, STOP. Take a breath, count to 5. Look at the situation again, then ask yourself “what do I need to do different”
Then make those changes and try again. That’s the thing most people miss. If it didn’t work the first time, just doing the same thing is not going to change it. You have to make an adjustment of some kind. What that adjustment is depends on the situation.

The key to a good back is all setup. It starts long before the truck is in reverse.

One thing new drivers do, and even some of us that have been doing this for a few months. Getting impatient and start over steering. Slow down, let the trailer respond to the input. It’s gonna take a moment.
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And to add, a longer trailer will take longer to react. Backing a 48’ vs a pup is a world of difference.

Cplmjl1218 · Sep 1, 2022

bananajohn said: ↑

I’m training in a 10 Speed- I’ve never driven manual in my life basically.

I can shift fine to 5 but still having issues jumping the clutch, makes for a jerky ride but I’m getting the double clutch rhythm down I think, 5 - 6 is getting easier every time I do it, and downshifting is difficult but I did do better for the most part throughout the day downshifting.

I was able to straight back and swing right/left well enough to get satisfactory on my progress report, I had a ton of trouble with off-hand left and right, it seemed the more I did it, the harder it became and the more mistakes I would make, but I never gave up and I’d always find my danger spot, pull forward, and try again, the only cone I ran over was at the ### end of the day, and I just had to tell my trainer “I think I’m tired”. LOL!

I made a lot of mistakes but they weren’t as frequent in the early hours of the day, as the day went by they happened more and more and I knew what I needed to do instinctually, but I would do the opposite of what I wanted the trailer to do, I’d stop, have a little Jesus moment, and proceed to do what I needed to do, only to screw it up again.

From what I can gather I’m making a lot of mistakes, I know I’m making them and I just have to keep reminding myself, smooth is fast, fast is slow.

What a kick-### day.
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Congratulations on your new journey. I’ve been driving 25 years and have won local driving championships and placed highly in state. But it took me years of making mistakes to get here. Hell, I might even forget to pull the lines once in a while! Sh@$ happens. Be humble, be patient, expect the unexpected and trust me, your gonna see some stuff out here that makes ya think lol. (And laugh, and cuss)! Be safe in your journey

SoulScream84 · Sep 1, 2022

MACK E-6 said: ↑

And to add, a longer trailer will take longer to react. Backing a 48’ vs a pup is a world of difference.
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I've been learning this since I started with Sherwin Williams. Dome everything from daycab with pup to 48' and liftgate. Kind of like it as the little changes mean I don't get complacent.

Hyweighman · Sep 2, 2022

Six9GS said: ↑

Tip that helped me: Be OK with yourself sucking at the beginning. We all sucked at the beginning. There's a phrase in German I like: Ubung macht dien meister. (Not positive I got the spelling correct). It directly translates to: Repetition makes the master. It's roughly equivalent to the American phrase: Practice makes perfect. But, I find the German phrase to be more accurate and wiser.
Just keep at it, don't give up and don't get discouraged because you are not doing it as well as you think you should.
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Wiederholung macht den meister

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