Going for the Gold!

Hubby agrees about sam. Kinda like a gruff teddy bear. lol Hubby says Sam knows his stuff and he WILL teach it to ya. Just take a few deep breaths, trust Sam, and let yourself learn.

 

Yeah, never delt with Sam, but sure have heard great things about him.

as far as backing, friend of mine and her hubby were taking the schooling together. She couldn't back if her life depended on it. She'd have that rig so jack-knifed, it was almost funny. But she stuck it out, and got it figured.

Biggest thing that helped me, was once you turn away from the direction you want your trailer to go (i.e. putting more angle between the tractor and trailer) you have to remember to 'catch up to it' or 'follow' the trailer to get it to STOP turning and start rolling more.

If you notice the tandems on the trailer, the more you get the trailer to turn, the LESS the wheels ROLL. Once you get the trailer close to the point you want to get MORE ROLL, you have to turn the wheel in the direction of where the trailer is swung. I'm probably not helping much, guess thats why i'm not teaching. =)

Best thing to tell ya, is once you get an angle between the tractor and trailer, straighten out the wheels and 'catch up' to the trailer to 'stay ahead' of it. If you find out you need more TURN in the trailer you can always add more. But once you get behind, its hard to catch back up.

think of a big circle, and how you'd turn the wheel if you were in your car, and wanted to make a nice regular circle. If you wanted to back up in your car, and make the tail turn to your left, your front tires are turned to your left. that is what its like when you want to slow or stop the TURN of the trailer.

sorry if i made it more confusing. =)

 

Wyld, I really really wish I could pull up Nana's posts from when she was in school. She had a few bad days too, and if I recall correctly a few tears as well. I think you have a bad case of trying to hard and now you have your self all confuzzled (my own word ) Think you need to take your little truck and go back to square one. Stop trying to please everyone, just play with the truck and find what makes sense to you. Tomorrow, try to shake all the negativity off and start fresh with a deep breath. You can and will get this! If you don't get it this go around big deal, you come back to school for a couple more weeks. Its not the end of the world. Honest

 

hey wyld, go back to page 7 on the main swift forum and look for the thread "the further adventures of Nana" (think thats the name).

 

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ther-adventures-texas-nana-swift-driving.html

 

I can only assume y'all want her to read that sad little thread so she can see how hysterical and emotional I got during training.

wyld.....honeybunny you are NOT the first person to cry on the range and you won't be the last. People are created the way we are and obviously you and I cry when we build up to much stress. I also cry when I'm extremely angry.

My training was a total rollercoaster of "yay I've got it" and "total despair I'll never do this". A also became the only student to ever yell "you need to shut up and let me drive" at my road instructor. Why that man likes me is a mystery to me. But Robert's a great instructor and I can still hear him in my mind.

You can do this. YOU.CAN.

I've been where you're at and it wasn't a piece of cake for me. I may be wrong but I'm betting that right about now you're thinking "I'm going to let my husband down and everyone at the school will see me fail. Plus everyone on the forum will think I'm a failure and unable to do this". You are NOT going to fail. What you're going to do is take some advice.

Go look in the mirror and say "the worst thing that can happen is I repeat a week. Big freaking deal. No one dies, I'm not the first to repeat and this will make me a better driver".

Do that please. Give yourself the room to ease up on the stress. Once you let the stress and worry go I'll just bet you "click". And if you don't.....big fat hairy deal. You'll repeat the week and be a better driver for it.

I've tried to keep up with fellow students and let me tell you that the majority of those that found it "easy" have washed out on the road. Couldn't handle the stress of the road or being gone or......a hundred reasons. But those like myself who fought to learn, who beat our heads ....we stuck and we've become very good drivers. I'm not fantastic and I sure don't know everything about driving. In fact I know enough to know there's a TON I need to learn. But I don't panic, I don't get ####y, and I've had no accidents or incidents at all other that a deer hitting me and a blown tire.

You'll be the same. You keep at it, don't beat yourself up, don't give up and you'll get it. I know it sounds flip and insincere but it's true: I BELIEVE IN YOU. I KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS.

 

The concept of backing drove me crazy. For some reason, I got all confused with clockwise and counter clockwise. I blame it on years of wearing a digital watch. LOL.

To make the trailer go to your left, grip the bottom of the steering wheel with your left hand palm facing up. Pull the steering wheel to the left (towards the drivers door).

To make the trailer go to your right, grip the bottom of the steering wheel with your right hand palm facing up. Pull the steering wheel to the right (towards the passenger door).

Hope this benefits somebody.