45* alley dock pa skill test

yup me and you both. i had it sometimes and sometimes i didnt. its because your new. practice is what you need to do. if your in a day cab which i was in. i remember all i did was chase the trailer the minute i saw it go straight when it was going in the box. best thing is to do is when you pull up use all the space you can to make it straight. my guy who tested me was super nice and even let me get out the truck to look. In IL you cannot do that. I didnt need to get out and look though. I surprisingly passed it with 100%. i dont know how.

 

In PA you can make up to 3 mistakes. This means, nail the other 2 menuvers and you have some wiggle room on the ally dock. If its the same as 2 years ago, pa requires a weird set up for the ally dock. In real life you can get out and look, also, you can use as many pull ups as you want.

Just make sure you do great on the rest so you can use all your points on the dock. Then, just take it slow and go in a little wide. The spot they have you dock in is pretty wide and you don't want to hit the cone you can see. If you come in to wide, you can cut jack knife the truck and correct pretty fast. If you come in to shallow, its harder to get it wider. I like coming in wide and having the trailer straitish before it goes through the cones. Also, a pull up or hitting a cone are worth 1 point. So, if you have a dock that will end up with a good final position, but will hit the front cone, hit the cone instead of doing a pull up. Either way you loose a point, and if you do the pull up incorrectly you may still hit the cone. As long as you back it in with no pull ups you could hit 3 cones. (not recommended, assuming you did not loose anything on the other menuvers) You should have 3 points to burn through if you do well on the rest. Its a stupid system becuase in real life, hitting a truck is way worse then a pull up. but your not proving you can drive a truck, your proving you can pass their test.


Lastly, keep the faith....I took me 2 tries to pass (I hit a curb on the road test) and now I own my own truck and make the big bucks. Failing just means you need more practice, NOT that your a bad driver or that you should quit.

 

You'll get it. It just take a little while for it to click sometimes. Heck I been driving forever and there are still days I can't back up. Just practice as much as you can and try not to be so nervous when you retest. Good luck.

 

Yea, like at the end of my shift in a dark truck stop when im tired lol.

I was at a shipper the other day that was clearly designed for day cabs pulling 48's. Im a sleeper with a 53. Took me 45 min to get it in the whole with 2 spotters. I finally had to gently drive my stears over the curb to get it to fit. I hate to do that because it cant be good for the tires, but i was perfectly lined up and it just wouldn't fit. the next guy took and hour and he had a day cab. We all have bad backing days.

Inm y experiance you will almost never do a 45 with the setup like pa does. In real life you make use of the space you have and wing it. You will get used to how your truck handles and how to set up in your truck. IRL you use the space you have to your advantage even if its not the normal 45 set up. I saw a drivert he other day do a 90 right, 90 left set up for an ally dock that had ennough room to just make a u turn and strait line back in. If you have space use it. Real life is so much easier then the test, but the stakes are higher with real trucks next to you.

 

Don't beat yourself up on that procedure. I've got 1.5 million miles
under my bottom and I could be mistaked for a school graduate if
I've driven all night and try to do a difficult backing manuver. We've
all been where you're at now. Be patient, and practice, it will come.

 

I had same problem on ally dock u set it up when u start to back u watch yo tandems put them closest to edge of driver side corner on pavement try not to watch back of trailer to much at first but u will have to watch back of trailer when u get in hole and when u get out in real world pull up but don't take all yo maneuver space good luck