A question I have that I do not understand from my instructer

If he's confusing and can't verbalize the procedure to you, I would ask him to do it so I could watch and ignore what he's saying or ask the school for a better instructor...

>>>>So if I want to go into the left lane backing up from the right lane, I turn hard right until it looks like my tractor jackknifes,

You're waiting too long to stop the initial turn...IIRC< my tractor was close to a 45 degree angle before stopping and turning the wheel completely the other way BEFORE moving....

>>>>then turn hard left for my tractor to line back up with my trailer on the left side is that correct?

That part is correct...

Do you get time to practice alone?...If so, do what you think is right, just VERY SLOWLY and pay close attention to what your trailer is doing...

 

Reading this makes me glad I chose a school that rotates instructors. I do have to admit that I have learned at least something from each instructor, no matter how terrible they are at communicating.

As to your question, I'll second walstib's post; it says it all...

I do have to reiterate how beneficial it is - if possible - to practice backing solo. I did not fully grasp all the ins and outs of backing (and how little to turn the wheel and such) until one of my instructors got out of the truck and allowed me to do whatever maneuvers I wanted, free of instruction/yelling Once allowed to fail repeatedly, something clicked, and everything came together. I won't go so far as to say I am good at backing yet, but I am able to do most maneuvers with only 1 pull-up.

Good luck!

 

Just start running over every cone in sight. Eventually the instructor will get POed enough and quit so you'll get a new one.

 

Best advice ever! I think that definitely would have worked on mine!

 

The only way to become good at backing is practice, practice, and then do it some more. This telling someone how to do it is Ok, but you must perform the manuevers to learn the art. Maybe you vcan get the school to let you practice on your own in a parking lot. After a while, you will get the hang of it, I promise.

 

I second (third?) what he said, with the additional caveat to always STEER TOWARD THE PROBLEM! If your trailer is going too far to the right, steer to the right. If your trailer is going too far to the left, steer to the left. A different way to remember is to put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel; whichever way your hand moves is the direction the trailer will go. A little steering input goes a long way, especially as you continue to move.

Get some time alone and fiddle around with it in the cones. And don't get discouraged; I've been at this 6 years and have a hard time hitting "easy" docks sometimes, and I know 25-year veterans who also have bad days. The key is to be able to spot when you're not right and stop/pull up before you hit anything or anybody.

Remember, whether you take one pullup or three or five, a clean dock is a clean dock, so don't let yourself get rushed. It is an unnatural way to move so you need to get your kinesthetic sense tuned to backing an articulated vehicle, and that takes practice, practice, practice.

(Flute music, deep voice with Chinese accent, slight reverb) As you continue to practice, your backing Kung ## will grow stronger each day, and perhaps one day you shall be a master. (Sorry--been watching Kung ## movies all weekend.)

 

I highly suggest this. Our instructor was always on site, he just refrained from instructing; he was simply there for insurance purposes, basically. I would say even 15-30 minutes of solo backing will go a long way.

 

I got censored but supposed to be proper spelling of Kung Foo, guess their dirty word algorithms are pretty aggressive