Backing maneuvers.

Yes I can explain it is very simple! Everyone see's and does things differently.
So YOU have to tell the other student (who is trying to be helpful) let me do it my way!
Only stop me when i am 2 feet or closer, to hitting something. DON'T tell me which way to turn the wheel, or when you think I need to pull forward. Only stop me from hitting something.

 

Ahh the driving school days. They were golden. Especially now looking back.

When I was in a truck with 4 others practicing straight line backs, we couldn't get it back in straight, so we as wise students decreed it must be because the lane is crooked. The driver at the time said "this lane is crooked as a #####" so he gets out and one other gets out with him and start theorizing how the lane "should" be. Once they got back in we back in smoothly everytime… then that same guy said... "we got this down to a science". yeah, we sure do. Now lets try to get out of our truck and move a dumpster … lol. Eventually the driving instructor came over to us and said it wasn't the lane that was crooked, it was the drivers.

There was a separate time I had this school bus driver that thought she knew everything because she drove a school bus.. kept screwing up the backs even after the instructor came in and fixed her and told her what she did and how to do better next time.. after the instructor left she said "well he just couldn't see what I saw... that's why I done what I did.." another guy next to me.. "you ain't see ####!" By then my gut was hurting from laughing so hard. I had fun.

 

I couldn't afford school. The programs within driving distance to my home were like $5500-$6000.!!! I studied the book at home & took the written test at the DMV. Then found a guy with a old Budweiser delivery truck. Day cab single axle truck & single axle trailer. Spent $500 & 2days with him. Met me that Saturday at the testing site so I could use the rig for the pre trip & road skills test. Got my cdl A like that.

IMO The one on one teaching of an old schooler like that just can't be beat. Someone who wants to pass on their knowledge one at a time vs being herded in by the dozen with an "instructor" that has other students trying to teach..!? Won't walk alongside or stand on steps to talk you through it..? Just there to get his weekly check.. Joint sounds like it should be shut down.. This is why I get rocked awake at 3am in little america with some megas dry van dragging half my front bumper off as they "park" in the slip alongside.. Sorry, not very helpful, & not a personal attack to OP. Rant over..

 

One thing that always helped me is to realize that the rear of the trailer always follows the bottom of the steering wheel.
To clarify, put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and push left thereby turning the steering wheel right, the rear of the trailer will go to the left.

And one of beginner's biggest problem is that they almost always over correct.

Once you've hit several hundred docks you'll start getting into the groove.

 

I'm pretty new myself as well about 3 months of backing so far. When I was learning for the life of me 3 days in a row I couldn't back. I thought I was going to get kicked out of training. Day 4 came around and one of the drivers in the yard told me, just let your hands do the steering without you even thinking about it. I thought he was talking crap but when I tried it holy hell it worked. Turning steering left and that trailer goes right and vice versa. That usually works for me. One day you'll go in and suddenly you're doing it like a pro.
When you get good, don't get overconfident. I know I did and bumped a trailer backing at 3 in the morning.

 

Ok your post is pretty good. You noted that the 45 degree angle. Most students wont even know or note that little detail.

What I do is I wind the wheel all the way over for a 90 degree sight side (Driver side) back into a dock, space, whatever. Tractor begins to make angle with trailer that MUST now move a certain way. After a certain point maybe 30 to 45 degrees angle I am following that trailer back into that painted SPACE.

ONCE THOSE TRAILER TANDEMS ENTER THAT SPACE BEFORE IT REACHES HALFWAY from the red far corner left light and the center middle light you need to first Rewind your wheel, (*While slowing down very much) pushing your nose of trailer almost straight and unwind all the way to get that tractor straight (Work that steering wheel fast fast fast go slow or even pause) BEFORE that trailer gets ideas to start going over the line, mash anything on the right side of it and so on.

It helps to consider your trailer just like a car. With the front wheels your entire tractor.

Don't stress about the showboat instructor gliding into and out of docks. I can do the same #### thing too. AND YOU WILL TOO SOMEDAY. I GUARANTEE IT.

It's a little bit scary that students are training students. Sort of going back the early 80's movie stripes after Sgt Hulka was blown up. *(You would think a institution then in a cold war with 1.2 million active will find another Hulka... maybe Sgt Weewee to replace and continue platoon training.) Or find a corporal and slap a stripe on him.

Anyhow.

You are getting it. Little by little. You can do better by doing more as you can. Keep it up. REMEMBER to mind that onery trailer that sometimes WONT want to follow your wishes for a variety of very good reasons.

Here is one possible reason.

Your trailer is on a slope of ground. Gravity might be making it get lazy and go too much to the right that you speak of. It does not take much slope to do this. Pour a little coffee on the dock space. Where the water goes is where that trailer will want to try to go.

USE a little wheel to GET UNDER THAT THING before it does go that way while docking.

 

Just for the record. This OP has not took his driving or range test yet. Some of those backs are state specific. Nothing wrong with asking questions and asking for advice. However the closer you come to that test the more you need to be working on those specific backs required by that state. You have instructors that are supposed to teach and show you how to do this.

Editorial note. It is starting to concern me that driving school students are asking these kinds of questions. This is not the first time. Nothing wrong with it I guess. Just makes me wonder how much experience those so called instructors have. It also pisses me off because I really would love to do that job. However I can't.

 

I share the same feelings and thoughts.

I taught my wife how to back. Now those of you who are marrieds understand that if a spouse wont take a moment to listen and learn from you... you aint going to be heard or seen for a while. There is a saying sometimes it's better to sleep on the roof of your own house some days.

She can back a little bit. But that's where I come in most of the time. She in exchange does the mountain of paperwork.

I worry that the overall training situation is turning into what we in the south call a puppy mill. Mate that female dog fast, often and get those pups sold QUICK before anyone finds out what's really going on that deep in the woods. Poor things.

Ive only been to school once for trucking. But after I got that Class A I continued to be in school until my last day. I learned something every day. It might not be great or good but I learn it. Our instructors were very consistent. But later towards the end when we students pretty much got the state basics down we started trying to compete for time contests. That only sharpened our skills. We were even paralleled parking when Maryland did NOT have THAT anywhere on the Class A test back then. We began to have parking races to see who can park the fastest the right way against the stop watch.

Then the instructors would try to beat our best time. THAT was a revelation.

Schooling today? Im not too impressed. I remember watching a Covenant training school in little rock that had a gravel lot, some docks and a training tractor trailer. 6 students took turns to get in, pull up 100 feet, back straight 100 feet, get out. Next student. as the morning progresssed and the heat increased it became a sort of a bull session with none of the students interested in working that steering wheel anymore in the heat.

Little do they know of the tiny spots they will must get a 18 wheeler into someday, if they managed to passed the training at all. God help them. (Or don't for all our sakes...)

 

Reversing a trailer is quite easy ha you say you've been driving for years and that's correct what you do is turn the wheel the opposite way to get the trailer to go the other way you want then once it goes that way you turn the steering the other way and follow it around simple however it'd be easier for me to actually be there and show you. Best one i ever done was at the Flying J in Phoenix as every driver who runs I - 40 knows that place is always full however for some reason i went around to park and there was one spot no - one would take apparently it was to hard to back into well that was until i arrived i simply got one of the other drivers from my company who just happened to be there to spot for me no worries got it straight between the lines in under 3 minutes. the key is to reduce the backing angle as much as possible which is hard to do when your stuck between 2 rows of parked trucks.