Backing

Completely agree except I generally use 1150 & 1500. However, I have been taught that the most important thing is to only rev about 300-350 above where you came out of gear. So even if you come out of gear at 900rpm you can downshift, but should only go to 1200-1300 rpm when you grab the next gear.

 

Have to in mass as well, both sight side and blind side.

 

then you ARE NOT READY for your test..period...can't you re-schedule..?? and how on God's good earth can anyone "help you" back up when we cannot "see" your problem...??

many states do more than you think for testing..

lane change/straight back, sight side/blind side parallel, alley dock.
then the air brake test and pre-trip...then the road, IF you PASS all the yard skills...

hit a cone, you're done, go over the line, you're done although i have personally known the Stoughton,MA trooper (Eaton) to be a cool guy and cut a "wee-bit" slack......La Monica at Everett is cool too. Dartmouth and Otis, those troopers retired, i do not now who is there now. Dartmouth and Otis the troopers there DO NOT cut any slack....

 

I know my school's mantra was 'clutch in, rev it up, downshift', in my orientation we weren't even allowed to use the word "rev" as it's a bad procedure...When ready to downshift, "raise" the rpms and by gently pushing in the shifter, it fell into gear when it's at the right rpm, which in time you will learn...Practicing "raising" the rpms on the lot using finesse and not revving it and hoping I hit it at the right time was a big plus and made downshifting much easier with less grinding and jamming...Finessing the rpms also made floating, which I do 90% of the time now, much smoother...

 

For straight line backing only, put your hand at the bottom of the wheel and move the wheel in small increments in the same direction that you want the back of the trailer to move. If you always pull the same trailer you can mark a spot on the d/s front corner where the cab fairing is in the mirror when the trailer is straight. Watch it move to quickly see the direction the trailer is turning. Using the spot on the trailer put your hand on the top of the wheel and move your hand in the direction you want the spot to move. THE TRAILER IS ALWAYS TURNING WHEN BACKING.

Good Luck with your test.

 

I did my test in OK. was basic written, got permit. pre-trip, including in cab and break. the backing skills test was random 3 out of 6 skills (straight, offset left or right, parrallel driver side or blind side, and a 90degree ally), tho all going to the school I attended got straight as one of the skills, so just two random for me.
couple things I was told backing:
if think not quite on your mark, stop, look all mirrors, get out and look before making major corrections. speed and how fast you can back is Not part of the test. in OK you allowed two get outs, use them! the dmv is not trying to fail you, just doing their job...you can get out, walk all the way round truck and trailer to be sure where you are to get backed into the space.
trailer goes opposite the wheel, only when the trailer is straight. if you are angled, will continue the angle untill you get it straight again. small corrections on straight back. straight backing, a little goes a long ways.
on ally dock, takes like 12-15 feet before you actions on steering wheel will effect the rear of the trailer (that tip didnt help me as much as "drive the tandems". personally I did better with tandems slid back, but others did better slid up) I thought of it like playing pool, if I push angle on front of trailer from here, the rear should goes this way...make sense? toy truck helped me a lot to see the angles.
use your time in practice yard to get feel of where tractor-trailer lined up. start into you backing, when you think you XX feet from cone (before make correction) get out and look, see how far it really is, so you know for sure what your mirrors are telling you. you can stop and look all you want in practice yard before go test.

my problem with downshifting was timing. I was trying to go to fast. two seconds is what instructors told me. "clutch, out of gear, neutrual, little fuel to get rpms up by 400 over what I came out of gear, clutch, into gear" one instructor used to snap his fingers or clap his hands - "together (clutch and gear), tap (neurtal) lil rev, together". "together, tap, together" is a rythem you just have to figure out, and from what I've seen, each truck I've driven is little different on it's timing rythem, just dont rush, and dont over rev. I had trouble giving to much fuel (rev), letting off to fast. instructor advised is like any woman, treat her slow and easy, and she'll preform nicely, lol. for me the trick came from steady control over accelerator (rpm) more than clutching. dont stab or romp it, just steady in and out. now that I've learned shift without clutch, the steady makes more sense, but you'll get there soon enough

don't panic! this is not a pass or fail and your out test. if you make a mistake, keep going. in OK you are allowed some mistakes, but if you panic, you will use up all your "points" and not pass the test. they do not expect you to have a perfect run, you are new after all. they just want to be sure you are safe enough to finish your training with a professional trainer. ya know?
hope this helps some. good luck!

 

Same in Missouri but you only have to get the trailer into the spot, doesn't matter how the cab ends up. They also knock a point off if you stop and another if you pull up. It's another point for not double clutching, but only one for the whole test so I floated it. And you can run over a couple cones and still pass.

 

this will i hope all be addressed with the new CDL permit rules coming out in July. all testing SHOULD BE UNIFORM from state to state. RI, CT and MASS, the 3 states i deal with are all different in the testing procedures.

there are at least 3 levels of testing, level one, level two, level three.

Mass is at level 3 the highest.

RI is at level 2 the middle

CT is at level 2, but not as complete as the RI..

Florida, for the longest time, was level 1...the absolute lowest

this is why (again hopefully) the new CDL permit rules will bring ALL 50 states into a more even field, rather that one state doing it one way, and another state yet doing something totally different.

getting back to the point system, in RI, hit a cone, it's points, go over a line, it's points, and you can NEVER get out and look.

in Mass, you hit a cone or a line, you're done.

in CT, they use flags, not cones. as you are backing up, and if the truck mirrors hit the flag (which is 5 feet tall) and knocks it down, you fail, but if you rub up against a flag, you're ok...what kind of BS is this...??

it drives us instructors insane as well, because one day, in a good mood the DMV tester will over look "some things"....which in all fairness, NOTHING should be over looked....but on a bad day...oh man watch out, he's on the warpath....

until ALL 50 states are uniform in testing procedures, there WILL BE students that will do good, but will fail if only because the tester didn't like the way the student talked, and i have personally witnessed one of my Puerto Rican students, a great guy mind you, get scolded because he has a speech impediment and he slurred his words a bit....that's discrimination, that tester DID NOT scold an american born student that had a stutter....

so this point BS or knocking down cones/flags BS should ALL BE THE SAME for each state....never mind, "my state is easy" or "my state only tests straight backing"...

i think California as big as it is, tests differently, depending where you live...up north, you are tested for the lack of a better description, half as much as down south, where they DO MORE tests...is this fair...?? THE SAME STATE CAN'T GET IT'S ACT TOGETHER AND TEST THE SAME WAY...??

i think NY is like this as well...!!

i'm just glad i am done with this BS, as well as some of you other guys/gals SHOULD BE...and not have to go through all that again....how many of you would pass the level 3 skills testing...???

 

Sure, this might ease some of your pains(maybe)
If you have ever driven a sitdown forklift,its the same principal,you are steering with the very rear wheels. Forklifts aren't combination vehicles though,you have a pivot point.
lets say your doing a 45 degree angle.(to the left,drivers side)
1st you turn the wheel to the right,this will pivot your tractor to the left and angle your trailer also)
if you look out the drivers window you should start seeing the rear tandem wheels.
2nd,As you can see the wheels(on the tandem) you want to steer with them.In other words,lets say there is a line on the ground and you want the trailer parallel in between them, so as you started your turn, steer tires pointed opposite as you swing around looking at your rear tandem wheels, halfway through, thetrailer should be swinging around in that direction.
3.You will now start turning your steering wheel the opposite way(remember your still only halfway around the turn) so you start turning the steering whell to the left.(at this time you should be at about 25 degrees from your stopping point and it should just slide into place.

Remember your steering with the rear trailer tandem wheels, but your controlling how those wheels move with the tractors steers,and the pivot point. so your contolling with the front tires, and halfway in the turn, your actaully pushing the trailer sideways,as you straighten it out to make the vehicle straight again.
I would start the turn like a I said, halfway into it,look at your trailer tires,realize you are now pushing the trailer sideways, so in order to complet the turn , you turn your steering wheel opposite and Viola!

Dont worry, I had trouble with this one too,back then.

 

I pretty much agree with Rerun on this. If you have to question your backing in any way shape or form, you probably arent ready for it, yet. And the fact that states give people a 45* on a test is crazy. When I took mine they had a 90* alley dock, a blind side parallel park, and offsets (which then turned into straight line back). Those maneuvers can prepare you for most situations and something like a 45* will be simple. But to have trouble backing in a semi is a bad thing since every maneuver consists of it. You should practice more to the point you can do it every time. Thats what I did.

As for the downshifting, I dont know if they make you do it for the test also but I know if you fail to shift properly while driving whether it be through intersections or in turns, you fail. So if you arent 100% on your driving its probably not a good idea.