Calfornia CDL Skills Test

It may depend on the test site and there capability.

I did straight, alley and parallel.

Where are you going to school and where are you testing?

 

NH is the same way, must do a straight back, off set and then whatever they pick. In Mass you have to do 4 back ups, straight,off set,alley and parallel both truck and trailer. Lucky Them.

In my first couple months out I had to parallel park a couple times. Needed to stop at a rest area and the only place to park, I had to do a parallel to get into it. Good thing I practiced it alot before I got my cdl licence. Good luck.

 

Seems like I use parallel parking several times a week. Many rest areas in the west only have parallel parking and if the lot is full and only one slot is left you have to get in there parallel. When truck lots are full sometimes you have to find a spot on a curb using parallel, or at a shipper when they ask you to go park on a curb away from the docks. It's a useful skill to have and the fundamentals apply to dock parking as well.

 

Maybe you can help me with the off set and parallel parking.What points do you look for when parking parallel and off set parking .I'm having a hard time with this help please............thxs

 

Parallel is pretty easy, they set you up with the rear of your trailer equal to the front of the cones. You are stopped there and given a signal to begin the exercise. As you are stopped turn your wheel hard to the left, then begin backing until your tractor is 90º to your trailer, then stop and turn your wheel hard to the right... then back until you are in the slot. When you initiate the first backing (with wheel hard to the left) the trailer wheels will travel backward and the angle of the trailer will initiate into the slot. When you stop and then crank the wheel hard to the right and then back the trailer wheels will continue into the slot in perfect position and you really only need to pay attention to the front cone in your wide angle mirror on the passenger side front hood. You shouldn't need to make any steering adjustments and only need to pay attention to when you need to stop backing to have the trailer completely in the slot.

For offset I can do that by feel, but perhaps someone might be able to give a better point by point guide than I can. Basically if I'm moving from left to right side slot, I would pull forward until I can see that the trailer tandems would clear the last center cone and then crank the wheel hard right and move forward until my tractor is about 45º to 75º to the right, then stop and move the wheel hard left and move until I'm just past having the tractor and trailer straight. This "S-hook" maneuver should "pull" the trailer tandems to the right, then finish with my tractor set up with a view in the driver's rear view mirror that should show the trailer set up to back either straight back into the right side slot or needing a few minor adjustments on the way back into the slot. You need to move that tractor more than you think to get the trailer tandems to move enough to enter the next slot.

 

Thank you for your time and help !