In training and nervous about a lot.

There are so many good bits of wisdom in these replies. That's how trucker should come together. Kudos to all.

OP... I am now I'm my mad 50s and just hit day 3 of training in dump trucks again. I haven't been in a dump truck since 2007, drove my 1st one in 1994. I'd be lying straight to your face if I said I wasn't nervous or had some concerns. It's natural, take it in and accept it's there. You feel that way for a reason and it's a good one. Subconsciously you know you are in a risky situation. Let it heighten your senses, just go slow. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Lastly don't allow ANYONE to rush you. The fact you raised your had and asked for help and showed your concern is a great sign.

You can do this, driver!

 

Yes!!
Slow and steady wins the race driver!
And as I said before,if something doesn’t look or feel right backing into a dock, get out and take a look at your surroundings.
Analyze the situation…
You might come across obstacles that you didn’t see previously!

 

Also download the trucker's slide calculator app. You can play with it to see how Sliding tandems affects balance. Don't trust it for dead on balls accuracy, but it can get you close. Only a certified scale and a reweigh after sliding with tell the truth. There are also rules of thumb about how much weight transfers each time you slide a hole. I don't know them but some old salts might.

Here are some things I used to help me understand what happen on a slide. Surgically accurate? NO pictures to help you visualize what going on to help you learn? Yes

 

Kingpin to rear axle requirements

 

I’ve said this before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but the thing that helped me most in getting competent backing a trailer (getting effortless took a year or more) was spending a long day in our truck yard, practicing. I must have backed that trailer in between two other trailers close to fifty times.

 

passenger mirror only tells you where you are (in space), driver mirror tells you where you're going (direction). any time I try to use the passenger mirror for anything except spatial reference I end up doing rig yoga. driver mirror is the only one that can tell you where the rig is actually GOING, whether it's straight, angled, turning, walking. look at passenger mirror first and decide (DELIBERATELY) where you want the trailer to end up based on where it IS, use driver mirror to choose angle of how to get there based on where it's currently GOING, then reference passenger mirror to see what is actually happening.

for blindside, get one of those truck stop clip on visor mirrors and put it on the passenger side, you can angle the visor and see the curb side tandems through the passenger window

absolute nightmare blindside scenario is a situation where there's not enough room to straighten out before you actually get between the furniture, in that case you just have to straight back as close to in front of the hole as possible, then close your eyes and jack it, move a foot, hop out and look, move a foot, hop out and look.

usual blindside scenario has at least some room to pull up and straighten out after you position the trailer butt, before you stick it in, in that case u just use the visor mirror to get the curb side tandems in front of and against the right limit, back up a few more feet so the trailer has a few degrees of angle towards the left limit, then pull up to straighten out so you can finally see. if you don't add some extra angle to the trailer before you pull up, you'll drag the tandems closer to the right limit, then it's screaming and cussing and laughter cause you have to start over.

a trainer can only show you techniques, you can only really teach yourself how to back. the only wrong way to back is hitting something, the only right way to back is getting it in the hole without hitting anything. all you need is an empty parking lot, ideally with painted lines, and anything you can put on the ground to mark off left/right limits of the target space. then, after putting stress in the trash can where it belongs, play with the empty space and stick your thingy in it. A LOT.

after you figure out how you like to do it it's a lot easier to do it with people watching

 

Great advice! Thanks!