Straight line backing

Don’t stress over it. Just use small corrections and soon enough it’ll be like second nature. In the real world when you start getting all jacked up you just pull forward, straighten out and try again.

I had to do one this morning 3am few hundred yards uphill. Then when the receiver showed up had to back in and block the road while getting unloaded.

 

When I did my test back in 1979-80, I back up so straight in high range the test dude passed me on the spot. It was the hardest part of the test and nailed with some.

Let me guess, you’re driving an auto, right ? Even more reason to fail.

Go rent one those U—Haul thingys and hook up to a pickup truck and practice. Rent the pickup if you don’t have one. Practice makes perfect. Unfortunately, I didn’t need anything to practice. They handed me the keys when I got my chauffeur license/class 1/A and was off to Phoenix Az with a load of nursery, had 4 drops. I learned everything 101. The only way to go. No babysitting required.

 

This is a new one for me,,, nope, never heard of such a thing. We've all heard the possible nightmares new drivers face when backing in a dock, but straight line backing, we'd do in high range. I'd never make it as any kind of trainer, this stuff is too much for me to handle rationally, I try and be supportive, but this kind of tears it. Some people really shouldn't be in a truck, sorry.

 

Quite the number you did to that old flatbed Ford.

 

You sound like those instructors I had in 1992. They all acted like they were born with a hundred years of experience and never made even the tiniest mistake.

Backing in high range? That's something you do with a few years experience under your belt. No one wants a guy with a learners permit reversing at 15 mph. Good grief.

Not everyone hits a homerun their first time at bat. One of those trainers lambasted me for not picking up on shifting right away and said what you did about trucking not being a fit for everyone. After hearing that I decided this trainer was not going to win and began to focus more.


Look at me now!

 

Perhaps that was a bit harsh, but I am who I am, and yes, from 1992, and who taught me wouldn't stand for this. Their mindset was, you better know what you are doing BEFORE you get in, and an element of truth there, generally, years ago, people that couldn't back up stayed away from trucking. You didn't have to "teach" anyone anything, after a 5 minute test drive, the boss could tell right away if you had "it", you're hired, now get going. I was trailer truckin' that afternoon.
We don't have those kinds of drivers for a number of reasons today, and people from all walks of life , possibly out of options, with little, if any clue of how to operate these things, are filling in, and yes, they must be taught and many do succeed. I'm just saying, years ago, you had to be a little more up on what to do to drive a truck, thinking for yourself was a huge plus in the hiring process. Today, I'm just not comfortable with someone unfamiliar with the basics of the job, asking questions like this. Be like me saying, "okay, where do you make the incision now?" Stay in the kitchen where you belong? ( my grandfathers mindset),,,, of course not, but years ago, we could give it the old "college try", and screw ups weren't so noticeable, but today, screw ups are costly, and I'm sorry, if you can't back up a truck, IN A STRAIGHT LINE,,,good heavens, we haven't even got to backing in a dock, perhaps a disaster waiting to happen.