BACKING RANGE HELP
 

:?: I am currently attending a C D L school. Myself and another student are having trouble on the backing range. We both are left handed, we both are average or above on all other driving. The right handers are days ahead of us, instructor is baffled. Straight line backing o k, parallel parking not so good. Both having trouble setting up straight. Most left handers do right handed things backwards, such as writing or tying knots. Any help or advise welcome. thanks lifetime lefty.

Practice, Practice, Practice. There is not a pill I can give you to make you understand backing, you just need to do it more. You are at school because nobody can back without practice. Get out and look so you understand how the trailer moves when you turn the wheel. Take every minute you can to get behind the wheel.

There also must be a formula, like turn the wheel so many times, back up so far, turn the wheel back, etc. Discover the formula and you can do it the same every time, the key is in getting set up properly.

If I had to take a guess I would say you are over thinking things. I am left handed and IMHO unlike other things we come across there really is not any adaptation for being left handed when it comes to driving a truck.

There are several methods you can try that may help you in figuring out which way to turn the wheel to get the trailer to go in the direction you want it to go in.

Hand at top of wheel: Steer towards trouble. In other words in which ever mirror you see too much trailer in or the trailer going to the wrong side or to the side you don't wish to the trailer to go.

Hand at the bottom of wheel: Turn the wheel in the direction you want the trailer to go.

Hand at top of wheel: Turn in the opposite direction you want to go in.

Try them all and see which works best for you.

Also remember to go slow and that it takes time for the trailer to respond to what you do upfront. Oversteering in a common big problem for newbies during backing.

Finally relax. Play around with things until they click for you. When I went through school, each and every one of us progressed at a different rate. We all had backs that just clicked quickly and others that took some time and one thing we all had in common is that we found the advice from our instructors was a starting point and that in the end we had to find our own way of doing it so that it made sense to both our minds and bodies.

I worked at a driving school for a couple of years, and most of my time was spent on the backing range. What I am going to tell you is not something I came up with, but taught to me from a man who had 30 years experience.

But I found it to be so true.

When you are backing up get use to holding the steering wheel and not looking in the mirror, out the window, and then back at the steering wheel. Do look out the window and mirror, but don't look at the steering wheel because it does not let your brain get used to working without seeing what your hand is doing.

When I had new students I would get on the running board with them in the drivers seat (We had a big range) and have them just back the truck up (not trying to get it in a hole or straight line) just get use to backing the truck up by looking in the mirrors and not the steering wheel.

There is no formula for turn the wheel so many times and then turn it back. Reason is that you will never ever be in the exact same spot every time you back.

You just have to get use to working your hand, eye, and brain together.

Not everyone I had learned the same.

It takes 8 feet from the time the steering wheel starts to turn until your trailer tires make the turn.

One last thing, the people who had the most problem backing were people who had pulled boats, trailers, etc... behind their vehicles prior to coming to school. This was due to the fact that there is alot of difference between a boar and 53 trailer.

Actually I would say its more of the 'Ohh I know how to do this' attitude, same thing with people who drive manual tranny cars and go to drive a truck, tend to have a lot of probs ;)

lifetime lefty
 

hey there, i just finished school, and there are some tricks i can pass along. are you having trouble with your parallel, your str. lime backing or both?? 8)

Another thing to think about or consider when trying to "steer" a semi trailer. (forward or backward). A semi trailer, unlike a full trailer, does not have a steer axle, per say. (not till its coupled to the power unit). Guess where the steer axle is for the trailer when coupled. The power units Drive axle(s). (not the power units steer axle). As you practice backing on the range, "visualize" the "cut" the drive axle is giving the trailer, the more "cut" the tighter the turn...also the more cut the longer it will take to recover the trailer from the turn. Once I understood that concept it got a whole lot simpler. Also...dont disregard the power units steer axle as this must also be kept in mind, you are steering the power unit to steer the trailer, you are always steering two units, at all times. To this day, I still "think" about my drive axles acting as the "steer" axle for the trailer, and it works great.
Practice....Practice....Practice.

I remember the range...shudder...shudder...

The thing that helped me most, in finally "getting it" on the backing, was the moment I realized that there really is a period between the time I made an adjustment and when the trailer responded (like the one poster mentioned above.)
I would turn the wheel really hard, trying to make the turn as sharp as I thought it needed to be to put my trailer in place. What always happened was that I'd turned or cut it too much!! And would end up practically jack-knifed!!
This'll probably sound weird, but I started "aiming" the back end of my trailer at a point just outside where I wanted it to go---because that drift period would drop it into place if I let it! It started working consistently once I realized I could use that drift to my advantage!
Good luck. Getting out and looking, at each point of the maneuver, also helps you visualize problem spots. Just keep at it, though. It'll actually become a matter of pride, someday!

another thing to consider is?

are you left EYE dominate?

Thats the way I remembered how to correct

Nobody mentioned another important point:

While you're fixated on what the trailer is doing, don't forget to keep an eye on where the front of your tractor is!!!

Real easy to swing the front corner of the tractor into something when in a tight spot if you're not paying attention.

When correcting, start w/quarter turns on your steering, & wait for correction,

This leads to a few of my favorite tips.

THINK AHEAD..... and move even SOONER!

Start your "jack" before you think you need to, and more importantly..... start to turn OUT of it before you think you need to. If you wait until you "think" you need to turn the wheel..... you are already too late.

Also, SMALL MOVES. Don't over jack the wheel thinking it is not turning "fast enough" or soon enough.

Once you get the trailer turning into the hole, turn OUT of it right to the point where it would start to go in the WRONG direction. Then turn the wheel back just a LITTLE. You are now at the "break point" and NO LARGE moves will be necessary. You will be in control of the TANDEMS.

Also, once you get the trailer going down the side of the truck next to you, watch your DRIVES. There should be a line separating the slots. Measure (with your eyes) the distance between your sight side tandems and the line, then look down (in the mirror) at your drives, and "steer" to put them parallel to that line at the same distance. If the drives get more "inside" than the tandems.... you are about to hit the truck on your blind side.

And if your tandems are far forward (alot of overhang,) keep them about 15 feet in front of the nose of the other truck before starting your jack. You can't "sneak" them around his fender if they are too far forward. You MUST be more or less straight with the slot before they get near his nose.

I don't know any specific tips for "lefties" or care which eye is dominant, you will push the trailer with the drives. Think about what you have to do to get your drives in the right place to "couple" a trailer. It is very similar. Steer the cab to position the drives.

I am left-handed and I passed after many failed attempts. I don't think it was my"handedness" that was the problem though, I think I was being too much of a perfectionist. It doesn't have to be pretty, just score-able. Knock out some of those cones, it doesn't hurt them. I wish I remembered the joke my instructor told me that had those exact words in it. I am pretty sure it had something to do with last call at the bar, you are giving up on pretty and looking for score-able. :lol:

And most importantly, don't listen to me. :wink:

Maybe this will help you. I struggled with the "hand on the top" method and "hand on the bottom method". Regardless if you are left handed or right handed this will work.

Think "Rightisy tightsy, Lefty loosy". Think and look at the angle between the tractor and trailer on the driver's side. If you want to make the back of the trailer go left you are "tighening" up the angle on the left between the tractor and trailer. Turn your wheels to the right. To loosen up the angle, turn your wheels to the left.

Just stopping to think what you want to do with the angle sometimes makes all the difference in backing. The rest is practice and retraining the brain to think in reverse and using mirrors.

As long as you touch the dock at least on one side and the dock plate makes solid contact along with not hitting anything (another trailer or truck) as you back is all that is important. Good luck.

just graduated-so i'm no expert-but 1 of the teachers showed us students a fool-proof way to paralell park. Shouldn't matter if your r or l handed-cause your are using your mirrors for the most part.. Pull 2 to 3 ft. past cone,hard left-SLOW reverse- to 2 oclock(angle of tractor to trailer)-then hard right-SLOW reverse-to put your truck in the box. We had certain spots on the trailer that we used for marks- dot tape, row of rivets,etc. that we lined the edge of the cab up on. Need to go as slow as you can with no rolling. We didn"t know what we were doing, but it worked! By the way- we were backing 28 ft. trailers at school-hope the heck it works with the big boys. (I'll find out real soon)

BOL to ya

the problem with using tricks to back up is they only work if you set up the same way in the same place. you never really learn the feel of backing. you don't learn what the trailer will do if you do this or that. yes you will notice a big diffrence between the 28 footer and a 53. it will seem like that 53 is never going to turn for you. the longer the trailer the longer it takes to turn it. seems basic but you will probably keep turning the wheel trying to get it to turn and when it does you will be so jacked you won't be able to chase the trailer in the small amount of space you have left.

BACKING RANGE HELP
 

E-Zist Method is as Uturn2001 mentioned, the post after Rawlco .! :wink:

For whatever reason, hands at the bottom of the steering wheel worked for me. I guess it made sense to move the steering wheel in the direction to where you wanted the trailer to go.

Can't emphasize enough (as has been already stated), know where your nose is while making the turn! It is amazing how quickly a boulder, car, building, tree, etc., can approach your front bumper!

Maybe driving schools should come up with talking orange cones that say "Ouch! Watch where you're going!" or "Busted...that will be a $1,500.00 insurance claim thank you very much!" :lol:

One thing that wasn't pointed out here.. unless all the practice trucks are the same, how you steer into a parallel parking slot will differ, depending on the tractor - AND trailer. They are all different.

One truck, start by turning steering wheel .75 turn to the right .. and don't over steer on the counters

Other truck, steering wheel starts at a full turn to the right, and crank HARD when countering.

and so on.

Instructors tell you (at least, at first) what THEY see in the mirrors as markers. If you are the same size they are, that probably works. If you are (as I am) over a foot taller, their markers won't work at all for you. You have to develop your own.

You check your tractor tandems exactly one place - and that's passing that first cone. If you pay attention to them any other time, you'll kill a cone or to for sure.

Get in as much practice as you can using the test truck (the truck in which you will be tested). I wasn't able to, so I murdered a cone - but it was the only points against me in the driving portion of the test.

I can't offer anything really, except the 12 and 9 method for the alley dock. As you pull up with the parking spot on your left, try to be 15 feet in front of the spot. Pull up so that the spot is at your drive axles. When you get to that point, slowly go forward but turn the wheel all the way to the right, until the tractor is pointing at a 90 degree angle from where you started, or at the 12 o'clock position. Once you are at that point, STOP. Then, turn your wheel to the left, and keep going slowly until your cab is pointing 90 degrees from your previous position, or when you are at the 9 o'clock position. STOP. Then get out and look to see how far away you are and if you need to ajust. This should set you up for a 45 degree alley dock.

This was told to me by a friend of mine who suffered through Werner's training with me.

However, they fired me because of a poor in-cab evaluation and backing accident after the evaluation.

Backing was my toughest thing to conquer. I went to two trucking schools and forked out hundreds of dollars for extra tutoring to finally be able to back well enough to pass my CDL. Even so, I passed my CDL backing skills test with the maximum number of points. One more and I would have failed.

I'm seriously thinking of not doing trucking anymore. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for it, but with all the red flags that came up before training, during training, and while on the dedicated account I was assigned to, I'm having doubts about pursuing trucking. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a trucker.

Maybe, maybe not.

We all have strengths and challenges in our driving jobs. For some of us, backing presents a challenge -- everytime.

If your desire is to drive a big rig, then keep at it. You've come this far. You even shelled out extra $$ so that you could pass your CDL driving test. And it paid off -- you passed!

How long has it been since you've passed your CDL? Sometimes it takes months before you can accurately decide on the path that is best for you.

Best in your career decision!

Actualy right handed drivers have to think left handed when backing so just thing normal ways and you will be fine :D :D

It will come with practice. You will get the hang of it. As soon as you do get the hang of it just watch out. There will be days you can put that truck wherever you want it and days that if there are 5 open spots side by side in a truckstop it will take you 10 times to get it in straight.

Had to reply to Big Wheels. I've been applying to trucking jobs; I would hate to give up now with all the money and time I've invested in this.

I finally got my CDL July 29, 2007. This was after graduating from two schools, and spending several additional hours at the first crappy trucking school, and the second, better trucking school. The first trucking school had us do the serpentine (required by Indiana at that time) with us looking out the right side window of the truck. I realized almost at the last minute that if I wasn't testing in that truck, the window was merely a crutch, and it would be hard for me to do that skill in a different truck.

I graduated from the second trucking school in January, 2007. Indiana changed the requirements, so all I had to do was offset, parallel park and straight line back. I waited until the weather broke and started practicing again. So that's what I did until I passed, on the eighth try.

Right now, I am desperate for a job. Bill collectors hounding me, less than $100 in the bank; I'm beginning to think I don't deserve a better life; all the times I made the effort (tried beauty school, have a bachelor's degree and now have a CDL but got fired) I've failed.

Hey, whatever you do, don't give up!

Trucking may or may not be in the cards for you right now. Sounds like you need a job--any job--so that the bills can get paid. Don't stop applying to trucking companies (OTR, local), but at the same time, don't stop applying for jobs outside of the trucking industry.

I've had several experiences in my life where I failed miserably (hey--we all have). Remember -- just because you or I failed at something doesn't mean you or I am a failure. All it means that is we failed. Period.

So, take one day at a time and keep plodding ahead. Things will work out -- maybe not exactly in the way you expected -- but they will.

Just switch to pulling a lowboy, we very rarely have to back up :D :D :D