:!: Okay, Tuesday of this week was the first time we got to drive. We drove for Tuesday, Wednesday, and yesterday (Thursday). We get Fridays off. The first thing I ever did to drive an 18-wheeler was back it up. The first day we practiced straight-line backing. After a few tries I picked it up just fine. But then we had to do the lane-change (where you pull up ahead of one lane, then turn while your backing to back in the other lane right beside it), parallel park to the left and to the right, and the 90 (where you alley dock it), and it's hard as hell.

I can straight-line back fine, but I f@ck up on the lane-change, and I can't even begin to do the 90. I can do the parallel parking but ONLY BECAUSE THE INSTRUCTORS ARE WALKING ME THRU IT; TELLING ME WHICH DIRECTION TO TURN, AND WHEN TO TURN IT Without them, I couldn't do it worth a crap.

Now, I know it's only the 1st week of driving, but I still don't know that I'll be able to get all this down pat within 3 weeks. It's tough backing one of them motherfudgers. I know it's easy enough to remember to turn the opposite way you want the trailer to go right now, but when in the middle of a sharp turn you tend to get confused.

Did anyone else here have tons of trouble when they first started learning how to drive?

Douglas, parallel parking is tough, you are right. It might seem at first that you will never get it, but trust me, once you start practicing it more and more you will be able to do it more times than not. We had to do both blind side and sight side parallel parking, and I thought I would never get it. Eventually it just came to me piece by piece. Set up is very important for both of them also, try to start with the rig completely straight if you can.

Don't lose confidence in it man, if I can do it I'm sure you can. Best of luck.

Tom

The hardest back you will ever do is to go into a 21 door warehouse and they tell you to put it in door 10 and you are the only truck there and there are no lines painted on the ground. :wink: :wink:

With time you will get the hang of it, then once your in the real world you will use those techniques to do the impossibles, Yesterday in Toledo Oh, going to customer, the road to them had a police road block they were directing traffic to the back roads, You simply dont take a semi into residential streets. Well this was on a two lane road, pretty much impossible to turn around a semi, I jacknifed the trailer till the cab extenders were 1/8 inch from trailer, had to take the curve with steer tire. My trailer was over hanging the sidewalk, good thing there wasn't a pole there. Then today In Alcoa, Tn the dock was so tight you have to over shoot it and jacknife it in then unhook, while employee cars are right in front of your bumper.

It gives you a pretty good feeling after making in docks like that...

As far as the 90 degree dock goes, you can simply learn alot just by paying close attention to other drivers and the instructor when they are doing the manuver, then you can learn to do the same when your in the seat, just remember your pushing the trailer.

I always feel like an idiot doing 5 pull ups trying to get it completely straight with the dock plate, No line makes it pretty annoying.

Anyone been to the caves in KC or Joplin Mo ?

I've been to Joplin twice this week, no idea of caves you may be talking about though.

Underground food warehouse Ive only been to the one in joplin once . kind a pain to back into the docks because its kinda dark shadows .

My first dock that was in building was a major pain from me, you got the walls on both sides, you have to get it straight in, it was a tight one to had to know what you were doing. Took me at least 10 pull ups, after 3 or 4 pull ups a driver walked up and offered help he kept telling me to turn the wheel the wrong way, then when he went to back in next to me it took him close to half an hour to get in..

Thing is you cant see anything in the building theres a line on the ground but near impossible to see.