Looking For Help With 90* Ally Dock Manuver

hi to every one, my name is Daniel I'm a student that went 3 weeks at daly's truck driving school, and failed all the maneuvers. now the straight line and the off set are not too hard just had a bad day with them, so i can see my faults. how ever the ally dock is the one i never could understand.

parallel is also one i have not much fun with. i keep forgetting the stopping points to look for, any one know a method for this maneuver too?

I'm not even a truck driver yet but practice, practice, practice!

I work as a contract employee for a GM facility and their yard monkeys are constantly moving trailers around. OMG! Are these guys good. 90 degree backing with their eyes closed takes about 30 seconds. And that includes disconnecting the tractor when done! 180s, pirouettes, where the back end of the trailer stays in place while they do a 180 to setup and back-in.... just awe-inspiring. But that's all they do!

Anyhow, watching them encouraged me to get my own CDL. Which thanks to TT I'm starting to do!

Keep at it and don't get discouraged!

hi to every one, my name is Daniel I'm a student that went 3 weeks at daly's truck driving school, and failed all the maneuvers. now the straight line and the off set are not too hard just had a bad day with them, so i can see my faults. how ever the ally dock is the one i never could understand.

with 4 instructors and having one each day, i get told some thing different a lot. so i haven't been able to grasp it. the one i currently tried to follow for a week was to

turn steering wheel one turn right, till you see second landing gear or dolly, stop

then turn wheel 3 turns left or all way left, till you move back past the middle of landing gear or cross part just a little/stop

then turn wheel all way right till you see the small gap just past the second landing gear or dolly and stop.

and i think from there its walking the trailer but i have been getting lost about that point all the time. i am not good with remembering how to turn to get trailer to go a way i need it too, or walk it.

if any one could help me understand what i need to do or a whole diff method for it it would be great, i have been given 2 more weeks at my school to get it right.

parallel is also one i have not much fun with. i keep forgetting the stopping points to look for, any one know a method for this maneuver too?

heres how i was taught...alley dock.....turn wheel all the way left...start moving...when u see the middle on ur landing gear....turn all the right....trailor comes around and just make small adjustments to follow it in

alley dock.....hard left, moe truck, when u see the muddle of ur landing gear turn hard right. Make small adjustments to follow it in. If u have to do a pullup and take it back in

So points of reference while backing are good, and trying to pass a backing maneuver in some scientific way will get you passed on your CDL exam, you're still just following some regimen where the truck is your master.

My advice to students is to beg your trainer to find an open lot for you to just play with the truck and learn it, to just stand back and let you learn what you need to do without bothering you in a place where you can't damage anything.

Points of reference will pass you, but eventually you'll just be a new solo driver who can't back and then you'll really learn in a trial by fire.

I remember trying to learn how to parellel in training and begging my trainer for more points of reference and him telling me I'm too smart to not start feeling it without more points. Never understood what he meant until I was solo.

Learning to back is like riding a horse. You have to become master of the vehicle. Tell your trainer you don't need him to teach you how to pass the exam, you need him to help you learn to train the truck.

When I was in school, backing into the cone areas was an easy thing. No real pressure because, there would be no real damage.

But out here in the real world, those cones are now trucks and trailers. And they always seem to be in a much tighter area too.

Like Brett, a few days ago, I had to back into a dock that had 3 open spots, but only about 30 feet of room from the front of the tractor to a fence. This meant I had to do a close 90 to get to my assigned door. There was no room to walk the trailer over to get it to align to the dock. The turn had to start at just the right time. Took me quite a few tries to get it "close enough". I looked like a real rookie out there. Like a first day rookie. Then yesterday, I put an empty trailer in a storage lot between two other trailers with just about the same amount of pull up room. Did a 90 back and got it the first time. Only about 1-1/2 foot of clearance on each side of my trailer to work with. And I thought to myself, "why couldn't I get that trailer in that dock just as easy? I had more room at the dock than here to work with yet this seemed way easier." I think it has something to do with using those extra trailers as a reference to when to turn in. At the dock, the pained lines were very worn and didn't go out very far. So the guessing where to turn was a bit off. I would turn in too soon and that put the trailer to far to my left. Then I had no room to walk it over. So the only thing left was a pull out and start over.

Also, I remember the trucks we used in training, could turn their wheels over about 70 degrees. This truck I'm driving wheel locks at about 45 degrees. This makes it very hard to back into a 90 without any pull ups to help straighten the truck. Also, training used 40 foot trailers whereas out here, it's 53 foot trailers all the way.

Trailer tandems forward helps in corners and turns, but it makes it a bit more scary in backing into tight spaces because of the trailer overhang. It makes you afraid you're gonna bump or scrap the other trailer/truck. When the tandems are all the way back, you can swing it in after you get your wheels close to your desired pivot point.

One thing I've also noticed, if possible, sit and watch other drivers solve their backing problems. Sometimes it can give you a better solution than what you were currently thinking. There are many ways to skin a cat. Your way may not always be the best way.

I think I passed the 90 alley dock because I actually managed to do it (by mistake?). The instuructor grabbed my evaluation sheet and marked me as passed.

Once you're out in a trailer yard, you have much more freedom as to what to do. And trailers are much larger than cones or barrels! Get out and look all you want, pull up as many times as you need, come in at a weird angle that works for you, it's all yours once you get that CDL.

At truck stops, don't mind that you feel "everyone's" watching. Some of them forgot they were new once.

I've noticed that there's usually at least one good guy trucker at the truck stops who will get out and help you. Like tonight, I was having trouble getting lined up for a tight spot and this guy saw me, got on the CB and said, "hey flatbed, you need a spotter?" I graciously accepted his offer. Stuff like this happens all the time. Most people are happy to help each other out in my experience.

I've noticed that there's usually at least one good guy trucker at the truck stops who will get out and help you. Like tonight, I was having trouble getting lined up for a tight spot and this guy saw me, got on the CB and said, "hey flatbed, you need a spotter?" I graciously accepted his offer. Stuff like this happens all the time. Most people are happy to help each other out in my experience.

They are just following their orders. "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

A lot of people talk it, but a few people actually walk it. Guess which ones are gonna make it?

It's all about finding your sweet spot . ,- ! ! / < ! ! ok I hope this works the ! is the cones the / is the trailer and the - is truck and < should be the driver side dot bumper .. the cone with the. over it before you jackknife your trailer the bumper should be about 6 to 8 feet from that cone . and that's marked with the , I hope it works on here.....

It's all about finding your sweet spot . ,- ! ! / < ! ! ok I hope this works the ! is the cones the / is the trailer and the - is truck and < should be the driver side dot bumper .. the cone with the. over it before you jackknife your trailer the bumper should be about 6 to 8 feet from that cone . and that's marked with the , I hope it works on here.....

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