Offset Parking

Don't get too down on yourself, it takes getting used to. Missing by only a couple feet is really corrected using a pullup. I'm sure you'll be fine.

YES YES! When I started I was depressed that I wasn't getting it the first try, but you don't have to. Use your pull ups and it will help you learn how the truck and trailer are articulating. What I would do is first try and get the rear of the trailer to go between the entrance cones, then master how to do that while turning into the slot. It takes time and practice but don't get discouraged and ALWAYS watch the other students do the maneuvers, you can learn a lot by watching. Also if you can, pick one of the students who seems to get it and ask them to ride with you and give you pointers. Sometimes you can find someone who can explain it in a way you understand better than the instructor.

Phil

THIS. When I was talking about French being my first language, and me speaking what I call "simple" English, I said I was afraid I wouldn't understand explanations/concepts explained by my instructors, because of not being familiar with a lot of words and expressions. Reading Keith's previous post in this thread had me completely lost. It's like Chinese. If an instructor was to explain to me how to do a maneuver that same way, I wouldn't understand. :(

RebelliousVamp said,

Reading Keith's previous post in this thread had me completely lost.

Keith did use a lot of jargon (special words used in a business) and technical terms. Here's a bit of a translation:

Original:

The marker points we lined up, you want a straight truck at prolly about a 30 degree slant drawn off a line through your parking spot. To get into the left lane from the right, we'd do a hard right 3 count, straighten the vehicle out, bring it back until your passenger side rear tandem was about a foot off the line drawn from the middle lane marker. Then you pull a hard left for a 3 count (one Mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi), hard right to straighten it out. If your angle's still not good there, just use a pull up and turn it into a straight line back. One of the things I was taught was to /never/ ride the clutch during your turns, you get off that (without popping it) asap, or it kills the angle of the turn. I never found that the 3 count worked, on the turns where I'm not straightening the vehicle, I would hold it until somewhere between 60 and 70% of the drive tires were covered by trailer.

Annotated:
The marker/visualization points we lined up/aligned, you want a straight truck/truck and trailer aligned at prolly/lazy way to spell probably about a 30 degree slant/angle drawn off a line through your parking spot. To get into the left lane from the right, we'd do a hard right 3 count/turn the steering wheel right to the stop, then back up for 3 seconds, straighten the vehicle out, bring it back until your passenger side rear tandem was about a foot off/from the (imaginary) line drawn from the middle lane marker. Then you pull a hard left for a 3 count/stop, turn wheel left to stop and back up for 3 seconds (one Mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi/Saying "one mississippi" takes about 1 second, so three "mississippi"s is 3 seconds), hard right to straighten it out. If your angle's still not good there, just use a pull up and turn it into a straight line back. One of the things I was taught was to /never/ ride the clutch/allow the clutch to slip during your turns, you get off that (without popping it/quickly release the clutch all the way) asap, or it kills the angle of the turn/you fail to get the desired angle of turn. I never found that the 3 count worked, on the turns where I'm not straightening the vehicle, I would hold it until somewhere between 60 and 70% of the drive tires were covered/hidden from view by trailer.

Errol....I understood many of the things you "translated". It's not about me not understand each word's meaning...I guess I have a hard time explaining it. Maybe I just need to start classes and when they explain what's a "line drawn from middle lane marker" I will have a visual to go with the new terms I'm learning....

Errol....I understood many of the things you "translated". It's not about me not understand each word's meaning...I guess I have a hard time explaining it. Maybe I just need to start classes and when they explain what's a "line drawn from middle lane marker" I will have a visual to go with the new terms I'm learning....

RebVamp, yes, I debated whether to do this, but in reading Keith's directions it was so full of jargon and short-cut talk even for me to really understand. I did not mean to simplify the paragraph for 5th graders!

Errol....I understood many of the things you "translated". It's not about me not understand each word's meaning...I guess I have a hard time explaining it. Maybe I just need to start classes and when they explain what's a "line drawn from middle lane marker" I will have a visual to go with the new terms I'm learning....

RebVamp, yes, I debated whether to do this, but in reading Keith's directions it was so full of jargon and short-cut talk even for me to really understand. I did not mean to simplify the paragraph for 5th graders!

Haha

Errol....I understood many of the things you "translated". It's not about me not understand each word's meaning...I guess I have a hard time explaining it. Maybe I just need to start classes and when they explain what's a "line drawn from middle lane marker" I will have a visual to go with the new terms I'm learning....

RebVamp, yes, I debated whether to do this, but in reading Keith's directions it was so full of jargon and short-cut talk even for me to really understand. I did not mean to simplify the paragraph for 5th graders!

It's probably good that you did that Errol. Those were the terms either used around me when learning how to do this or what I came up with myself. I don't mean to do it but that's how I talk most of the time