Backing™ Practice™ 05™

At first I want going to add this one, but after backing in myself, it almost seemed fun.

You enter from the bottom, and the dock is right in front of you, right at the corner of the building. There are trailers on the lower right, some cars "in the way" so you can't simply make a straight line of of it.

In the photo, there's a trailer at the dock, looks like the top is wrinkled!

Larger Photo link

When you're done, you can't simply pull out to the right, there's that green trailer in the way. How do you get out of there?

Pull out of the dock, back-up to where you have the "Door->" label, proceed to turn right to exit just like the one shown already "leaving."

Pull out of the dock, back-up to where you have the "Door->" label, proceed to turn right to exit just like the one shown already "leaving."

First, you need to back into the dock. How'd you do that?

On pulling out, the Door-> label is the dock, so you don't need to back up to it again. And if you turn right, you'll head right for the front end of the green trailer.

I originally thought this would be too simple to post, but as I got to the dock, I saw some tricks new drivers should know about.

Also, I know it's not easy to visualize the true dimensions of your work area unless you're standing right there. So, I'll tell you there's not enough room to simply line up and straight line back in, nor to simply pull out.

Also, not shown in the photo, a dry bulk trailer backed in past me into the upper area where I was going to pull into and make a 180 turn around. But you can turn right to pull out, and get out with a basic trick.

I'm thinking you are going to alley dock in to your bay then when done pull forward and do a offset and past the dock to the right. Then all you have to do is turn right and pull out.

It looks like you could use the space below the door label to back into as a setup. This would be a large space to get the trailer behind you and in your mirrors. Then it's an offset back from school to reach the dock. Leaving is the reverse. Use that space to get room in front for the right turn to the exit.

James says,

I'm thinking you are going to alley dock in to your bay then when done pull forward and do a offset and past the dock to the right. Then all you have to do is turn right and pull out.

I got you - back up more so you can turn & clear those trailers. There is no driving to the right. If you look, you can see a concrete walkway there. Actually, the dock is a bit sunken down (1 ft) from the ground next to it. These are things you can't see in the photos.

Rob, similar thinking to James. That area to the right, or "down" in the photo is not for driving. Otherwise this would be too simple to post here.

To those that take a guess at a solution: some things you get right, but I'm not going to talk about those till the next day.

As you do take a shot, I'm only pointing out some of the problems with your answer. Stay tuned for a solution. And remember, there may be more than one way to do these problems.

Errol thanks for posting these backing exercises always good to see what other drivers are thinking. If you had enough space with the trailer (green) you could come in on left side pointing towards where your trailer will end up and then hard right not quite to a 180 though that green trailer may stop that setup, end up with rear of trailer angled towards space and spot next to it with cab towards green trailer. I would most likely, when I have tight spot to my right (across from where my truck will end up when docked), I will pass my docking spot 90 degrees to it about 4 feet out and setup a 45 degree backing. Though since this is tighter I generally go down between the 2nd and 3rd spot beyond my space than hard right until I have used just over half the space (between trailer/dock on left and cars on right) , turn hard left at this point and than I would continue left until my cab is close to trailer/dock side, stop then straighten out wheels and back giving it right turn as needed. This keeps me further from the cars on right so I have some room to follow trailer. To get out I would pull out to left and then back trailer to right side of my docking spot, offset like setup.

Right now I have been sitting in stopped traffic for over an hour. This is US 35, coursing along the Kanawha River Valley, through the Appalachians, so there is no alternative right now. (BTW, I went off duty, and took my 30 minute break already.)

Through Tman's details I think he's close to what I did.

Take a close look at the relation of the building to the door. Make believe the building side is actually a trailer, and you have a 90° alley dock, that we all know and love!

With the cars in front of the dock like that, I couldn't make a complete backing to get to the doc but with a little pull up and some adjustment I got in there.

To get out, I used a trick my mentor showed me. I pulled out and turned hard right which put my cab pointing right at that green trailer. So I turned the wheel hard left, backed up just a few feet, turn the wheel a hard right, pulled forward and did that back up one more time until the cab came around and could pass in front of the green trailer. The only problem to do that is don't jackknife your truck so tight that the wind fairing on the cab crushes into the trailer! Then you have some 'splaining to do!