Backing Practice
Topic 15050 | Page 3
I'd make a left/ counterclockwise circle in the clear area between the four warehouses. Put my tandems about where the blue dot is, pointing 10 o'clock in the photo, making a longish driver side alley-dock.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
I wrote that without first reading your solution.
I am on a dedicated account, so my "new and exciting" back-up situations are limited. Thanks, Paul, for adding to the collection.
I wrote that without first reading your solution.
I am on a dedicated account, so my "new and exciting" back-up situations are limited. Thanks, Paul, for adding to the collection.
No problem. I don't really encounter many difficult situations either. Kinda stinks, since that's my favorite thing about driving. Of course, I don't go to the Northeast very often.
And here's a better close-up. This one shows some of those extra details that made this a tad trickier:
There's a curb on the left side of the street, a dumpster, retaining walls. Fin stuff
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.PSD:
Prime Student Driver
Prime Inc has a CDL training program and the first phase is referred to as PSD. You'll get your permit and then 10,000 miles of on the road instruction.
The following is from Prime's website:
Prime’s PSD begins with you obtaining your CDL permit. Then you’ll go on the road with a certified CDL instructor for no less than 75 hours of one-on-one behind the wheel training. After training, you’ll return to Prime’s corporate headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, for final CDL state testing and your CDL license.
Obtain CDL Permit / 4 Days
- Enter program, study and test for Missouri CDL permit.
- Start driving/training at Prime Training Center in Springfield, Missouri.
- Work toward 40,000 training dispatched miles (minimum) with food allowance while without CDL (Food allowance is paid back with future earnings).
On-the-Road Instruction / 10,000 Miles
- Train with experienced certified CDL instructor for 3-4 weeks in a real world environment.
- Get 75 hours of behind-the-wheel time with one-on-one student/instructor ratio.
- Earn 10,000 miles toward total 40,000 miles needed.
I chose the "go around back route" because I think it would be easier to set up and get the trailer tandems pointed in the right direction to the dock and should reduce the number of pull ups.
I should start Google Mapping some of the tougher WM stores, although perhaps the most difficult is underground. Crazy is an understatement. I don't GOAL there, I GOAMS; get out and move s**t!
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I chose the "go around back route" because I think it would be easier to set up and get the trailer tandems pointed in the right direction to the dock and should reduce the number of pull ups.
I should start Google Mapping some of the tougher WM stores, although perhaps the most difficult is underground. Crazy is an understatement. I don't GOAL there, I GOAMS; get out and move s**t!
Underground Walmart docks? Where?
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I chose the "go around back route" because I think it would be easier to set up and get the trailer tandems pointed in the right direction to the dock and should reduce the number of pull ups.
I should start Google Mapping some of the tougher WM stores, although perhaps the most difficult is underground. Crazy is an understatement. I don't GOAL there, I GOAMS; get out and move s**t!
Underground Walmart docks? Where?
Rt 22, Watchung NJ.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I chose the "go around back route" because I think it would be easier to set up and get the trailer tandems pointed in the right direction to the dock and should reduce the number of pull ups.
I should start Google Mapping some of the tougher WM stores, although perhaps the most difficult is underground. Crazy is an understatement. I don't GOAL there, I GOAMS; get out and move s**t!
Underground Walmart docks? Where?
Rt 22, Watchung NJ.
Of course they're in NJ! 
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I chose the "go around back route" because I think it would be easier to set up and get the trailer tandems pointed in the right direction to the dock and should reduce the number of pull ups.
I should start Google Mapping some of the tougher WM stores, although perhaps the most difficult is underground. Crazy is an understatement. I don't GOAL there, I GOAMS; get out and move s**t!
Underground Walmart docks? Where?
Rt 22, Watchung NJ.
Of course they're in NJ!
You have no idea. The Watchung docks are underground and require nosing in through a huge airplane hanger-like sliding door. To setup you need to do the letter "J" through rows of inventory, pallets, an occasional tow motor, and merchandise scattered about, many times within the setup lane. Especially precarious during the winter holiday season.
It's a trick getting in and out, and I meant what I said; rarily do I go there without doing some house cleaning to clear my lane. Fun, fun, fun. Gotta love it!
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.New Reply:
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Tips For Backing
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I think just about everyone got it. What I did was do a U-turn in the culdesac, then sight side back into the left dock. As G-town pointed out to me, you could also go around back and turn around there since there's more room there. You could also pull forward into that empty space to the right of the docks, but then you'd be doing a blindside back--not a bad one, but still.
All in all, it looks more simple on here than it really was. What makes it tricky is how little space there is to maneuver, plus there were cars coming since people had to get to work. What I was hoping someone would see is that there is no way to do this without doing a blindside back, but you can't really tell from the image. At this point I don't remember what was in the way, but I had to stay on the street after my U-turn instead if pulling left toward the Aqua systems. That means I had to blindside into my customer's lot and then sight-side a little less than 90 degrees into the dock. But again, with the retaining walls on both sides, there's not much room (hence, a true 45 degree back wouldn't work). As far as leaving the left dock open for the next driver, that's a really nice thought (I love meeting people like you on the road), but once I'm in the dock there's no room for another semi to get in there.
Anyways, good job folks. I'll try to give more info beforehand next time.