Backing Practice™ 15

This is a tight fit. You enter from the bottom, there's a turn-around at the top. You have two driveway aprons separated by grass planters. The roadway barely can hold two semis side by side. There's a driveway apron on the opposite side you can pull into. (Don't look at those parked cars, your not going there!)

Straight out from your assigned dock is one of those grass planters so you can't simply back straight in.

So, what's your plan?

I am going to go turn around, pull past the entrance to the docks, and back in to the dock area from the street, so I do not have to blind side it.

I am going to go turn around, pull past the entrance to the docks, and back in to the dock area from the street, so I do not have to blind side it.

That's a wildly tight fit. There's a planter straight out, and you're in a narrow street. Your cab would end up chewing grass on the left side in the picture. There is a sight-side part of this, but not at the start.

I know it's tough to imagine since you get a tiny overhead photo. You can see the top "tip" of that planter is brown because many people drove over it anyway.

Go straight to the top and turn around. On your way back down, enter the lot from the top driveway apron, but then continue going south straight down through the lot, keeping as close to the docked trailers as possible. When you reach the second apron, go as far as you can then cut a sharp turn out into the street and go straight across (at a slight northward angle) into the lot on the opposite side until you're straight. Then you should be set up to back in at about a 20-30 degree angle, with a correction after your tractor clears the grass planter in order to come straight in to the door.

Wow, so you have to go to the end, turn around, come back, enter in the drive before the one you want, go past your dock and back in there? That is a tough one.

Actually, looking at it again, you might be able to just turn left into that lot opposite your door directly from the street.

Wow. Yeah I'd do what PC said. Your next best option is just doing a blindside from the street at that first opening.

Sorry for posting so much, but I keep looking at this, and now I'm pretty confident that turning left into the opposite lot is the way to go. If you look closely you can see tire marks towards the southern end of that entrance which show that many other trucks have made that turn before.

Now that I think about it, I bet that's a good way to figure out tight backing situations. Just pull up the satellite view and search for the tire marks!

Persian Conversion wrote:

Sorry for posting so much, but I keep looking at this, and now I'm pretty confident that turning left into the opposite lot is the way to go. If you look closely you can see tire marks towards the southern end of that entrance which show that many other trucks have made that turn before.

Now that I think about it, I bet that's a good way to figure out tight backing situations. Just pull up the satellite view and search for the tire marks!

I agree with you PC.

However I would consider entering where the arrow is (lower, center of image) and slightly nose into the assigned dock opening then hard left to pull back out and head for the opposite lot opening, attempting to straighten out the trailer as much as possible. I think this will help to reduce the hard angle of the trailer, perpendicular to the dock. Although it still would be a blind-side approach, adjusting the right-side mirror would likely enable a reasonable sight-line to the dock door, with possibly one small pull-up, then straight back.

Good one Errol!

I'd take a left turn into the apron on the left (with the tire marks), leaving my tandems basically pointed to my dock. Straight line for the most part to a slight offset blindside