Trucking - Alley Docking From A Narrow Street

I expected this dock to be more difficult to bump than I apparently made it look. I was picking up a load of beer from Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, CA. Their dock was near the end of a narrow cul-de-sac, as you can see here. The cars parked along the curb both here and along the next block down make it critical to begin the maneuver with as close to a perfect setup possible. With a perfect setup, the trailer should be able to rotate perfectly into the dock lane on its own - without even a hint of steering input from you, and with your tractor always pointing straight down the lane/road. Any "help" you have to give the trailer with right steering inputs will cause your tractor to point straight toward any obstructions that might be in the area. It's important to know how much room the front of your tractor needs to be able to rotate back in the same direction as the trailer without getting yourself blocked by obstructions which could have otherwise been avoided with a better setup.

The better your setup is, the easier it is to accomplish this. A poor setup can make the maneuver extremely difficult and risky to even impossible to complete without hitting something.

Notice how far past the dock I went. Also notice how I kept the tractor and trailer toward the left side of the available space while rolling forward, and how I steered right, then left with what space I had available just before completing the setup. That forward steering maneuver was done specifically to off-track the trailer just enough in the desired direction and to give it just the right angle and space to roll and rotate back on its own with.

The last part where I did a couple of forward corrections with hard right turns is known as a textbook "4x4" maneuver intended to keep the trailer pointed in the same direction it's already pointing in, and to let the tractor get back behind the trailer.

Видео Trucking - Alley Docking From A Narrow Street канала Scott Zane