Please help: Parallel parking advice

I am honestly glad I didn't due my CDL test in Texas. I can parallel park, but it's UGLY. Arkansas has you do a serpentine back instead. Best of luck amigo.

 

Don't sweat it to much,It sounds like you did a fine job but just tried to get tight ot the "curb" Loosen things up a little, keep a little xtra room over there and you'll be fine. Other than that not much else to say, cept GOOD LUCK

 

go real slow and if you do feel like the trailer isn't going to fit right in do the professional thing and take a pull up. Once the trailer is in then you just have to "park the car."

 

yes, sounds like you will have to pull forward quite a bit and gradually kick the trailer to the right.

Maybe you can "set up" the maneuver by turning into and then back out of the spot as you are pulling past it and then the trailer will be pointing in the right direction before you even start backing. (like you do with a car)

I would think they wouldn't want you setting up like that, but they should be giving you more room to maneuver in the first place. So I guess you will have to ask the examiner if you can set up like that.

What does your instructor say? Hopefully he can help with the retest practice...

So do you have to retake the whole test? Pretrip too?

 

Just got my CDL . Went thru Swift Academy in Phoenix. 1 an 1/4 lanes sounds really small.. Paralel parking pretty much implies at least 2 regular lanes. Do they allow you to get out? We could get out twice and had 2 pull ups before they started dingin us. Get out and look. They really encouraged that. They taught us a sort of formula. I'll try to explain it.
When you initially pull in you want the cone(or the corner of the truck your parkin behind) about in the middle between your rearmost trailer tire and the mud flap and about 16 in away. Crank hard left and back up watchin yer right mirror. Watch the landing gear. When the left side appears it will make a triangle in the mirror with the angled brace, the main brace that is parrelell to the ground, and the tire. That is the image you see in the mirror. The bottom of that triangle needs to be about the size of your fist. 3 to 4 inchs. You stop,go hard right, and continue to back until you straighten out. Stop. Straight line back until the corner of your trailer is approx 3 ft from the line. In your case the grass. We got to get out and look here. Also on the initial set up. Then you go hard right again, watching the landing gear in your left mirror. This time you make the triangle with right side brace-- same size as before. Stop,crank hard left and back in till you're straight. You should be pretty close to paralell to the curb.. We had a box with cones and lines on the pavement . Had to be in the box.
I hope that helps. Sound a little strange but once you get the hang of it, it works pretty good. Of course this was with a 53' trailer and a Freightshaker Cascadia, tandems on the 40' mark. I think the basic idea would work on most rigs. You want to keep those triangles the same tho. Otherwise you come out crooked. Good luck.

 

Leave yourself plenty of room. From I remember about the test, they really just want to see if you can get it in there. If you lose a couple of points because you aren't "tight enough" its much better than an auto fail for hitting the grass. If you feel like its going to hit, ask if you can reset. If I remember correctly about taking the test in Houston they are supposed to give you 3 attempts...as long as you haven't auto failed at any point.