Combination Vehicle Skills Test
Combination Vehicle Skills Test
The Kansas Class A skills test checks whether you can operate a tractor-trailer safely, not just answer questions. It has three parts: pre-trip vehicle inspection, basic vehicle control, and the road test. For a combination, the examiner watches your coupling and uncoupling, backing, turning, lane control, braking, and inspection routine. Unsafe acts or examiner intervention can end the test.
What is scored
- Pre-trip inspection: You must point out and explain the engine compartment, coupling system, trailer frame, landing gear, air lines, lights, tires, wheels, rims, hubs, brakes, and suspension. Missing a critical item can fail the inspection.
- Basic control: Straight-line backing, offset backing, and alley docking test clutch and steering control, mirror use, and judgment. Stop before the dock or boundary; do not hit cones or curbs.
- Coupling/uncoupling: Secure the trailer with wheel chocks and parking brakes, back under squarely, perform a tug test, visually check the jaws and kingpin, connect air lines, and test trailer brakes. Uncoupling reverses the sequence: lower landing gear, disconnect lines, release the fifth wheel, and pull out slowly.
- Road test: Expect turns, intersections, lane changes, curves, railroad crossings, bridges, and stops. Use mirrors, signal early, and keep the trailer inside the lane.
Worked example
A driver backs under a trailer, hears the fifth-wheel latch click, and starts to raise the landing gear. This is unsafe: the click alone does not prove the jaws are closed. The correct reasoning is: first do a tug test against the trailer brakes, then get under the trailer with a light and check that the jaws are locked around the kingpin and the release handle is latched. Only then raise the landing gear and connect the lines.
Traps that cost marks
Failing to secure the trailer before uncoupling; forgetting the tug test; not verbalizing inspection items; hitting a cone or curb; and rolling through a stop sign are common failures. Do not rush the pre-trip or skip mirror checks.