Trying to back a trailer is no fun

[alltoys]

I am in the same boat as your wife. My only saving grace is that my husband is no better and probably even worse. We had a pop up camper that used to literally take us one hour or more to back up onto a 20 foot driveway and then make a 90 degree angle into a parking pad adjacent to our driveway. We only did that a few times and then rented a permenent campsite so we did not have to do it any more. We have never rented a trailor for moving either always rented a truck just so that we would not have to pull a trailor. It was good that we learned that when we were young so that we just never ever bought or rented a trailor and probably saved ourselves from disaster. if oyu ain't got it you aint got it adn I take my hats off to everybody who can drive a big rig, drive a bus and pull a trailor as surely that is an acquired skill and valuable one. I still remember telling my hsuband he ws going to hit the mailbox adn he insisted that he wasn't and oh well you can guess the ending. We would each take truns trying with the other person directing until we would become so frustrated and excited that we would jump out of the car and tellt he other person to try it. It was HE double hockey sticks.

Rox,

That's pretty good just eliminate the problem get rid of the trailer, lol.

My Wife on the other hand is a stubborn person she will not give up. Usually by the end of fall time she is not to bad at backing up. But for some reason what ever she learned during the previous year goes out the window. Spring time is a fresh start and so is the backing up antics. My birthday is in May excellent spring time here. I am asking for a digital movie camera for my birthday. If she finds out what I want it for she may not get it for me.

 

[bontai_Joe]

From 1978 to about 1985 I ran my own lawn maintenace business plus ran a crew of lawn guys for a landscaper. What that means is I was pulling a 12' long trailer behind a pickup truck just about 7 days a week. At that time, I could back one up just about anywhere for any distance and could even parallel park it using 2 parking spaces. It's been close to 20 years since I pulled one, and I'm sure it would be interesting to watch me try now.

 

[steveoutdoorrec]

When I went back to college in my mid 40s after a layoff I some how got connected with the snowshoe racing team as a driver. For one race I drove through a near blizzard from the Adirondack mountains of NY to Maine pulling a cargo trailer behind a 15 person van. On the way back the coach saw something he thought we should go back to see so I just pulled up to the next driveway, backed the trailer in and went back. You could hear a pin drop in that van of normally rowdy students.

The coach signed me on as a driver for the marathon canoe team and the next fall I got to pull a 36 ft trailer for the teams 32 ft war canoe behind the same vay. When I backed that thing down to a boat launch at the end of the second day of a 3 day 90 mile race nobody was watching the race. Even the state trooper just stood there and watched instead of directing traffic.

The secret was I learned to drive in a full sized van and knew how to use mirrors and learned the grab the bottom of the steering wheel trick. Oh, and I went slow and did minor corrections before things got out of hand. Fun times

 

[PILOON]

"Bottom steering wheel--I like that"! Must try next time.

I'm not all that bad backing, but I have a good hump in my drive and if my trailer is empty I completely lose it from sight for just long enough to miss any corrections needed.
Darn Jimmy has a fairly high 'tail gate'.

I keep meaning to add a post or elevated flag of some sort but course never do.

 

[Slatecreek]

Backing a trailer is always fun!! Since I don't pull our trailer very much it is like learning all over again each time I use it. It usually comes back to me rather quickly, but there is always that initial oops!! turned the the wrong way and quickly look around to see if anyone is watching and have to pull up and make the correction. The hands on the bottom is a very effective way to accomplish backing a trailer, just takes a little getting used to, if your like me and used to having your hands on the top all the time.

 

[crashz]

I used to run a one ton dump for my father back before college and pulling the air compressor was the worst of them all. You could not see it until it swung around one way or the other due to the dump body, and it was so short that it moved really fast!

I got very proficient at backing trailers with those trucks, and doing so I got a little full of myself. Fast forward 15 years and I picked up that same air compressor this past summer with my pick up, and jacknifed it while trying to back out of a mud hole. So much for being an expert...

 

[WantedWolf]

Id like to add another trailer to complicate things
Whos a pro at backing trailers onto other trailers
I have to back my welder trailer up onto the flat deck for the first time.(shortest trailer ever)
Im a little nervous but will post picks if I ever get it done

 

[foggy1111]

When I was 18 years old I was doing some delivery work for my father who was in the implement and truck biz. A few days before Christmas.....he had this load of trucks to bring back from Detroit to MN.....and it HAD to be back in MN before the New year. I begged for the chance to do the trip...plus his regular driver was out sick...so I got my wish. I desperately wanted to be back home for Christmas....so this was to be a quick trip....and a comedy of errors.

First off....In my haste to make a flight....I forgot the dealer plates so I was ILLEGAL all the way home. Then, in Detroit, they had three 2 ton trucks all piggybacked with two temporary 5th wheels and a pickup truck set on the last 2 ton truck. I just had the little 8" "spot" mirrors so I couldn't see much behind this rig (in those days we put on our own "west coast" mirrors, and most other accessories....cheaper) Lastly.....they had no saddle tanks on the truck....and I would have had to wait an extra day to get them.....so down the road I went.....about 3 feet over length (in Wisconsin) with about a 16 gallon behind-the-seat tank. Lastly I did not know the radio antenna was taped behind the seat so I had no "tunes" for my adventure.

I could go no more than 100 miles before refuel....and they didn't have many truck stops in those days......so typically I'd find myself at a local small town gas station trying to back this rig up to fill the seat tank about every 1 1/2 hours on a 40 hour trip. I finally bought two five gallon cans for the occasional out-of-gas scenario. But learned to back REAL careful....usually while the station owner hollered instructions at me.

I missed a turn in Chicago and went through the downtown area during a pretty busy time. In another scenario I ran out of gas, in the middle of the night, in Wisconsin and a State Trooper pumped me some gas FROM HIS PATROL CAR out on the highway. Later I sat on the front bumper (to cover where the license plate belonged) as we discussed the length of my rig. He had me hold one end of the tape as he measured me for length.......and my outstretched arm and body-lean made up the difference as he hollered "right on the button".

I learnt allot on that trip AND made it back safely for Christmas...with an hour to spare. ...and I have been able to back-up ever since.

 

[LBrown59]

When I was 18 years old I was doing some delivery work for my father who was in the implement and truck biz. A few days before Christmas.....he had this load of trucks to bring back from Detroit to MN.....and it HAD to be back in MN before the New year. I begged for the chance to do the trip...plus his regular driver was out sick...so I got my wish. I desperately wanted to be back home for Christmas....so this was to be a quick trip....and a comedy of errors.

First off....In my haste to make a flight....I forgot the dealer plates so I was ILLEGAL all the way home. Then, in Detroit, they had three 2 ton trucks all piggybacked with two temporary 5th wheels and a pickup truck set on the last 2 ton truck. I just had the little 8" "spot" mirrors so I couldn't see much behind this rig (in those days we put on our own "west coast" mirrors, and most other accessories....cheaper) Lastly.....they had no saddle tanks on the truck....and I would have had to wait an extra day to get them.....so down the road I went.....about 3 feet over length (in Wisconsin) with about a 16 gallon behind-the-seat tank. Lastly I did not know the radio antenna was taped behind the seat so I had no "tunes" for my adventure.

I could go no more than 100 miles before refuel....and they didn't have many truck stops in those days......so typically I'd find myself at a local small town gas station trying to back this rig up to fill the seat tank about every 1 1/2 hours on a 40 hour trip. I finally bought two five gallon cans for the occasional out-of-gas scenario. But learned to back REAL careful....usually while the station owner hollered instructions at me.

In another scenario I ran out of gas, in the middle of the night, in Wisconsin and a State Trooper pumped me some gas FROM HIS PATROL CAR out on the highway. Later I sat on the front bumper (to cover where the license plate belonged) as we discussed the length of my rig. He had me hold one end of the tape as he measured me for length.......and my outstretched arm and body-lean made up the difference as he hollered "right on the button".

Pretty slick.

 

[radioman]

foggy - you have the luck of a irish! I know I would've been busted in your shoes.