Advice for backing up a gooseneck horse trailer

[Soundguy]

One trick is to put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel ...then you can turn the wheel in the direction you really want to go, whereas if you steered on the top of the wheel you would turn it in the opposite direction...

Just like going forward, once you get going backing the trailer in the right direction, you turn the wheel very ..very little....take is easy and go slow...with practice it gets easier...

that's the way i do it. have no problem backing my long gooseneck that way.

i will say that the shorter the trailer is.. the harder it is to do..

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Surprisingly backing a gooseneck is harder to learn than a bumper hitch. You're not alone.

Keeping a fifth wheel straight, requires looking down the trailer sides at a target in the distance and using small corrections.





Build a turn around at the end of your laneway..... lol.

Best advice given so far. If you have a long ways to back up, keeping the truck and trailer straight makes it so much less "work" to get it put where you want it to go. If your lane has a curve on it that goes out the window, but the small corrections is the key I think. That and making your turns much earlier than you would a bumper pull because its slow to react.

The only really good way to get good at it is to practice. The more times you do it in the same vehicle, the better you get at getting a feel for the action-reaction.

 

[Jimbrown]

It really helps to mark where the wheels need to go. Then to watch the wheels and make small corrections to keep the wheels on the line. I usually just take a stick or whatever and kinda scratch a few marks that I can see.

 

[Soundguy]

i'd RATHER back a gn than a bumper pull...can get into a near full sideways maneuver, if needed, that is impossible due to bumper to trailer jacknife...

 

[brain55]

Backing my gn has taken awhile to get used to. I could parallel park my bp trailer. Pretty much nothing to add, go slow, small corrections, and lots of practice. I've found the better starting angle I get the more successful I am too.

Brian

 

[ustmd]

Hiya,

Thanks for all of the advice.

Looks like I will be practicing this week-end.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Hand a six o clock, as previously mentioned, and think about "driving" the back of the trailer. In other words, don't think about backing the truck and pushing the trailer. Put your mind at the back of the trailer and think about as if it's going forwards and pulling the truck behind it. Put the back of the trailer where it needs to be and generally the rest will follow.

With the steering wheel, think about it as controlling the angle between the truck and trailer. This has the secondary effect of causing the trailer to turn, but that's secondary, whereas when driving forward, the turning is primary. If you turn the wheel when backing, the truck will angle and the whole system will begin to move in a curve. If you keep the wheel turned, the angle between the truck and trailer will continue to increase until you jack knife. At some point, you reach the angle and curve you desire and you have to back the wheel out of the turn to cause the angle between the truck and trailer to stay the same. At this point, the truck will follow the trailer through the curve. Reverse the process to straighten out.

In other words, turning has four phases. 1. Cut the wheel to establish an angle between truck and trailer and initiate the curve.
2. Back off the wheel to neutralize the change in angle of the truck and trailer. When the wheel is in this position, the truck is following the trailer. Complete the curve.
3. Cut the wheel the opposite way to straighten out the truck and trailer.
4. Return the wheel to neutral to continue straight.

 

[Beltman60]

I keep telling my wife the only reason I married her was she could back my boat trailer

That being said now that we have horses with our suburban and 18 ft. stock trailer I never once have been asked to back our trailer
she always asks me to help others with trailers but never ours

 

[RobertN]

I had to back BP with a Bobcat on it about 1/2 mile once; one lane road with nowhere to turn around. Was delivering it for a buddy that does concrete for a job. He gave me wrong directions. As others have mentioned, I took it slow and made small corrections.

My 5th wheel is much easir to back. But still, slow and gentle corrections. Had to back it out a couple hundred feet once. For straight shot it was not too bad.

I would agree with one of the previous posters though; put in a turn-around at the end of your 500' access. Having to back that far once or twice is ok, but for that to be your normal parking; time for a turn around

 

[tcreeley]

I know what you mean re marital friction and backing up and or hitching - our two horse bumper pull. If my wife is going to help out I ask her to stand so that I can see her in the side mirror. I ask her (facing to the front) to hold a hand up indicating -stop (open hand), go left (point left with finger), go right (point right with thumb), keep coming (beckoning hand). Sometimes I have her indicate distance by holding her hands apart the actual distance and bringing them together as the distance decreases.

Mostly I just line the side of the truck and trailer with the edge of the drive in the mirror and follow that. I always think about the path the trailer wheels have to take go straight or make turns. Then it is a matter of angling the front of the trailer with the truck so that it can do that.

I live on a busy state highway and I hate backing the trailer into the drive to the barn- One or two shots at it- before the next vehicle comes along!