Backing a horse trailer (VW commercial)

[RedNeckRacin]

Very nice, they should have used the F-150 with that stupid knob that they came up with to back up a trailer...

 

[TheMan419]

Just sold a 3/4 t Dodge and 30 ft. goose neck trailer to couple . He cannot back up so wife does the backing.
And does it with confidence .
ken

My wife has that particular skill as well. When she wanted a truck and trailer it was with the understanding that she would learn to drive and back it. First time she went for lesson on backing it she could do it like she was doing it all her life. Puts the trailer right back in the same spot at the farm each and every time with no problem.

Me, I can back it, but I have to think about it since I don't do it all that often.

 

[KennyG]

Very nice, they should have used the F-150 with that stupid knob that they came up with to back up a trailer...

Don't knock it until you've tried it. I really didn't want the trailer back up assist on my F-150 but it came with the tow package. I went ahead and set it up and, at first use, I wasn't impressed. Then I figured out that you had to very carefully move the knob while backing and not let it snap back to the neutral position. I've been backing trailers for over 50 years and this system works better than I can do it without it. I was surprised and impressed with how it works.

 

[jack707]

Funny

 

[David Wayne]

I have backed trailers, mostly manure spreader since I was a kid. Second nature- till you get in a truck and use mirrors, have to think then.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I learned on a 10 hp wheelhorse with a small garden cart trailer in the 1980's as a kid. Graduated to a 135 Massey Ferguson and whatever was behind it.
My dad and I had a contest once with a truck and trailer on who was more accurate when I was 18 or 19: Stakes placed an inch off each fender and had to back through them from 90 degrees, back up to a stake, who could back in and hitch it up the fastest
I had him beat till he got the wagon out.

 

[GAFarmer2]

I had him beat till he got the wagon out.

I feel ya on that! I have always struggled with the wagons. We had one when I was growing up for 40 and 50 foot lengths of four inch aluminum irrigation pipe. That thing used to drive me bonkers!

 

[farmeratheart]

I too, learned as a kid and got pretty good by the time I was 14 or 15. However, my Dad could always best me, especially with the hay wagons with the movable front ends ...

Sigh...

Frank

 

[gsganzer]

I learned on a 10 hp wheelhorse with a small garden cart trailer in the 1980's as a kid. Graduated to a 135 Massey Ferguson and whatever was behind it.

Same here. I started with a New Holland lawn tractor with a vacuum cart behind it. That thing was a bear to back up. Then I graduated to backing up a hay elevator with a T20. Later, in college, I used to back a Chevy 3500 with a wood chipper around wood lots. backing a trailer is natural to me.

This weekend, I'm presented with the wonderful task of trying to give my wife some rudimentary training in backing up our 3-horse gooseneck with my new 3500 Crew flatbed, so she can take my daughter to a barrel race on Monday. I don't see this going well.:duh:unch::banghead: It's a pretty big rig and it requires using the mirrors. I'm pretty sure she'll get frustrated and then stop thinking and get herself all pissed off, which we all know then gets directed at us and becomes our fault for some reason or another. The more I think about it, the more depressed I'm becoming.

Fortunately, unless she has a major problem, she shouldn't have to back up at all when she goes to the race or afterwards when she returns. The arena is set up for pull-thru parking and our pasture is big enough that she can pull around.

 

[drssg]

Someone told me to visualize that I was pushing the trailer back by hand. Then focus on moving the hitch to where I would want to put it. That helped me a great deal.