How to back up a pivoting axle trailer

[Eebbee]

I just got an utility trailer with two axles. The front axle pivots.
The tongue is A-Frame. It looks just like the photo attached.
While I am normally pretty good at backing up trailers -without pivoting axles- I find this one is just about impossible to back up. I don't know if it's because the tongue is too short or if it is the double pivot point that screws me up.

So for those of you whom own one of these how do you back them up?
Do I need to lengthen the tongue?DO I need to rig it so I can tie the 3-points lower arms to the tongue or do I need to fit something to lock the tongue at the 0 degree position when backing up?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Norm W]

It is like playing a piano............Practice, Practice, Practice.

 

[oldnslo]

you have to start directional corrections much sooner with steering axle vs straight axle and if looking in mirrors frequently much harder to judge trailer angle vs truck angle.

With the steer axle trailer the rear of tow vehicle moves same direction as rear of trailer which is exact opposite of straight axle trailer.

 

[bigtiller]

It's a wagon, not a trailer. (who cares, right?)

The fastest way to backup a wagon is to put a hitch on the front of the tractor and back it up driving the tractor forward.

 

[jfsawatzky]

I can’t offer any advise… but to me that’s like a hay or forage wagon not a trailer.

 

[leonz]

I just got an utility trailer with two axles. The front axle pivots.
The tongue is A-Frame. It looks just like the photo attached.
While I am normally pretty good at backing up trailers -without pivoting axles- I find this one is just about impossible to back up. I don't know if it's because the tongue is too short or if it is the double pivot point that screws me up.

So for those of you whom own one of these how do you back them up?
Do I need to lengthen the tongue?DO I need to rig it so I can tie the 3-points lower arms to the tongue or do I need to fit something to lock the tongue at the 0 degree position when backing up?

Thanks in advance.


View attachment 849621

If you are at all familiar with small towed trailers, they have safety chains
welded to the trailer hitch to prevent a runaway trailer if it breaks the
hitch ball connection on the car or pickup bumper.

Both lengths of safety chain are long enough to cross each under the
stationary hitch welded to the trailer and then you twist each of the
safety chains tight with enough slack to reach the welded loops on the
bumper hitch. This assures that the trailer stays in a linear track with
the towing vehicle and reduces swaying to a minimum.

In your case you would have to add chain to the lower body of the trailer
to enable you to attach the safety chains hooks to the lower links with shackles
looping the chain though the shackles and using baling wire or loop hitch pins to
secure them to prevent them from separating.

Your trailer has a long tongue and you can back up slowly using a steering wheel knob
as long as you have patience to learn how to back up as you have to steer in the opposite
direction to counter the rear of the trailers desire to move.

A hitch mounted on the front of your tractor eliminates all of the above so that
would be much simpler.

 

[Eebbee]

OK Wagon. I have no issue with the term.

I already figured that it goes reverse as a normal trailer but I still cant get it to back up properly.
Would lengthening the tongue make it easier?
Or any of the other possibilities I mentioned eliminating one of the two pivot points i.e. either pinning the axle so it does not rotate when backing up or braising the tongue (using the 3-point arms) so the hitch does not pivot?

 

[KennyG]

Having grown up on a farm with those wagons, I can tell you no one finds it "easy". Until you have lots of practice, the only advice I can give is to go very slowly and think about how steering the tongue will move the wheels. If you have a front hitch, any trailer/wagon is easier if you can drive forward, but that may not be an option.

 

[bcp]

When we used wagons on the farm, things were arranged so no backing was needed. Too may people can't back even a long single-axle trailer.

Bruce

 

[workinonit]

I can back a wagon with a tractor but not so much with a truck. You won't learn on this forum. That's for sure.