How to back up a pivoting axle trailer

[Shady oak]

Same way I got to Carnegie Hall! Lol

 

[broadsword6]

Not sure if this is useful and I may be repeating advice already offered but I do it by pointing the wagon tongue in the direction I want the wagon to go. Hard to do with a truck if you cant see it, but pretty easy with a tractor. As many have said here, get lined up first though. Its hard to correct poor alignment and the tendency is to over-correct and get into ever increasing steering corrections that end up with an embarrassing jack-knife. But if you "steer the tongue" not the wagon, it tends to go OK. Hard to do at first.

 

[a1Sabrina97]

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

Backing them any distance can be difficult. On the farm we had several hay wagons, forage wagons, and gravity bins which operated the same way. If you can situate yourself so the wagon is perpendicular to where you wish to back into this will allow you to back in an arch (curve). Your first move when starting to reverse is to establish the curve. Maintaining a curve while backing is easier with a wagon gear than straight line. Just like learning to back up a trailer, nothing replaces repetition. Given time you can be reversing a wagon without hesitation.

 

[klm]

D=Fsquared D is degree of difficulty, F is feet, after about four feet forget it.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

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

It's not a trailer. It's a wagon. Two different things.

I find it more than a little ironic when what's actually a trailer, supporting all of its own weight, can't be called trailer.

Then semi trailers, by far the most common kind of trailer, is called trailer.

As someone pointed out earlier, words do matter. There are (pull/full) trailers that carry all the weight, and there are semi trailers. Those don't support all of the weight and that's why they're classified as semi trailers.

 

[TGD]

A wagon with a steer axle is different from a regular bumper pull trailer or a gooseneck, 5th wheel etc. which uses the tractor, truck, car for a steer axle. The steer axle is always under the front of the wagon. Tightening the pivot at the drawbar will just bend or break something so leave the connection able to pivot. If it is a swinging drawbar there may be a hole in the bar that lines up with a hole in the swing plate for a hitch pin to lock the two together. Pin the drawbar in the center hole so the drawbar stays straight and in one place. If there is no hole it will just be a bit more jangly to do because of the additional slop but can be done with practice once you know what the assembly will do in a given situation.

Don't use a 3 point drawbar. It has no down force and the weight of the trailer and load when backing a heavy wagon or pulling up a hill can cause the 3 point to suddenly rise up and damage something, lose control, and possibly flip the tractor over.

In the photo as taken and with the tongue remaining in the position it is in, and if backing up the wagon, the rear will go left and the angle of the front wheels will continue to get greater pushing the front of the trailer to the right pivoting the trailer on the rear left wheel until things are jackknifed to the tractor.

To correct this angle from where things are in the photo and to back the wagon straight, the hitch point on the tongue (tractor rear) needs to go right which pushes the tongue of the wagon to the right. This straightens the front wheels. Once the wheels are straight then the trailer will back more or less straight depending upon the slop in the assembly. Watch the rear of the wagon and where you wish it to end up. Use small adjustments to point the tractor rear to the right or left which will make the wagon rear go right or left. If you have overcorrected where everything looks like a pretzel then pull forward to straighten everything out and start again.

Think of is as a car going down the interstate at 70mph. When changing lanes you make very small adjustments to the steering wheel to change lanes and change back. When backing any wagon you want to make very small adjustments and keep the steering point as straight under the center as possible.

Many of the material handlers at work who drive the cart trains for line stock can backup a series of stock carts which are all basically wagons with steer axles all connected with ring hitches. The newer people have trouble backing just one cart. So it takes practice. On farms things are usually arranged so the amount of backing up in minimized.

 

[KennyG]

I understand the concern about using the 3 point hitch for towing but it's really not a big deal with a wagon as opposed to a trailer since there is no force either up or down on the wagon tongue.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Many of the material handlers at work who drive the cart trains for line stock can backup a series of stock carts which are all basically wagons with steer axles all connected with ring hitches. The newer people have trouble backing just one cart.

Yep, I can back one trailer (not semi trailer) up alright, and since I have two, naturally I had to try hooking them together. Predictably, a complete failure.

I envy those who can back up tractor trailer doubles around corners. Saw it done as a young kid once, and it's a memory forever. On a good day I can back up doubles in a somewhat straight line for up to 50 feet.

Anyway, with regular (semi) trailers I'm far better off using that mirrors than trying to look behind me. So by not using the mirrors when backing up a (full/pull) trailer I'm one step ahead.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I understand the concern about using the 3 point hitch for towing but it's really not a big deal with a wagon as opposed to a trailer since there is no force either up or down on the wagon tongue.

As long as the tractor end is lower than the trailer end of the draw bar.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

It is a unique artform. Plan to always back as straight as possible and that will help. Turning corners in reverse is a delicate operation.
The only one rule has already been said: the wagon goes in the direction the front wheels are pointed.
When I worked on a farm as a teenager and as a young adult, I got pretty good, but it took a LOT of work.