How to back up a pivoting axle trailer

[Lineman North Florida]

Lineman - when you loose control of a wagon - that's where it ALWAYS wants to go. Around a corner........

Absolutely, I had some dealings with a corn wagon that an old man owned that I worked for as a kid, I could do decent backing it under a barn by swinging wide and getting lined up straight with a tractor but it wasn't easy and I could forget backing it around a corner and getting it to go where I wanted it to go.

 

[jayroget]

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

Independent rear brakes are your steering help when trying to back up a wagon. Learned at 12 years old working on a vegetable farm backing them multiple times daily up To a loading dock with other tractor/wagons alongsid. A knob (suicide knob) bolted onto the steer wheel helps immensely too. So unlock them rear whee brakes and give it a try.

 

[Snezzy]

Easiest method is to use a pair of horses to pull the wagon. They should be trained to be able to side-step on command. You can swing the hitch pole from side to side somewhat more easily with horses than with a tractor.

For real excitement try backing a wagon that doesn't have full cut-under for the front wheels. Jack-knife just a little bit too much and the wheels will catch on the wagon and flip it over.

 

[pecans]

Here is the rule and it is important for communication and having a quality agricultural community. If the wheels are in the center it is a trailer. If they are on the corners, it is a wagon. As far as backing, there are sufficient good methods noted in these responses. Another way to put it for rare use (little practice) is exactly as you stated - look and see how you can eliminate swivel points. You can do that.

 

[PerroneMM]

My best advice life is too short .... just sell the trailer

 

[Joe Batt]

Mine has a something of a fifth wheel that dump mechanism rides on. I watch that to see which way the wagon is going to break. Everything else is too loose and wobbly to watch. If it's going the wrong way, I stop and try again. Backing into the barn takes about 6 attempts. Backing up to the burn pile takes 2 attempts. I learned while backing about 20 loads of rip wrap down a path along a creek.

 

[henerythe8th]

Once upon a time...
I worked at a spud farm where we grew and processed certified seed.
The loading conveyor stuck out the side if a building--a semi trailer had about 2 feet between the left side and the building when properly aligned for loading.
I used to back a semi trailer attached to a trailer mounted fifth wheel hitch [essentially like your wagon but longer] with an eight wheeled ARTICULATING IH tractor.
The principal trick was to get pulled out STRAIGHT from the target and do what you can to keep it straight!

 

[MossRoad]

I tried my hand and backing hay wagons at a friend's house last summer. I was quite disappointed with my results, until I saw that every other person that tried it did just as poorly as I did.

We ended up disconnecting the last couple and pushing them into the barn by hand.

 

[leonz]

The real adventure comes when you have an Oliver tricycle
gas mule and you are crossing a small ditch with a hay wagon
filled with thrown hay bales from a john Deere hay baler; you
are reminded the hay or silage wagon you are in front of only
rests on the 2 axle running gear.

A friend told me that the and silage wagons did not have tongue
hitches at one time and the front tires were toed inward and chains
were used to connect the wagon to the tractor and the deliberately
toed in front wheels kept the wagon in line.

My dear neighbor was taken advantage of by the Harvestore way of
doing things where they pushed high moisture shelled corn and then
the acid preservative shelled corn storage method. If they had provided
him with a feed grinder in the conveying system after the shelled corn
unloader he would have made so much more milk as most all the
shelled corn was not digested and ended up in the manure
because of the shelled corn kernal pericarp.

All the work he did to have shelled high moisture corn for his cows
was waste because harvestore did not install a grinder in after the
Little Giant paddle conveyer that sent the corn to the Badger reversing
conveyor in the barn. He would have had so much more milk to sell if
they had installed a feed grinder and he would not have he needed
165 milking cows.

 

[twinotterpilot]

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.

Good response. I back my hay wagons into a coverall type fabric building with a 16 foot wide door, often with a single row of round bales on them just to protect them from an upcoming rain. I always use a tractor, no issue. I wouldn't even consider attempting the same with my truck. I always go slow, and it does take time and practice.