Can you back a trailer?

[Apache]

Back in my farming days we used to lead bales of straw with trailers with an articulating front axle. Very manouverable, but a bugger to back. Everything you do was multiplied and obviously you turn right to move the trailer right and that is not what my brain expected from usual trailer backing.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yy0B7M03U-E?feature=oembed

 

[kme]

Never tried one of those - but I can[s/] could reverse a 54` trailer with a modicum of knowledge where it`d end up..................

These days - I`d end up switching off, and walking away - my "Hugh Rowland" days are gone............................

( for them that didn`t watch - either "Ice road Truckers", or "Worlds most dangerous roads" )

 

[pewter]

a long long time ago when i was in my teens, i did a lot of building work on a couple farms.

There was big and small tractors, with big and small trailers.

I used to be able to reverse a Ford 8630 power shift with a big tipping trailer into the tightest of spots. Up ramps, U turn into a barn , easy. The guy that taught me used to say, you will never get it in there, and i always did.

Cold frosty mornings, linking 2 batteries together to 24v jump start old machinery. No key, use a screw driver on the starter, bit of easy start for the old 70s stuff, old cat bull dozer, old moxy dumper, old ford tractor with front and rear loader, generators and compressors. the smell of diesel first thing was enough to make me feel sick.

Excellent fun at the time.

 

[ProDave]

Well II have to be able to reverse a trailer to launch my boat.

The entrance to the slipway is only about 6" wider than the trailer and just to make it interesting there's a 45 degree turn part way down the slip. And the last bit of the slip is only 6" wider than the trailer.

It always takes me a couple of shunts, but the other week another guy at the boat club reversed his trailer out of the car park and down the slip in one perfect manouver at speed. I was very impressed.

 

[Steve3948]

Well I've got a 6'X4' trailer and I cannot back that anywhere, not even onto my drive.

It usually takes about 10 attempts so it's quicker to unhitch and push it.

 

[binky]

Local boat company in Salcombe, always moving things on trailers - man can those guys reverse!!! Was watching them wiggle steering wheel quickly to keep trailer dead straight in reverse. Interesting technique.

 

[roys]

I used to reverse a towable cherry picker about with a ford pickup for doing street lights about 30 years ago, reversed it loads no probs, tried to reverse recently using an ATV and trailer and I was rubbish, it is just because it is handle bars on the ATV instead of a steering wheel? or am I just making excuses

 

[Apache]

The problem with the ATVs is the trailer is close coupled. Any movement is amplified. Long trailers are often much easier.

 

[apprentice87]

Hi All,

I do in fact have a class one HGV licence, so yes, I can reverse trailers!!!

I will give you all a few "trade secrets" !!!!!!!!

1, Before you start, have a walk around your vehicle and have a look what is there, get a sort of mental picture of it. This will make it much easier, it is also vital for safeties sake...

2, Plan your attack!!! Try to look at what is there, and plan your vehicles movements in your minds eye to get where you want to be.

3, Forget looking out the back window.... The first time you drive a truck with a sleeper cab you will not even have a window, and even in the car/caravan world, all you are going to see is the front of your load...Not very helpful..

4, All this crap about "the steering goes the wrong way" forget all that, you will merely confuse yourself...

5, So, what is the "trade secret" then??? Right, first off; ALL reversing is done purely using the mirrors.

First off, adjust the mirrors so that when the vehicle and trailer are in a dead straight line, when you look in the mirrors, you can see STRAIGHT down each side of the vehicle. You want the view in each mirror to be the same ON BOTH SIDES

Now, the hardest bit is to go straight backwards, but going straight backwards is the way to do it.. otherwise you will just tie yourself up in knots..

So, REMEMBER THIS To go straight, which ever mirror the trailer appears in, TURN THE STEERING THAT WAY and you will go straight!!!!

So to reverse miles in a straight line, just keep looking in the mirrors all the time. Say the trailer appears in the left mirror, turn the steering wheel left!!! The trailer will disappear from the left mirror, and appear in the right one. Turn the steering right!! the trailer will disappear again, and pop up in the left mirror!! so all you have to do, is to keep on looking, and whichever mirror the trailer STARTS to appear in, turn the steering that way, and, you will just, using very fine movements of the steering, go perfectly straight!!!!!

So, say you want to reverse into a drive/loading bay. [we will assume here, as it is easier to describe, that the road is quite wide]

Lets do it on the wrong side, just to make it more fun!!

So, we want to get into a drive on the left hand side of the road.. Drive down the road in the normal way, then using your judgement, turn the vehicle sharply so that you will be as close to 90 degrees across the road as you can, with the rear of the trailer as close to in line with the entrance as you can.

Next, LOOK IN THE MIRRORS

We see [looking in the mirror] that the trailer is too far to the left. So what do we do??? We do not want the trailer in the left mirror, so we turn the steering that way, just the same as to go straight!! It will now pop up in the right mirror, more where we want it!!!! Now, once we have judged it has moved the right way enough, we want it back out of the right mirror, SO STEER THAT WAY!!!! It will now appear in the left one!!

If we now pull the whole lot straight forwards, hopefully, the trailer will be in line with the entrance. All we have to do now, is to go straight back, and everytime the trailer appears just the slightest in a mirror TURN THE STEERING THAT WAY... We will sail straight back in a straight line into our entrance!!!!

Same principle to go around curves; when you get baffled, and forget which way to turn, [and you will!] just remember, whichever mirror you DO NOT want the trailer in, steer that way!!!!

Try to keep things straight though, so a curve would be best done in a slight threepenny bit style [apologies to anyone under 50!!]

Try it and see, it is all a LOT easier to do than to write about!!!! Once you have the basics, just practice. BUT ALWAYS REMEMBER THE THING ABOUT THE MIRRORS, and you will not go far wrong "which ever mirror it appears in, steer that way!!"

john..

 

[Andy™]

i tow a trailer regularly. the main one i use is 6 inch narrower each side than my van though, so its awkward to reverse because i cant see it until its way out and sometimes have to then shunt forward to get it straight. bigger trailer the width of the van i can reverse no problem. having a large distance between the rear axle & towbar is also a big help for getting into tight spces

i have reversed A frame trailers in the past. not very good at it though, but i could do better with a bit more practice at it

 

[philbas]

[quote name='Andy

 

[apprentice87]

Hi Again!!,

Funnily enough, even though i have a HGV 1, and can obviously drive them ok, i am crap at parking a car!!! I think it is because i am very cautious by nature, and so do not try to squeeze into gaps that others would... Perhaps i am just weird, but then i know the answer to that one already..

john..

 

[ProDave]

I use Apprentice 87's "whichever mirror it appears in, turn the wheel that way" technique. And it works very well.

Reversing a larger (i.e long) trailer like a boat or caravan is a lot easier than a small trailer. My small (7' by 5') trailer can get into a turn so tight you can't get it out, without going forwards and trying again. something I don't have a problem with, with the larger trailers. The length of overhang from rear wheels to towball on the car also makes a big difference to ease of reversing.

 

[Apache]

App87 - Very good explanation.

This thread isn't actually about backing trailers - it was to link to the Youtube vid in the first post. Now THAT is backing a trailer!

 

[Andy™]

anyway, at least its a good way to check your brake lights are working

 

[Manator]

I actually posses a class 1 HGV licence (probably known by some other name now), I would however still find that manoeuvre difficult.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Back in my farming days we used to lead bales of straw with trailers with an articulating front axle. Very manouverable, but a bugger to back. Everything you do was multiplied and obviously you turn right to move the trailer right and that is not what my brain expected from usual trailer backing.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/yy0B7M03U-E?feature=oembed

I didn't realise you you up the bank videoing me doing that manouver...

all in a days work!!!!

Trailer Boy!

:Blushing

:slap

 

[kerching]

Can I back a trailer?.....of course I can!

Am I any good at backing a trailer?......am I frick!!!!!

 

[husky2013]

would love the chance to even attempt reversing a trailer to any degree of size,

KME: Ice Road Truckers Rules & IRT Deadliest Roads and of course Lisa is my fav Girl power n all that!

i can reverse the car very well as streety says for a female i can reverse into a bay with a car either side, i can reverse parallel park, an i do use all 3 of my mirrors.

i will one day get to have a drive of something bigger then a vaux astra tho! (i dont like driving the combo van we have, its like driving the dodgems at the fair)

 

[misssweden]

My dad has always been one for chucking me in the deep end when it comes to teaching me stuff. So just before I went off to agricultural college (this was before my wannabe-spark days) he decided that in order for me not to embarrass myself he better teach me how to reverse a tractor and trailer. Most people would probably have picked a big open space and put a few cones out. My dad took the tractor and trailer out in the woods and had me reversing around trees with the order "don't hit anything, I need the trailer tomorrow and anyway if you f**k it up I can't afford to get it fixed at the moment". Cheers dad...

I later learnt to reverse artic trailers at college, but I haven't done it since so I doubt I would be able to do it now. Not without a lot of patience and swearing anyway...