Backing a Trailer 101 -- do you have hints for me?

[catinmoon]

HI Folks,
Newbie here. I am the new proud owner of a hand built teardrop (not built by me). My boyfriend and I towed it from it's birthplace in Nebraska back here to So. Cal. I am fine to drive and turn but... it has been MANY YEARS since I towed a trailer (U haul type 5x8) and even though I had the hang then of backing the trailer, I don't seem to remember how to ride the bike, so to speak.

Do you have hints, rules of thumb, suggestions for me about backing a trailer of this size? I would love to hear your suggestions. I live in a fairly rural place so I can find wide open spaces to practice, but I'm the type who wants to have some fallback concepts so I can reason out what I am doing rather than just go and start driving backwards and hope I don't do the dreaded "jack knife".

I am pulling the trailer with a 2004 Toyota Tacoma (the smaller version than the current model) with an extra cab, so the truck while not enormous is a bit long compared to the trailer.


Thanks for any ideas.
Stephanie (catinmoon)

[asianflava]

Practice, practice, practice. I have to re-learn every time I dig the trailer out of the garage.

[catinmoon]

Here is a picture of the rig taken in Colorado on our way back from picking up the trailer.

Stephanie

[jeff0520]

Hi Stephanie,
I think I can help quite a bit. I drive this at work,

I'm also a certified driver trainer. I have taught a whole bunch of people to back all sizes of trailers. Here's the basic, and most desireable way to back into a space.
1.) Drive up to the space with it on your left hand side. It's important to have the space on your left if at all possible so that the trailer wont block your view as you back around the corner into the space.
2.) As your front bumper passes the space, take a good look at the space. Ask yourself, "Is this space wide enough for my vehicle to fit? Long enough? High enough?" If you are not sure you can fit, go somewhere else.
3.) As the back edge of the drivers door passes the space, cut the wheel to the right hard. You are trying to end up with the vehicle at a 45 degree angle to the space, with the back bumper pointed at the space. Sometimes you don't have the room to do this, but get as clost to that configuration as possible. It just makes things easier.
4.) Now you are ready to back up. You will be mostly blind to what is going on to the right of your trailer, so here is where your careful inspection of the space in step two really helps. You already know the space is wide enough, so you want to hang to the left as you back in. Since the space is clear of obsticles, and wide enough, you are far less lil\kely to have a problem if you stay left.
5.) Put your vehicle in reverse. Place your hands on the BOTTOM of the steering wheel at the 6 o'clock position. As you begin backing, move your hands in the direction you want the trailer to go. Moving your hands to the bottom of the wheel helps you keep it clear in your mind at the moment you need to steer which way is which.
6.) The whole time, have your windows open and listen carefully. The sounds will help you know what is going on. The very first moment you are unsure about where the trailer is going, or what is happening back there, STOP! Put the vehicle in park, and get out and look. Better ten trips to go look than bent up sheet metal.
That's about it. I'd suggest you make a trip to a mall parking lot after closing. Take a few empty two liter soda bottles to use as cones, and practice, practice, practice. I use two liter bottles when I'm training people to back up a tractor trailer. They are cheap. They will stay put with just a couple inches of water in the bottom and the lids screwed on tight. They also have the bonus of making a big POP if you run over them.
I hope that helps

[catinmoon]

thanks, jeff, this seems a bit like parallel parking to me. I once got a round of applause for getting my station wagon into a parking place in front of a tavern, from sone folks who were lounging outside at a music store across the street. But maybe they were just really bored.

That said, this is of course different. I like the popping bottle idea. Thanks for the suggestions.


Stephanie

[len19070]

Practice is the first thing. But #2 is if you have a spotter helping you;

MAKE SURE YOUR BOTH SPEAKING THE SAME LANGUAGE AND THAT YOU ARE BOTH GOING AFTER THE SAME GOAL!


There's nothing more frustrating than backing into a spot (over and over) only to find out your spotter had no idea what or where you wanted to park and its all got to be done over again.

Go over your plan with him/her. Let them know, If they can't see you...then you can't see them. (BTW, the only time I've ever hit anything has been with a spotter!)

Then if they put you in the wrong spot, and only then...you can yell at them.

But seriously, Practice. Then one day out of the blue.....You'll get it.

Happy Trails

Len

[catinmoon]

LOL Len,
"Communication issues" is what inspired my post. I was trying to practice and my boyfriend kept saying things like "turn back" and "the other way" ... he grew up on a farm so to him it is obvious how to back a trailer, but I couldn't interpret his verbal signals, even tho he had good intentions and he knew what he was saying.

Stephanie

[bdosborn]

Practice, practice, practice. I have to re-learn every time I dig the trailer out of the garage.

x2

I think people can explain it till they're blue in the face but it won't "click" until you get out there try it. Take your trailer to an empty parking lot and practice.

Bruce

[Karebru]

Here’s a few things that help me…
As your making corrections backing up, remember to start easing the steering wheel back towards center as soon as you see the trailer responding. It’s easy to over correct. Especially with a short trailer like a TD. If you do over correct, straightening the wheel and try pulling forward only a few feet. That may be enough to put you back on course, and you won’t have to pull all the way out and start over.
If you get mixed up, (Happens to me every time.) stop, take a deep breath, and think about which direction the BACK of your vehicle needs to push the FRONT of the trailer to keep it on course. Then determine what way you need to turn the wheel to make the BACK of the vehicle do that. Try to picture yourself standing at the front of the trailer, facing it with the hitch in your hands. (You are the hitch ball on the vehicle.) As you push the trailer backwards, moving the hitch to your left will steer the trailer to your right. Moving it to the right will make it go left.
Relax. Take your time, and don’t worry about that guy honking his horn for you to get out of his way. If you try to hurry it will take twice as long. In fact… Don’t go any faster than you would want to be moving if you were to accidently bump into something. And DON’T get embarrassed!

[catinmoon]

you guys are all so kind! I am getting some great visualizations that will help me. I took the rig apart to do major cleaning, but I will put it back together soon to work on my backing up.

it seems like a sport -- -you need to develop some sort of muscle memory

Thanks again,
Stephanie

[bobhenry]

[quote="jeff0520"]5.) Put your vehicle in reverse. Place your hands on the BOTTOM of the steering wheel at the 6 o'clock position. As you begin backing, move your hands in the direction you want the trailer to go.[/quote]

This is the single most important part of Jeff's post above.

As I enter my drive way the voice in my head is saying "Tommy's house ( my neighbor)- my house- tommy's house -my house " as I am steering into the drive from the 6 o'clock position on the steering wheel.

[KBS]

People often say turn the opposite direction you want the trailer to go. This can be confusing. Here's a simpler rule: Move the bottom of the steering wheel the direction you want the trailer to go.

Another helpful hint for your spotter. Have the spotter point which way the trailer needs to go. Having the spotter tell you which way to turn the steering wheel is no help at all. Also, pointing left or right is far better than the "chocolate milk stirring motion" that some spotters like to use. What does a twirling finger mean, anyway? Especially when you're looking in the mirror and you're seeing backwards twirling. I usually have one of my sons spot for me. He knows that I have to be able to see him, or I won't move. It's easy for a spotter to step out of view. I just stop and wait for him to get back in view. Also, remember to look up! Your spotter needs to be aware of the height of the trailer and whatever it might hit overhead (rain gutter, tree, TV cable, etc.). Not a problem with a Tear, but you gotta pay attention with a standy.

Remember, a shorter trailer tongue means the trailer will react quicker to your steering wheel movements. Don't wait until you hear something crunch before stopping to try again. If it's not going the way you want, pull forward and start over.

I often back up without a spotter. I always put a bucket or some other object in the exact spot where I want the left rear corner of the trailer to be. Then I just aim the trailer at the bucket and stop when I hit it.

[KBS]

This topic reminds me of where I used to live. There was a large church parking lot behind our back fence, and it was common to see men out there with their wives trying to teach them how to back up the boat trailer. Lots of arm waving took place inside the truck cab. Then there were the teenagers with their new licenses trying to learn how to drive a stick shift. It was more entertaining than any TV show. My trailer-backing goals are just two: Don't hit anything, and don't give the neighbors anything to talk about.

[eamarquardt]

Back the trailer not the vehicle. Pay attention to the front of the vehicle and the angle of the trailer.

Cheers,

Gus

[catinmoon]

thanks again to everyone for the replies. I hope to get out and practice this weekend. In the meantime, I've been thinking about the suggestions as I back up my station wagon, in anticipation.

BEst,
Stephanie