Crashing trailer while backing up?

[Roly Nelson]

I was pushing and pulling my woody by hand in my drivway last weekend, and while bent over up front, the fender rubbed up against the wall of the house. Not a problem, just rubbed off a little house paint, which came right off the varnished finish.

I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar or even more disasterous event that they wouldn't be too embarrased to tell us about. Gage's tear, jumping-off-the-hitch-ball, snapping safety chains, and ending up in a bar ditch, brings back memories of such encounters.

So, if anyone else has such a calamity to share, pics would be nice. My fender to house goof-up rubbed off with a bit of steelwool.


Roly, rain.......what's that?

[dhazard]

Ira?

[doug hodder]

Roly, I know of several, but am sworn to secrecy about them...but I did screw up with one of my boats and took 45+ stitches in a leg from a fender incident.... doug

[madjack]

Roly, I drove an 18wheeler around 2million miles...if I started telling those tales I would be arrested .........
madjack

[PaulC]

First time out with the TD and decided to change lanes. Checked both mirrors, yup, plenty of room
......................................................................................................................................................................................................................
for my truck Put the TD into the side of a cab. I then had to deal with one very unhappy Cabbie
Superficial damage to the Cab and only a bit of paint off the fender on the TD.
Made me sure to check for extra length ever since

Cheers
Paul

[asianflava]

Roly, I drove an 18wheeler around 2million miles...if I started telling those tales I would be arrested .........
madjack

Freaked me out when I saw a semi loose it's trailer on the interstate. I was about 100yds behind and a couple lanes over. The driver managed to just pull off onto the shoulder like it was nothing.

On this last trip, the trailer was unhooked and I was backing up to it. I guess I misjudged the distance because the noise of the coupler on my bumper told me that I shouldn't go any further. There is an optional backup camera for my truck but I don't have it. Maybe I'll save my pennies for one.

[billnut]

I did and we were standing still. But Sis would kill me if I told
and it's still there.
Bill

[Geron]

Yup,

Bran new No. 2. Scraped the fender gently on the garage door -- it too was only a year old. Left a little black paint on the garage door and a gentle warp (or was it a pucker) in the fender -- It too will stay there.

g

[Classic Finn]

Im still waiting on that part of the Teardrop filled enjoyment...

Classic Finn

[Arne]

Except for the tongue breaking and the tear sliding down the highway at 55 mph, nothing major.... As I slowed down, the tear stayed right up against the back of the van, and as I moved the van over to the breakdown lane, the tear followed me right over, since I was braking and it was just rolling.. Since the tongue broke behind the safety chains, the tongue was securely attached to the van,, but the trailer was on its own. It all worked out, I got it welded at a local shop (the guy was a schlock welder, but it's holding, reinforced with angle iron), and we were only delayed about 3 hours... oh, the weld is still holding, but I check it every trip. His welding ability wasn't worth the 65/hour he charged.. but, he was the right welder... only one in town.

I try not to accomplish all things at once. I get out and double check clearances, assuming I am closer to things than I think I am.. and I try to have someone watch the tear as I back up.... corners I go a bit wide on, so hve not hit a curb so far....

And, I drive much more conservatively, knowing I have another 1,200# to deal with, both accelerating and decelerating.

I also have made a mirror thing I can set on the traielr, and with the hatch open, I can see to line the ball up with the hitch. That works very well.

[Mark72]

I havn't hit anything (yet) but i know what you are talking about. It is impossible to see how close you are to other things while moving the tear by hand. I also found out how hard it is to back a tear with shiny aluminum on the front. When my daugther and myself got to Turkey Run right at dark and tried to back into our spot the back up lamps on our T.V. bouncing right back made it impossible to see to do it. After half a dozen tries I finally unhooked the tear and spotted it by hand. I bet everyone was laughing.

[Miriam C.]

I know of at least one example of a tear almost hitting a very anxious womans car. We did applaud the successful- straight parking of the teardrop. I haven't gotten to even try with mine yet.

[Mike C.]

Gosh Honey I'm jealous !!!!

I can't wait until we get ours done, so I can tear something up.

[Nobody]

Only a minor 'crunch' so far . On the last day of our recent trip we'd stopped at a gas station in eastern Okla to fuel up for the last leg home. Their pumps were working really sloooow that day & we'd been waiting at one pump for several minutes with little apparent progress. A neighboring pump became vacant so with no one else waiting I decided to move over there. I really thought I was watching closely & I've backed a trailer (both small & large) literally thousands of times but somehow while watching to make sure I wasn't backing into anyone else, the TD 'jacknifed' suddenly & the corner of my tongue box 'crunched' the right tail light lens of my P/U. No major damage & the lights still worked. A kind bystander thoughtfully brought me the pieces of the lens & I was able to tape them back in place as a temporary fix. Fortunately our younger son has a NAPA store & brought me a new replacement tail light assembly as a Father's Day present. Haven't gotten around to installing it yet; may just leave this one on for a while to remind me not to get complacent .

[campadk]

I was turning my tear around by hand in the driveway a few years back. Lower galley scrapped against the rough brick on the house.

Aluminum rubbing brick is a VERY ugly sound!

Thankfully the 4 inch somewhat deep scratch was born on the lower right of the gallery door... a nice spot for an 'ADK' sticker we had handy!

Poor Rick (of Rick and Diane fam) did a bit bigger boo boo on their Fandrop, however it resulted in that now rather famous 'Loose women and Pick Pockets' sign which now decorates the door