Back me up, here.

July 9, 2008 12:20 PM

RE: towing a trailer behind my truck. Does anyone have any brilliant tips or tricks for backing up with a trailer and maneuvering it into tight spaces? I eventually get there, but not before lots of back-and-forth and "oops, should have turned the wheel the other way."
posted by Framer to travel & transportation (16 comments total)

When backing up, look out the front of your truck rather than turning around. Use the side view mirrors and watch your trailer. When you want to back up straight, you of course want to keep the amount of the trailer you can see out back even. If you start seeing more of the trailer out one side of your view, turn the wheel in that direction to straighten it up.

If you want to move the trailer in a specific direction while you're tracking straight backwards, turn the wheel opposite the direction you want to go.

Hope this kinda makes sense. Wish I had some illustrative ability to make a drawing or something.
posted by chitlin at 12:26 PM on July 9

Step By Step Reversing
posted by jon1270 at 12:29 PM on July 9

It's counterintuitive and therefore difficult. I've seen tractor trailer drivers who couldn't back their rigs square to a loading dock. I think the answer is the same as how you get to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice. Take your rig out to an empty parking lot on a Sunday afternoon, and work on it for an hour or two, and you'll have it.
posted by beagle at 12:30 PM on July 9

My dad, an expert backer-upper, told me one thing that never fails: When backing, turn the *bottom* of the steering wheel the direction you want to go.

You still have to practice, but that will solve your 'oops,' problem.
posted by OilPull at 12:42 PM on July 9 [5 favorites]

That should have been: Turn the bottom of the steering wheel the direction you want *the trailer* to go.

You probably figured that out, but still . . .
posted by OilPull at 12:44 PM on July 9 [1 favorite]

It's a lot easier to back a long trailer with a short truck than the other way around. Hold the bottom of the wheel, look over your shoulder (right shoulder, if you are in a country where people drive on the right-hand side of the road like the US), and make small corrections. If the trailer is tall and/or wide, then rely on your mirrors, and adjust them so you can see what the trailer is doing back there.

I really recommend spending an hour or two in an empty parking lot. Until you get it, backing a trailer is an exercise in frustration and embarrassment, but once you get it it becomes a lot more intuitive.
posted by Forktine at 1:05 PM on July 9

Practice is definitely the way to go. When I was learning to back (and parallel park) my horse trailer, I took it out into a field and just did a bunch of different things to get comfortable with it. A parking lot would have worked, too.

One other suggestion that has helped me (but may not work if no part of your trailer sticks up high enough for you to see it through the rear-view mirror)-- if you're not too averse to small window-cling type stickers on your back windshield, put one back there a little to the left or right of center. Sounds dumb, but that little sticker somehow provides a point of reference for me when I'm looking at the rear-view mirror, and I can use it to estimate angles, etc. Good luck!
posted by weezetr at 1:08 PM on July 9

1. Straighten out your wheelbase.
2. Put your dominant hand at the very bottom of the steering wheel.
3. Move your hand in the direction you want the trailer to go.
4. Make very, very tiny, tiny course corrections. It's very easy to overcorrect and then it all quickly goes downhill from there.
posted by dblslash at 1:18 PM on July 9

I have to disagree about the looking forward thing - I find that makes it impossible, and dangerous becuase you can't see too much.

Look back over your right shoulder with your left hand on the steering wheel and your right hand on the headrest of the passenger seat. Here is the key: GO SLOW! At least until you are comfortable enough to go faster.

Another key is to stop when it starts going the wrong way and fix it before it gets worse. And don't get frustrated.
posted by Big_B at 1:23 PM on July 9

OilPull's got it, at least from my perspective. That simple trick made all the difference in the world for me years ago. Since being taught that, I've never had problems with backing a trailer.
posted by ElDiabloConQueso at 1:27 PM on July 9

What OIlpullsaid. I saw that trick on a bass fishing show as a kid, and remembered years later when I found myself in possession of a horse trailer and a horse. I also find it helpful to visualize the path I want to trailer to follow and then attempt to back down the path. It helps me make course corrections earlier.
posted by COD at 2:56 PM on July 9

This will sound silly, but get a little toy car and trailer, and play with it during idle moments, backing it up into spaces on your desk or whatever. You'll quickly learn how to do it, and the connection between what you're trying to do and how to accomplish it will form. That, and you'll be able to visualize the toy doing it before you try to move your truck, which will help you succeed.

This also works for parallel parking.
posted by davejay at 3:00 PM on July 9

The easiest thing I found is to never move the wheel more than a turn - ie + or - half a turn when I first learnt. So if you never let go of the wheel, you don't get lost about where you are in the tow vehicle, and also, you don't put too large an input in. Large inputs that go wrong require even larger ones to fix if the trailer starts to turn in its own length. If you already used full lock, you're screwed...

Whether you look in the mirrors or look over your shoulder makes no difference for ease to me - whichever you find easiest, although you can't see as much on a tight turn using the mirrors technique.

Never be afraid to drive forward to sort it out. If the trailer goes past the angle where it does something sensible (again, when it turns more in it's own length than tracks back) you're buggered and you won't save it from there, Learning to avoid getting to that stage, rather than trying to fix that stage, is the best plan.

Use as much space forward as you can. Once you get used to moving a trailer into a space over a large distance, and get used to the amount you need to move it to get it to respond, then tighter spaces become easier.

Biggest thing? Be patient. Put an input in, and give the thing time to react. People tend to keep turning the wheel until the trailer moves, and so are unable to stop it. Make your input and wait and see what happens over 6 foot or so of movement backwards. If you are super patient (just put in an input and completely wait) when you are learning, you'll get more of a feel for how it reacts.
posted by Brockles at 4:18 PM on July 9

Get a spotter, a large parking lot, and some traffic cones and practice.
Practice is really the only way to improve.
Please don't try to learn on a busy boatramp on Memorial Day weekend

I learned using the "left hand down"/"right hand down" method.
Basically, if your spotter yells out, "left hand down", you (obviously) put your left hand down.
This eliminates the "Left! Left! No, your other LEFT!" confusion you often run into when someone is facing the opposite direction from you while guiding.

Also, Go Slow. If you don't rush, it's easy to see things going awry and prevent a jack-knife pretty easily. If you rush, you'll find yourself off of the boat ramp before you know it.

Finally, use the mirrors. Don't get in the habit of looking over your shoulder with a trailer. Odds are, eventually you are going to tow something you can't see over.
posted by madajb at 4:21 PM on July 9

Practice is all that is required. It's easier to back a long trailer than a short one so given the choice start with a longer trailer and move up to little dinky utility trailers.

Forktine writes "It's a lot easier to back a long trailer with a short truck than the other way around."

More specifically the shorter the rear wheel to ball distance the better (and a trailer with a hitch to wheel distance less than the former is a royal bitch). If your draw bar (the bit that fits in the receiver on your truck) sticks way past the end of your truck take it to a hitch place and have them drill another hole in the draw bar to effectively shorten it up. This will also reduce vertical movement of your truck induced by the trailer.

Big_B writes "I have to disagree about the looking forward thing - I find that makes it impossible, and dangerous becuase you can't see too much."

It's a skill that one should develop. It's not uncommon to not be able to see out the rear window and if you're pulling a large boxy trailer you can't see the bumper on the trailer except with your mirrors. A little horizontal flag like bikers use can allow you to see a trailer that can't be seen in your mirrors.

Also if you need to park a trailer in a spot perpendicular to the road (like say your drive way) it is a lot easier to do so if the drive way is on your left hand side (IE: on the opposite side of the road) because you can see the bumper of the trailer over your left shoulder thru the side window during the high angle portion of the job.
posted by Mitheral at 4:40 PM on July 9

You can practice the theory here, in the world's second-most-boring Flash game.
posted by mendel at 5:39 PM on July 9