backing the trailers

[lopo]

After the smart aleck cracks about those dumb people who can't back their trailers, , I decided to look for a thread about backing up. Found nothing so thought I might wade in and see if there is a magical formula y'all have been withholding.

I've never camped in my life, and the only trailer I've towed is our 5x8 cargo trailer which is also hard to back. I know all the rules and tricks, but that's not the same as really "getting it." I'm wondering if I really have to go practice in an empty parking lot for hours at a time or if I hit the road and wing it, will I manage to back it by the end of the summer? Am I the only one who hasn't gotten the hang of it?

[cowcharge]

I guess it depends on why you're having trouble, and what kind of mistakes you make...

[lopo]

How about not being able to put the trailer right where I want to.

[dawgpound]

These should help!

Here's a Youtube video on the Scoop method.
youtu.be/RLtfrBWzNCw

This one is about backing up a boat trailer, but using mirrors. Very informational.
youtu.be/_Jx2LjzabOo

Find a parking lot and practice, practice, practice!!!!

[lopo]

I had found the Scoop method a few weeks ago, Ross, and it makes more sense than anything else. I'm currently trailerless (hear that, boandsusan? , but as soon as I get mine, I'll head for a parking lot and do it til I get it right!

[missblossom]

They also make Tow Dolly's so you can hitch your trailer on and push it where you want it. I got my trailer in my driveway, just where I wanted it, once. Heeheheheee. I too need more practice. I found that it helps to not be too tired, and taking deep breaths. I also have the best neighbors in the world who have helped me out.

[Redwings]

I start by putting both my hands down at the 6:00 part of the steering wheel. If I want the back end of the trailer to go to the right, I swing the steering wheel to the right a tad bit. If I want the back end of the trailer to go to the left, I swing the steering wheel up to the left a tad bit. With these one-axle trailers just a little bit of steering goes a looooooonnnnngggggg way...when backing up. It is very easy to oversteer.

Good luck!

[Gone Kayaking]

I've learned the scoop method by trial and error. It does work well at campgrounds. It doesn't always work so well on the driveway backing, at least in my urban neighborhood due to cars often being parked (always unfamiliar cars I might add) on either side of my driveway leaving a precious small scooping area. The priniciple still works just not as well.

[lopo]

Thanks, both of you! I think not oversteering is the key, and I wish I could stand outside and watch my wheels. I've thought of the tow dollies, but all my research tells me I'm dreaming if I think they (even the power ones) will work on my shell/gravel driveway or soft surfaces in campgrounds. Any experiences with that?

And backing up to the right spot to connect the hitch is another hard thing for me to do alone - and I don't have neighbors. I have to jump out of my car about 20 times and move the car just a few inches at a time before I can get them spot on. I tried those red antenna-looking things, but didn't have much luck using them. Now if I take it down to our Mexico house like I'm thinking of doing, I'll have plenty of help there! Still, I want to be able to do it myself!! I met a lady in the AAA office who was also picking up camping books, and said, "Yep. That's exactly why I got a class B," - my original plan until I fell in love tiny vintage trailers. Sigh.

[Gone Kayaking]

I've gotten pretty good at the hitch piece. For me it was a question of getting a mental picture in my head of what the trailer looked like in my mirrors when I was hitched up and then making a mental match when hitching up. I basically have a picture in my head of where the center of my front window is, and also trying to have the same amount of each side sticking out from the ends. Seems to work out pretty well. I usually only have to jump out and look once or twice to get it right...which is pretty good. I've even aced it a few times.

[cowcharge]

The scoop guy sort of left it up to you to figure out why it works. But it's always better to know why and how than to just follow it by rote and hope it works, so I'll give explaining it a shot, maybe this will help you visualize things when you go to the parking lot... This is so much easier to do than it is to explain, lol. After you practice a bit, you'll be able to park 30 trailers and cook dinner in the time it's taking me to write this. And you'll be smiling secretly to yourself at all the disappointed rubberneckers when it only takes you a single try to park that baby on a dime.

If you really want to show off, set your lawn chair out in the space first, and watch their jaws drop when you stop the trailer with the chair in the perfect spot under the awning where you leave it all week. Or even better, when you're done parking, re-position the chair like an inch and say "damn it!" Don't laugh, you'll be able to do it with practice.

Backing into a perpendicular-to-the-road spot is really just turning the trailer 90 degrees in two moves, one forward and one backward, and having the second move end with the trailer lined up with both your parking spot and the car, leaving only a short straight reverse to finish up at the right depth into the spot. It's a lot like parallel parking a car, in that both require you to know the geometry of how your rig turns in order to nail it first try. Just comes from practice, and paying attention.

It's done in two roughly 45-degree steps, a smooth, gentle, curve to the right while moving forward, to aim the trailer's butt at the middle of the opening (think of it as aiming your shot, the blue curve in the drawing, section 1), and a smooth, constant curve to the left backward into the spot (taking the shot, the red curve). The reason for doing it in two equal halves of the 90 degrees is to save you from having to do any maximum-sharp turns, which usually ends up with the trailer turning too far, starting a jackknife, and requiring you to pull back forward and straighten out to start over.

The sharper the angle between car and trailer, the more off-center the car pushes on the trailer. The more off-center the car pushes on the trailer, the more of that push turns from a force rolling the trailer backward to a force pivoting the trailer on its wheels. If the angle gets too sharp, the trailer stops rolling altogether and just pivots. If you reach that point, you've blown it and must pull forward and start again. A gentle 45-degree turn is much easier to do without over-turning into a jackknife. If you think of just pulling up straight along the road and stopping without turning right first, you can imagine how sharp you'd have to turn to get all 90 degrees into the backing up phase. It's really hard to do it that way, because the angle between the car and trailer have to approach 90 degrees themselves. If you have a toy car and trailer, or cut two pieces of wood roughly the relative scale of your car and trailer and hook them together, you can practice on a table and see for yourself how it works before you go anywhere near a parking lot.

So the objective while still going forward on the blue curve is to get the trailer turned to roughly half way, 45 degrees, and then just before you stop, you straighten out your wheels and drive straight for a few feet, to let the trailer fall back in line behind you and parallel to the car, with the trailer's butt aimed right at the middle of your parking spot where it hits the road edge (position 2 in the drawing). Ending the blue curve with car and trailer lined up again is so that you don't waste half your backing up space trying to reverse the right-angle between car and trailer, that you got from the blue turn, to the left-angle you need to back into the space. That's a sure way to over-correct and get into a jackknife.

The turn to the left at the beginning of the scoop is to get you to the left side of the road, so that when you turn to the right, you have as much room as possible to pull forward, do your right turn, and still have space to straighten out before backing up.

How your particular car/trailer combo best likes to curve and how much backward space it takes to start it turning, the best angle between car and trailer to keep it moving along an arc instead of either straightening out or turning sharper as you move, depends on the length of your car, the length of your trailer, where the wheels on both are placed in relation to the hitch, and the turning circle of your car. Learning all that, not in a book-larnin' sense but in a muscle-memory sense, is what three hours in a parking lot is for It's really worth it to find a toy car and trailer, or whip some up out of wood.

By the way, I'm using "left" and "right" as they apply to the car normally as you sit in it, not backwards as you look at the drawing. The right side of the car is always the curb side of the car, no matter where you look at it from.

So, how to do the basic backing turn. There's only two steering wheel moves needed to do one turn with a trailer while backing up. The first move is to turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction of the way you want the trailer to turn, to point the trailer where you want it to go, and to make the car and trailer into an angle that matches the arc of the turn you want (drawing, position 3). You can see by the arrows that when the wheel is turned to the right, the front of the car moves left, while the car pivots on its real wheels counterclockwise. The car hitch moves to the right and pushes the tongue of the trailer to the right, pivoting the trailer clockwise and aiming the trailer's butt to the left, and starts making an angle between the car and trailer that eventually mimics the arc of the left-hand curve (red) you want to move along.

The second move is to turn the wheel back to the left, past straight ahead and into a left turn, to make the car follow the trailer in its turn and to keep the turn constant. What you want is to get the angle between car and trailer to the left just right, so that all six tires are riding along the intended turn arc, as in the drawing, position 4. If you get both things right, that is getting the proper angle between car and trailer, and getting the front wheels of your car turned to the left just the right amount to maintain the turn neither too much and increasing it, or too little and decreasing it, the car will push the trailer backward along the arc, neither increasing or decreasing the car/trailer angle, and pushing the trailer perfectly along that arc.

The most common mistakes are first, to hold that first "opposite" right-hand turn too long, making the angle between the car and trailer too sharp, and getting into a backing-up jackknife, which makes you have to stop and pull forward to straighten things out again. The second most common mistake is to turn the wheel too far back to the left as you back up, which, depending on how sharp the angle between car and trailer is (whether the wheels are making a smaller or bigger arc than the arc of the curve you want), either also over-tightens the turn into a jackknife, or reverses your previous right turn in its own "opposite" turn, and turns your intended left turn into a right turn. The third mistake is to leave the steering wheel too straight, which does the same thing as leaving it too far to the right, and increases the angle between the two, also ending up in a jackknife to the left, just much more slowly.

As you move backward in your gentle left turn, turning the wheel to the left will make your trailer start to push for the outside of the turn. If you move the wheel to the right, your turn will sharpen. It doesn't take much steering wheel movement at all to adjust the sharpness of your turn as you go back, so be very gentle and move it much less than you think you need to.

So ok, now you've got the car/trailer angle just right so that all your tires are riding parallel to the arc, and you've got the steering wheel turned just the right amount to keep the car/trailer angle from changing, just like in drawing position 4. Eventually, you will near the edge of your parking spot and the point where you need to straighten out for the last bit of getting the right depth into your spot. As you near that spot, you start easing the wheel back to straight, so that as your trailer tires cross the threshold of your parking spot, your wheels are straight and the car and trailer are back in a straight line, position 5. Then you just back up straight and you're done!

The dotted lines going from the car to the trailer are your sight lines as you back up. Being at an angle allows you to look out the window and see the whole side of the camper, giving you some depth perception as to how far back your trailer's butt is getting, and making steering adjustments easier.

So ok, you could have parked fifty trailers and made Thanksgiving dinner in the time it took me to write this, but I was trying to cover everything, and I can never explain anything briefly, it just isn't in me. But I hope this clarified things some and didn't just make them more confusing. I'm tellin' ya, get the toy car and trailer and play with 'em, then hit the parking lot!

Haha, while I was writing this eighteen people added comments.

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[soup]

As instructed in Semi truck school;
1; Get out and look (GOAL) If you are not sure of any clearance, get out and look!
2; Use your side mirrors and steer the trailer.
3; Make small corrections at a time while backing.
4; If you have to pull forward to re correct, pull as far forward as you can, it don't cost any extra but will give extra room.
5: wheel steers opposite direction of what you want the trailer to turn.
6; You are driving the trailer not the tow vehicle!!
7; Always use a spotter (person in back watching while being see in your mirrors) when possible. Have spotter watch overhead too for tree branches, telephone wires etc
8: go extra slow, hear any crunching noises you went too far, Whoa! That's good!! LOL
Also disconnect sway bars before backing

[lopo]

Cpwcharge, our brains must work the same way because your explanation is exactly what I needed!! I am printing them out. This is how I learned to parallel park when I was 16, by formula, and I could whip Dad's '58 Edsel into any spot on our narrow downtown streets - and boy was I proud of that!

You read my mind that I want to put those those rubberneckers in AWE, and be able to back into any nice little tent spot I want! And with this explanation, I will do it!! Off to find a toy truck and trailer in Walmart so when I've got my trailer in my possession, I'm ready!

And by the way, you should seriously consider making a website with these directions on it! If you don't, I will (but I will give credit to you, of course!). I have googled like crazy looking for just such detailed explanation as this!! Yay!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!

[offspringin]

i had a stranger walk up to me once, hand me the keys to their brand newish truck and asked me to back up their pop up......

[lopo]

I'd be tempted to do that if I could count on your being in every campgrounds I go to, offspringin!

Gone Kayaking, thanks for describing how you line up the car and trailer. I frankly never thought of that! Duh.

And Soup, thanks for the reminder that I'm steering the trailer, not the car. Duh again.

[cowcharge]

All of these tips are good Lopo, I just thought some theory would help give a basis. Glad it was a help, it took me way too long to get it right

I've seen little fiberglass sticks people have attached to the center of the hitch, right above where the ball goes, that stick up far enough to see out your back window, that help a lot with lining up. Someone must have made one to sell in RV shops. They sell similar things at boat shops to put on both sides of your boat trailer so that you can see where the trailer is when it's underwater. Bet you could adapt one, or an old broken tent pole, or a stick, to be removable after you hitch up. Put a tennis ball on top, maybe. But you do get a feel for when the ball's under the hitch after you've backed up to the same trailer a few times and get tired of getting out to look, moving another inch, getting out to look, moving another inch...

[lopo]

I totally needed to understand the theory, Howard! I couldn't believe that I couldn't find exactly what you wrote ANYWHERE! Now I can visualize the whole process completely. "Seeing" the arc is just a huge help. Did you see the movie (or read the book) about Dr. Temple Grandin and the work she's done designing feed lots, etc? I'm a very visual thinker like she is. Again, thank you thank you for taking the time to write that all out.

[RanchoNotorious]

Speaking of trailer dollies, anyone else use one? We had to get one because our trailer has to go into the driveway off a narrow alley with the tongue toward the garage so the trailer door's accessible, so it has to be unhitched from the truck first. Just put the dolly together last night. My dad and I were joking that I can just take it on the road with us and if I'm ever having trouble backing into a tight space I can just use the dolly. But it would ruin my street cred if anyone saw me cheating like that.

[harrison429]

not to demean my sex but... lopo i think you (and all the woman) are so brave to do this on your own, its not something our fathers ever taught us when we were young and foolishly willing to try anything! so taking on the challenge afterwards is definitely brave. i'm sure i would IF i HAD to but it isn't necessary. still i believe you and cowcharge with his AWESOME explanation may have inspired me to give it a try sometime soon. good luck and make sure to take a pic of the neighbors jaws dropping as you park your girl right next to the chair you set up first! haha

[Bow_Tied]

Great tips in this thread. I must admit I am lucky to have grown up on a farm and some of this is second nature to me. I have no other good tips other than have good mirrors, to take your time and practice. When backing into a spot that is notably uphill it may throw you off a little first time or two, but again, just some more practice. Oh and parking at night can fool your depth perception, use a spotter if you can, look for your taillight reflections on things.

Longer trailers, to me at least, are easier to back up as they don't react so quickly to changing geometry when you steer. However if you need to pull forward to correct, the longer trailer needs to go farther forward to straighten up.

Should anyone find themselves beat by this there is another option: if you have a truck as a tow vehicle you can get a front mount hitch and then you drive your trailer forward. I recommend a spotter for this one.

Without being a too full of myself, I think I am pretty decent at backing up my rig. But there are still many times where I don't get it right on my first shot. Don't be discouraged, 3 or 4 or even 8 attempts for that matter at a tight spot is WAAAAYYYY better than damage.

One last thing I am sure is obvious to everyone here, but just in case: Don't unlatch the hitch until the trailer is where you want it. I saw last a summer camper change lots to a better one and didn't relatch the hitch - it popped off and rammed the back of the minivan tailgate and smashed out the rear glass. I think this was a case of a borrowed trailer, these folks seemed very green about the whole thing.

[cowcharge]

Front hitches are awesome. And you're right Bow, everyone screws up their approach sometimes. You just have to keep your cool and think it out, new people can easily lose their concentration and end up making it worse and worse 'til they get stuck in a place they can't get out of. Practice makes almost perfect

I hate the sound of a trailer hitch thumping into my bumper.

[soup]

Another quick tip for backing to hitch up and aligning ball to hitch with out the in and out inch moves,
License plate backing camera. I wired mine to look all the time. That way I could watch my hitch along the way!
$99.00 or less everywhere and easy wireless install. Used to be found at walmart too.

[offspringin]

Aug 6, 2012 7:23:24 GMT -5 soup said:

Another quick tip for backing to hitch up and aligning ball to hitch with out the in and out inch moves,
License plate backing camera. I wired mine to look all the time. That way I could watch my hitch along the way!
$99.00 or less everywhere and easy wireless install. Used to be found at walmart too.

sounds like cheating to me......

[Deleted]

That may be cheating, but if it saves you all those dimples in your bumper.....well worth that! I had a Malibu that I put a hitch on to pull my utility trailer for things like trips to the lumber yard. Could hardly read the rear license plate...

I use a little mental trick with backing the pup trailer behind the dump truck and it works with the smaller trailers as well...picture as you back up that the trailer is pulling your car/truck. Then learn to follow it where it wants you to go....It is all mind over matter...if you don't mind who is watching then it does not matter!

[aahicnow]

I have to agree with bow as well . The length of the trailer, especially the tongue can make a huge difference. my sailboat trailer which as you might guess is very long, is easy to backup , as is my utility trailer, both have long tongues with the wheels set further back. Backing up my 61 airflyte however can be very trying with the short tongue.

[offspringin]

just put it in reverse and gas it till you crash it

[Deleted]

"Back up till you hear the glass break..."

[cowcharge]

Just wait 'til you try backing up a 23,000lb trailer with steerable front wheels! Talk about losing track of the geometry...

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