The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk howdya back a trailer?

I know this seems a juvenile question- but I need to learn. I have a B model Mack hooked to a 38' 5th wheel travel trailer. The whole rig is about 60'long, equipped with very good west coast style mirrors and convex spotters. There pretty good but as soon as you start backing, you loose their advantage- so what do you use as a reference point- and particularily when you are backing right? BTW, trailer wheels are paired axles and located about midship. Should you be able to back right in, or must you back and go forward, back and go forward.

Cletis, chime in on this one,,,,

carefully, very carefully or have your wife do the backing and you give the directions this time. might even have a chance at extinding your voice.

tony'n weatherford

Microbe:

The best thing to do is get a cople post, plastic barrels or something go to a school or someplace with a big parking lot that's not being used on a weekend and practice. Lots of practice!!!!!

popcorn The Truth is Out There (Practice, once you catch on it's easy)

Always try to avoid backing to the right or blindside backing atleast to the left you can stick your head out the window and look.Don't be afraid to get out of the truck and look it's better than backing into something.You will have to pull up and back alot untill you get experience .lots of practice

OR YOU MAY NEED 40 acres to turn that rig around

I remeber read an artical on this topic once in a fishing mag. The basic tip was this. Don't over steer and the best way to do this is to (if you can ) line up the trailer as straight as possible. Then take the wheel with one hand at 12 o clock. Turn the wheel left or right as needed but (this is the key) don't go past 6 o'clock. Meaning only turn the wheel half a turn. This has helped me Greatly. Good luck!

Absolutely practice! And yes, don't oversteer. I think that is the tendency. You're having to think in reverse of how one would normally steer so your synapses don't fire fast enough and then you end up oversteering to try and compensate.
If you think backin' your rig up is hard, try backing an airplane out of a hangar! I was scared sh!tless the first time I had to do that. There were other planes and huge hangar doors in very close proximity. You have 3 pivot points, the front wheels of the tractor, the towbar hookup and the nosewheel on the aircraft compounding the problem. By the time my brain figured out which way to turn the steering wheel, it was already too late, the nosewheel had turned too much and the plane was cockeyed. After that, any time we had a plane to move, I'd do it for practice. After a bit, I probably coulda done it with my eyes closed.
Find yourself a parking lot, eh. And get to where you don't have to think so hard about it, you just do it as if you'd just run to the store for a six pack and now you're pulling back in your driveway.

David

Here's a slick trick the pros use, and it's helped me out a lot. Use your mirrors for most of your backing, only look back out the window when absolutely necessary. Hold the steering wheel at the 6:00 position, and watch the corners or the trailer in the mirrors. When you want your trailer to move a particular direction, move the steering wheel the same way. For instance: I want the rear of the trailer to move toward the passenger side of the tow vehicle. Move the bottom of the steering wheel (a little!) toward the passenger's side, and watch the trailer move. Once the back end of the trailer is moving the right way, "follow" the trailer with the tow vehicle by counter-steering, making the tow vehicle follow the same path as the trailer. The trick is getting the initial movement in the right direction, and that's where knowing which way to move the bottom of the steering wheel comes in handy.
Jerry

I use the trick Jerry uses about hands on the bottom of the wheel and move it the direction you want. It's important to remember that you only need to start it going the direction you want then center the wheel. If you keep it turned too long you've over steered. That was probably the hardest part to learn for me.
Another trick I use is having June with a walkie-talkie as a spotter .
My favorite trick is finding a park with pull-thru sites.

We need to see a picture of said Mack and the rest of the rig, it sounds cool.

I went to launch a boat one time at a ramp but the trailer had hit a piece of firewood which slipped one side of the axle towards the rear of the frame. The trailer was trying to pass me on the way to the ramp. You can't back up straight because either the trailer or the truck was crooked. Everyone else was splitting a gut by the time I got it in the water. I kept yelling "Honest, the axle is crooked!"

A lot of good sugestions here.I drove these things for years anfd backed them into every imaginable situation.Like someone said go somewhere with a lot of room and practice,practice,practice,and then practice some more.Try to keep the rig as straight as possible.After a lot of practice it will become second nature to you.Like riding a bike.Good luck