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[Rob Bernstein]

Got hired to provide sound for a band playing an outdoor party in a residential area north of Boston.
I bought a 5 x 8 trailer a few months ago to haul my gear, got tired of paying U-Haul. Have already broke even on that purchase.
The backing-up with the trailer is a skill I am still working on however.
So I pull up to this house for load-in, and there is a line of Harley's (at least I think most were Harley's) right up against the area I need to back down to unload my gear for the show. Gulp.....
All I could picture was the scene out of PeeWee's Big Adventure where he knocks down one of the bikes and causes a domino effect.
Only dancing in high shoes and singing "Tequila" wouldn't work for me. I was thinking I'd be beaten to a pulp by a horde of angry bikers. Nightly news type stuff.
The solution? I asked one of the bikers (who were actually very nice people) for a suggestion and we found a guy who does landscaping by day and backs up trailers all the time. I gave him my keys and said have at it.
He got my trailer down the driveway without hitting anything, and I was able to unload and set up for the band.
Whew, dodged that bullet.

[Jay Barracato]

Rob

Put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel, then the way you move your hand is the direction the back of the trailer will go in reverse.

Remember to leave room and check clearance on the front of the truck as well because especially with longer trailers the front will have to swing wider than when in reverse with no trailer.

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[Bob Burke]

"Put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel, then the way you move your hand is the direction the back of the trailer will go in reverse."


  Best advice there is. I would add - "Never back into a Harley".

[Joe Jordan]

Rob

Put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel, then the way you move your hand is the direction the back of the trailer will go in reverse.

Thanks for the tip! my trailer backing skills are pretty much non existent. I need all the help I can get!

[Tom Bourke]

Good on you for asking for help.  Having one of there own was a good call.  While I do not do the "hands at the bottom" trick, I can see where that would help some one not use to backing a trailer.

All it really takes is practice.  In my early 20s I spent a summer driving around Wisconsin and the UP with a trailer on my truck.  I was working on a project for family and had to travel between my grandpa's, dad's, and uncle's house.  Each one was several hours apart and none had easy driveways.  After that summer backing a trailer was easy for me.

In really tight areas or with expensive stuff around I will have a spotter.  I will also stop and get out some times to see if I am lined up the way I want to be.  Some times you have to pull away and start over.  One shot backing is icing on the cake, getting it where you need it with out damage is the goal.

[Brian Jojade]

5X8 trailers are pretty easy to back up, although with the shorter tongue, they do change directions more quickly than the uHaul trailers.

Find an open parking lot and practice, practice, practice.  Learn to back using your mirrors, not turning your head around.  After a while, you should be able to get the trailer to follow one of the lines in the parking lot pretty easily.  Then, work on learning to turn the trailer so you can aim it where you want it.  After a bit of practice, the picture you are showing wouldn't even be cause for concern.  There's practically enough room there that the trailer wheel wouldn't have had to hit the grass.

[Rob Spence]

5X8 trailers are pretty easy to back up, although with the shorter tongue, they do change directions more quickly than the uHaul trailers.

Find an open parking lot and practice, practice, practice.  Learn to back using your mirrors, not turning your head around.  After a while, you should be able to get the trailer to follow one of the lines in the parking lot pretty easily.  Then, work on learning to turn the trailer so you can aim it where you want it.  After a bit of practice, the picture you are showing wouldn't even be cause for concern.  There's practically enough room there that the trailer wheel wouldn't have had to hit the grass.

Good advice.

Don't be afraid to get out and take a good look. Many times if needed.
When taking my Class A exam, if you didn't get out, you failed. You got 3 get outs per maneuver.

Spotters are valuable. Just a volunteer to tell you to stop since you cannot see the back of the trailer on the blind side.

Carry a big ass flashlight for the night you need to back in again for load out. Two is better so spotters can light both edges of the drive. I learned this the night I had to back up a 700' curved drive at 2am.



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[Mike Karseboom]

I have years of experience with utility trailers and can still have difficulty.  In some ways the short tongue trailers are harder to keep aligned than a longer, bigger trailer.  That is especially true with a tow rig that has a limited turn radius.


Going through a dip or over a "hump" will radically alter the trailer angle and mess up an otherwise good approach.


What I have found to be the most helpful is:
1) go very slow and correct the angle immediately ... keep the approach very precisely controlled.  It takes less time overall to do it once than to retry.
2) Stop and pull forward to correct the angle rather than try and chase after it.  Chasing after the angle with big adjustments usually just lead a continuing side to side dance where you now also have to worry about your front end.
3) use a spotter if there are blind spots.

[Brad Dillon]

learning how to back up a trailer is something you need to add to your immediate to do list.. it is inevitable your going to be in a situation where you have to back up.. in my experience the longer the trailer the easier it is to backup.. shorter trailers tend to make changes in direction quickly making them more of a challenge.. I used to have a 5x10 trailer now i have a 7x16 i practiced enough to where i could put the 5x10 exactly where i wanted it. The 7x16 is now a piece of cake to manuever.. lol Maybe its just me..

[Tommy Peel]

I'd much rather back a 16ft trailer than a 10ft.... I will say that short trailers with tandem axles are easier to back than short trailers with a single axle. We have a 10 or 12ft livestock trailer(that rarely hauls livestock; usually it has a lawnmower or other stuff in it); it's a tandem axle model and fairly easy to back up.

[ProSoundWeb Community]