provarmint
Well-Known Member
Pop a small flag on the rear of your trailer, something you can see from the drivers seat.
Is it just me that hates trying to reverse trailers ?
- Thread starter Jamouk
- Start date
udderlyoffroad
Well-Known Member
Would certainly agree with that. Squirrelly as all heck.
What made it 'click' for me - and as someone said, I can watch my three year old reverse his toy tractor instinctively, adults over-think it - is to look in your mirrors, and 'wipe it out'. Imagine your hand is doing a wiping motion, top to bottom, to clean the mirror, to remove the trailer. That way you'll go straight. Want to go round a corner? Wipe more vigorously...
Watched an old boy with a big Merc 4x4 & huge double axle caravan turn right from a right turn refuge on a busy main road. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when he got to the van park & tried to explain where the nearside rear corner of the van was to his Mrs… as he’d turned right it had swung out into the live lane & been wiped out by a passing HGV who, unsurprisingly, didn’t bother to stopIn a similar vein......try watching caravan owners on their first run out of the season - hours of entertainment!
Closely followed by watching them on the NC500 and when two of them come up against each other on a single track road
On the flip side, a pal of mine used to run a plant business and it was a real joy to watch him manoeuvre large and small trailers(loaded and unloaded), excellent skill and put the rest of us to shame...
Skietindiekop
Well-Known Member
Always use the mirrors and turn the steering wheel to whichever side the trailer appears in is the basics for driving in a straight (ish) line
TringSaint
Well-Known Member
Pet hate are short trailers! Bigger ones that you can see easily in your mirrors are not so bad, but shorties? Nah!
devon deer stalker
Well-Known Member
Me, I'm bloody useless, only ever used a small trailer, it's one of the reasons I've never purchased a quad for extractions, reversing a trailer in the Devon lanes, no thanksWhether it's a big trailer or a small on on a quad it's a pain in the ass ! No matter which way you try to turn it's always wrong
Absolutely this ^^^ 100%
Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
I was lucky. My first job on leaving school was on an arable farm as a farm student. The Lord told me that I would have a week to learn the basics of grain trailers. And once I had mastered them i would go on full pay. Head tractor driver was an ex army tank driver and then instructor. I started with a little trailer and 7710 tractor with a crash gearbox. Spent a day learning to reverse that, then a full size grain trailer - and the route into the grain hopper for the dryer did require a hard right turn whilst reversing.
I also had to learn double de clutching as those old trailers had bugger all in the way of brakes, and if you missed a gear change on the way down the hill you would run away. By the end of the week I had basic skills mastered and harvest started. Took me a bit longer to master unloading combine on the move and running the balker trailer alongside the potato harvester. I loved it. But I was soon doing full jobs and always remember my first pay packet after two weeks with lots of overtime. I was paid in five pound notes so twas a good thick wedge in my back pocket.
Most fun towing was at university driving an LDV van with a rowing boat trailer with two full length racing 8s ( think boat race) into central London to the boat houses at Chiswick for head of the river race.
I also had to learn double de clutching as those old trailers had bugger all in the way of brakes, and if you missed a gear change on the way down the hill you would run away. By the end of the week I had basic skills mastered and harvest started. Took me a bit longer to master unloading combine on the move and running the balker trailer alongside the potato harvester. I loved it. But I was soon doing full jobs and always remember my first pay packet after two weeks with lots of overtime. I was paid in five pound notes so twas a good thick wedge in my back pocket.
Most fun towing was at university driving an LDV van with a rowing boat trailer with two full length racing 8s ( think boat race) into central London to the boat houses at Chiswick for head of the river race.
Frank Homes
Well-Known Member
Double axle trailers are fairly easy to reverse because they're not as 'twitchy' as single axled ones.i recall on my quadbike course final assessment,the assessor told me to reverse a single axle trailer between 6 cones to which i said ' no chance'. Slightly taken aback he told me that all i really needed to do was reverse it into a space..."no problem" i said.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Shitty short length drawbars on small trailers will cause grief to anyone. This trailer is an easy one to reverse.
I have to agree it makes me laugh when the jafas ( just another fxxxg Aucklander ) arrive out Christmas, what went wrong yesterday god only knows. When i came back to load up no problems.
JimmySticks
Active Member
Personally it's always just made sense to me, so never really had to try too hard to learn it.
HOWEVER... I definitely find sitting facing forwards (normal driving position) and using the wing mirrors is WAY easier than the old 'twist around to look out the back with your left arm behind the passenger seat headrest' style. Something about looking straight at it (out the back of the vehicle) but with the steering now behind me so my steering inputs are now reversed in relation to my line of vision, and the whole thing is going backwards.... makes it more complicated. Doable, but more difficult!
Just sit normally and steering towards the mirror that the trailer appears in. Take the whole thing slow, light touches/ corrections, and straighten up a few degrees before you think you need to.
Have fun!
Jim
HOWEVER... I definitely find sitting facing forwards (normal driving position) and using the wing mirrors is WAY easier than the old 'twist around to look out the back with your left arm behind the passenger seat headrest' style. Something about looking straight at it (out the back of the vehicle) but with the steering now behind me so my steering inputs are now reversed in relation to my line of vision, and the whole thing is going backwards.... makes it more complicated. Doable, but more difficult!
Just sit normally and steering towards the mirror that the trailer appears in. Take the whole thing slow, light touches/ corrections, and straighten up a few degrees before you think you need to.
Have fun!
Jim
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
I have towed many of combinations in my time so find most things Childs play but I still hate little poxy car trailers 
A quad with a small trailer should be no problem as you have full visibility. A small trailer designed for a quad but towed by a landrover or similar is a different kettle of fish!
The problem with quad bikes is most have limited lock, so a small trailer with a quad can be a pain.
For me the easiest is a tractor as they have great lock.
To really bake your noodle an old thwaites lister dumper and a short trailer is fun…you can’t steer unless you are moving and as the steering wheels are at the wrong end it adds an element of mystery!
Its a perishable skill , use it or loose it thing
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