Maximum Jack Knife Angle

Vulcaneer wrote:

Dayle1 wrote:
A 180 degree U-turn at full lock will cause cab to fiver contact, but few situations ever require full lock for the entire maneuver.

Dayle is correct. And not too many think of, or know that. A tight 180 U-Turn will cause 90 Degrees or more....

I can do a full 360 with the wheel at max turn without contact of truck to camper.

Mine lashup does not achieve 90° while towing forward.

I would like to see a video showing what you propose.

Dayle1 wrote:
A 180 degree U-turn at full lock will cause cab to fiver contact, but few situations ever require full lock for the entire maneuver.

Dayle is correct. And not too many think of, or know that. A tight 180 U-Turn will cause 90 Degrees or more. It is even a bit more of a problem if the U-Turn is "off camber" at any point during the turn.

And we think that will never happen. But it can happen more often than we think. As in, when we need to pull out of a campsite in the wrong direction (due to trees or some other obstacle) and we need to pull a U-turn to go in the right direction. There are campgrounds like that. One that I remember is in Asheville, NC. And it is off camber, to boot. And you can't always just back out, either.

So as long as you know that you can try to avoid those situations.

And for those that say you should never get to 90 degrees because of suspension stress. I agree that you should not on a dry paved surface. Not so much of a concern if on sand, gravel, or soft ground.

For those that need to do that to back into their driveway, it is better if you can spread kitty litter, or sand, or even spray with water, where your tires are turning. This help to de-stress your suspension.

Duplicate

I would like to see a video of someone jack knifing their rig past 90°.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
I'm gone past 90* parking & turning around.....many a time

I would never do this. Just think of the stress that is put on your suspension. There are other ways to get your desired result.

In mounting a kayak to a rack, does the 3.75" shift really make a difference?

I'm gone past 90* parking & turning around.....many a time

I hit 90 degrees backing into my driveway everytime as well.

I have the same trailer as you, with the Revolution hitch and short bed truck. I spent two months on the road and after about the first two nights, I took off the wedge and used the hitch the conventional way, because of hitching and unhitching issues. I don't think I ever went past 45 deg, but a couple of times, I wished I had more.

Some of us used short bed trucks for towing a fiver before the advent of slider hitches and with just an extended pin box the maximum angle was therefore limited to around 63 degrees. For me, this worked fine for 14 years. Then I added a slider for another 11 years that I never used. Recently I found the old fixed legs and reinstalled them.

With a steering wheel cut of 35-37 degrees, a 90 degree turn at full lock will result in a fiver to cab angle of around 45 degrees. A 180 degree U-turn at full lock will cause cab to fiver contact, but few situations ever require full lock for the entire maneuver. Same is true when backing up, a little extra jockeying back and forth will change a tight situation into a more manageable one.

So, you should be able to live with something in the range of 67 degrees if you are careful.