Turning Radius -- Can it be calculated/estimated?
If this question should be in towing, I apologize. I don't have a feel yet for what the spirit of forum distribution is here.
My property has a branch off the main driveway that goes to the barns. Pretty tight area back there for turning around because of topography. For farm equipment, I usually just open a gate and turn around in the pasture so I can get the rig facing out the drive. Since my 5th wheel is going to be stored back there, I need to make provisions for turning it around that don't involve an off-road excursion or cow manure on the tires.
I plan to build a loop in the drive which will involve moving fence and adding some gravel. My plan was to just turn the rig around a few times without going 90 degrees to see what a reasonable turn is. Then I'll mark the grass and make a road. I'm planning on a kind of offset teardrop so I can turn slowly at first when I'm near a building, then once the back end of the trailer clears I can turn faster.
But what if I get a bigger trailer or different truck? I don't want to do it all over again. Any thoughts on how adding length from pin box to axle would affect "comfortable" turning radius? Or is there a rule of thumb that would guide me? I don't want to go crazy since the further I extend the loop, the deeper the gravel will need to be to keep the road level from side to side.
My property has a branch off the main driveway that goes to the barns. Pretty tight area back there for turning around because of topography. For farm equipment, I usually just open a gate and turn around in the pasture so I can get the rig facing out the drive. Since my 5th wheel is going to be stored back there, I need to make provisions for turning it around that don't involve an off-road excursion or cow manure on the tires.
I plan to build a loop in the drive which will involve moving fence and adding some gravel. My plan was to just turn the rig around a few times without going 90 degrees to see what a reasonable turn is. Then I'll mark the grass and make a road. I'm planning on a kind of offset teardrop so I can turn slowly at first when I'm near a building, then once the back end of the trailer clears I can turn faster.
But what if I get a bigger trailer or different truck? I don't want to do it all over again. Any thoughts on how adding length from pin box to axle would affect "comfortable" turning radius? Or is there a rule of thumb that would guide me? I don't want to go crazy since the further I extend the loop, the deeper the gravel will need to be to keep the road level from side to side.
