Hi all,I have a fairly steep (~=20%, but 25% in one place) dirt road, and I want to "back" a 30' 6000lb travel trailer down it. It is relatively straight and 12' wide - but there are a couple of points where some slight maneuvering is required. length is about 600'. My tow vehicle is a 2001 F350 4x4 diesel (SRW).I did a practice run with just the truck - and there is a point where the road transitions to the sloping dirt road, that I can see very little behind. I was considering getting backup cameras to attach to the trailer to make sure I get it headed in the right direction. Once I get past the transition I think backing will be relatively easy, but getting started exactly right will be tough.Then a thought came to me - why not get a front-mounted receiver, and "push" the trailer down the hill. Sure would make the maneuvering part a lot easier. The front hitches are rated at 5000 lb weight carrying, but 9000lb "straight line pull" - which is essentially what I would be doing - just driving forward and letting the trailer roll back down the hill. Coming back up the hill, I would of course tow in the normal direction with the rear receiver.So, any comments? Crazy talk, or best solution? Actually I think the hardest bit would be unhitching from the rear and re-hitching at the front, at the transition point to the dirt road.Thanks, Chris.

And since you don't mention it there's no way to turn the rig around at the end of the road I suppose?

I may be a little dense here, but I would think hitching on the front of your truck and backing in the camper would be more difficult. How do you see around the camper? At least attached to the rear of your truck you can use your mirrors to navigate and see what's going on behind. You'd be pushing the trailer backwards, with truck facing forward.... pretty hard to see where the end of the trailer is going, wouldn't you think? I'm assuming you want the trailer "backed" down this road so the tongue is facing the road. It can be done, but I wouldn't want to do it that way. Make sure, however, if you do it, you have a good spotter at the back end of the camper, truck facing either direction!

Hi all, Thanks for the replies. Correct, no way to turn the trailer around at the end. Well, *maybe* a way, but it is pretty tricky - I did it with a 23' cargo trailer (empty), and the front end dragged a bit pulling a tight uphill turn. I don't want to get down there forwards and find out that I can't get out again! :)Point taken about visibility with the truck facing the trailer tongue. Hmm, maybe I could flip my towing mirrors around? I agree, the visibility is poorer, but maneuverability should be better. The problem with reversing is the wheelbase of the truck is long, and with only 12' of width, that doesn't leave much room for adjusting the direction of the trailer.Oh, and one other thing I thought of - I would need a 7-pin extension cord, so I could still plug the trailer in and use the electric brakes.Anyway, keep the feedback coming - still open to being talked out of my crazy scheme :)Cheers, Chris.

I think the camera (s) would be a better option. Get a monitor that clips on over your rear view mirror and accepts input from multiple cameras. Mount a camera on each of the back corners on the trailer and switch between camera views, with the remote control.Look at the hundreds of listings on ebay. Some of the cameras send a signal with built in distance indicators. When you're looking at something on the screen, you can also see how far it is. Most of them are measured in meters, but, it doesn't take long to get used to that.There are also listings for video / power cables, up to 100 ft long.I use one for hitching up my travel trailer. I can look at the monitor and back the hitch ball under the trailer coupler, on the first shot. No running back and forth from the cab, to see the coupler, No having to tell a spotter, "your other left", etc.I also have one mounted (wired it to be on all the time) on the back of the trailer, for watching traffic and backing up.This option would probably be cheaper than a front receiver.

Any way to mount a temporary receiver on the back of the travel trailer and pull it backwards and then rehitch to the front once you are close to where you want the trailer to be for the final maneuvering?

Front receiver hitch for 30' trailer and steep dirt road

15 Replies

ktmrfs
Explorer II
May 25, 2015
ctann wrote:
Hi all,

I have a fairly steep (~=20%, but 25% in one place) dirt road, and I want to "back" a 30' 6000lb travel trailer down it. It is relatively straight and 12' wide - but there are a couple of points where some slight maneuvering is required. length is about 600'. My tow vehicle is a 2001 F350 4x4 diesel (SRW).

I did a practice run with just the truck - and there is a point where the road transitions to the sloping dirt road, that I can see very little behind. I was considering getting backup cameras to attach to the trailer to make sure I get it headed in the right direction. Once I get past the transition I think backing will be relatively easy, but getting started exactly right will be tough.

Then a thought came to me - why not get a front-mounted receiver, and "push" the trailer down the hill. Sure would make the maneuvering part a lot easier. The front hitches are rated at 5000 lb weight carrying, but 9000lb "straight line pull" - which is essentially what I would be doing - just driving forward and letting the trailer roll back down the hill. Coming back up the hill, I would of course tow in the normal direction with the rear receiver.

So, any comments? Crazy talk, or best solution? Actually I think the hardest bit would be unhitching from the rear and re-hitching at the front, at the transition point to the dirt road.

Thanks,
Chris.

when i went looking for a front mount reciever to handle my motorcyle, I couldn't find one rated for more than 500lbs tongue weight. so kinda out of the solutions for a 35' trailer. seriously, you can't even find a rear reciever rated at 5000 lbls weight carrying, maybe 1800-2000 lbs if it is a class V. in most cases even 1000 additional lbs on the fornt axle of a tv would overload the front axle.
ctann
Explorer
May 25, 2015
A quick wrap-up to this thread. After much thought, I finally decided to go with the advice of using the excavator to turn the trailer around. I bought a bolt-on receiver tube (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004KSHXVC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1). By a stroke of luck, the bucket had two holes drilled at just the right separation. Four would have been nicer, but I used some grade 8 hardware and bolted on the receiver tube using the top two holes. This mean that the hitch was sticking out at 90 degrees to the excavator, but by swinging the body and cab, I could make that 45 degrees, and figured that would work.

On tow day, I headed straight down the hill. I was really glad I decided not to reverse down, I think that would have been a long slow process, but straight down was all of two minutes work.

Unhitched from the truck and got that out of the way, then hooked up to the excavator. It took some getting used to just how maneuverable the trailer was like that. After a couple of tries to find the right angle, I got the trailer turning nicely, and at the closest point still had a good 12 inches of clearance - tight, but good enough. Took it nice and slow, and with about half an hour of maneuvering, had the new trailer perfectly positioned!

Thanks all for the advice, the help I got here turned what could have been a long hard day, into a breeze! :)

Cheers,
Chris.
IPegasus
Explorer
Mar 30, 2015
I have a loader tractor that I mounted a receiver hitch to the front end. I use it to maneuver my trailer inside of my storage building. A friend of mine uses a skid steer with a ball mounted in the bucket to do the same. If you could come up with a way to mount a ball mount to the bucket of your excavator that would be the way to go.
gijoecam
Explorer
Mar 25, 2015
RCMAN46 wrote:
There is one issue that needs some thought.

If you push the trailer down a 25% grade with a front hitch the trailer will have no brakes. On dirt or loose gravel you may have problems stopping the trailer and TV.

Easy enough to rig up a cord to go from the bumper to the front of the truck... Easy-peasy!

I'd either back it down, or figure out a way to turn it around down there...
RCMAN46
Explorer
Mar 25, 2015
There is one issue that needs some thought.

If you push the trailer down a 25% grade with a front hitch the trailer will have no brakes. On dirt or loose gravel you may have problems stopping the trailer and TV.
ctann
Explorer
Mar 25, 2015
@gijoecam, I have been thinking again about the possibility of turning the trailer around. The site is 80 feet long and ~=32' wide - with a bank on one side, and drop-off on the other. I could conceivably hang the tail out over the drop off to get the trailer jack-knifed - unhitch, and use another vehicle to turn it all the way around. I have an excavator, I was wondering If I could come up with a tow-ball attachment for that (I have seen people parking trailers with forklifts, and it looks super-maneuverable).

But in the end I think I am convinced that backwards is the way to go - 4x4, low range, a set of cameras, and nice and slow. I think I need to get out to a parking lot and do a bunch of reversing practice first, I'm a little rusty.

Thanks for all the advice, I'll post again with the (hopefully good) final results!

Cheers,
Chris.
gijoecam
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
Backing down is likely the best way IMHO. Have a spotter walk you down and all should be well. After the first couple times, it'll be easy-peasy.

Using a front receiver may provide a measure of control and maneuverability, but will also require 4WD to be advantageous. If you get yourself into a pickle while pointing downhill, you may not be able to back up the hill in 2WD. Additionally it would give you the ability to use low range to maintain your speed as the trailer is dragging you down the hill.

Here's what I would ask: Is it possible to jack-knife the trailer perpendicular to the road and still drive around it? If so, then there's your answer. Drive it straight down the hill, and when you get to the dead-end, jack-knife the trailer until it's perpendicular to the road. Un-hitch, drive the TV around to the other side of the tongue, re-hitch, and drive out.
wing_zealot
Explorer
Mar 23, 2015
For myself, I would think being able to use my mirrors would be a big plus. No way you can turn the mirrors around and still use them, they are to far forward to be useful. 600-feet is not that far, with practice I'll think you'll find that it is really not that tough. "Relatively straight with some slight maneuvering"; no problem - a bunch of hairpin turns, different story.
ctann
Explorer
Mar 23, 2015
@RobWNY, that is an interesting idea! I'll do a little web research. I imagine that would take some fabrication, but would actually be a really useful thing for me for a couple of reasons.

EDIT- OK, lots of reasons I don't think it will work, but nice idea :)

Regards,
Chris.
BurbMan
Explorer II
Mar 23, 2015
FYI most front receivers are rated at 500 lbs carrying, remember that whatever tongue weight you have is on the front suspension...but your TT is relatively light and with your rig it should be OK. "Straight line pull" refers to winching, where there is no tongue weight being applied at all.

I would say your idea could be do-able if you can solve the visibility issue. A camera on the TT would work great, but then again, if you add the camera you can just back down the hill and not need the hitch and wiring on the front.