Help with Backing Up

^^^ The issue is not learning how to back up. The OP wants to know how to make his wife a better spotter.

How good are you at just backing the vehicle only?

Most people are not all that good at this task alone and adding a trailer to the mix can make things even worse.

Practice, nothing substitutes for practice.

I own three F250 trucks, found that with those trucks parking in the small spaces allotted now days is nearly impossible to do by pulling in front ways..

Backing my truck into parking spots is a heck of a lot easier.

So, I back into parking spots, my DW backs into parking spots and my DD with a newly minted license has learned to back into tight parking spots.

We even back our vehicles down a 150ft driveway into our garage, driving down forward would require many small back and forth turns to get turned around so backing down our driveway is much easier.. Plus with the vehicles fronts facing towards the garage door it is great to get a good run out the garage on icy winter days..

Best thing to do is make backing up with your vehicle a normal thing, back into parking spots when ever you can.

Then once you have that mastered, take your vehicle and trailer to a empty parking lot (place like Sams club that closes early) and start backing up into the empty parking spaces with your trailer attached.

The only way to learn is to do it..

Once you are able to learn how to sight it out on marked pavement and you learn how your steering actions affect the turn while backing it will be a bit more natural and you won't have to depend on a spouse or other folks to "help"..

Once you have mastered the art of backing a vehicle into tight parking spots adding a trailer to the mix becomes childs play.

It is all about learning to look around, use mirrors and learn how the vehicle reacts to your steering.

I have no problems backing up solo, but my DW does get out and "help", I just smile and go with the flow and it makes her feel needed :)

Rice wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:
You may find it easier to have your wife drive while you give her instructions of which way to turn the wheel and when to do it.

Why don't more people do that? It seems pretty obvious to me.

DW has no patience and blows her top when I tell her - turn right, left, right. She screams: Why don't you make up your mind which way to turn can't you see where I'm going?

We assign sides. So the side I can't see she takes. Then I get out and tell her when the wheels hit this point, tell me to turn. If I'm going to hit something stop me.

It really isn't that big of a deal but takes practice and patience.

camp-n-family wrote:
You may find it easier to have your wife drive while you give her instructions of which way to turn the wheel and when to do it.

Why don't more people do that? It seems pretty obvious to me.

It's difficult for someone to help that doesn't understand what needs to happen. Does your wife tow the trailer? Has she backed it up? If they don't know when the turns need to start/stop etc they will be of little help.

You may find it easier to have your wife drive while you give her instructions of which way to turn the wheel and when to do it.

Me being a former truck driver, my wife knows that her job is to stop me before I hit something I can't see, especially branches near the roof. I take care of the rest.
In my opinion, you just need more practice to get more comfortable backing up. I think you should have your wife try backing up. She might surprise you and have a knack for it. We have some friends that he has trouble backing up, but she is very good. He still thinks he has to do it. LOL.

Veebyes wrote:
Wife with radio. She is a ham so no problem there. She also knows to stay in view of mirrors. She talks. I listen & do what I am told. No need to answer her. Like to think that we make a pretty good team. Occasionally we select a site that she says can't be done. I think we can. Then the argument starts. Most of the time if I think we can, we can.

Part of the CG 'entertainment' is watching some poor guy struggle to get into a site while she sits there holding the poofy dog & does nothing to help.

Same for us, wife with hand held radio and always in sight of mirrors. I just keep my mouth shut and back up when told. Before we had the radios, shouting instructions always got us both pissed off. My wife used to think I was yelling at her. Go figure. Hand held walkie talkies really changed things for the better.

Veebyes wrote:
Wife with radio. She is a ham so no problem there.

So I guess that makes you the eggs, huh? :W

Veebyes wrote:
She talks. I listen & do what I am told.

'Nuff said. :p

x2 on just leaving DW out of the equation. In my case, no DW so I have no choice.

FWIW, I always scout out the site thoroughly before I even try to back in, then figure out where the side that I can SEE needs to be. If it's tight, then I set out a couple cinder blocks that I use for the stab jacks to create a point of reference and then back up, lining up with them. Since I already scouted the site, I don't need to worry about what's happening on the side I can't see; only need to be straight and lined up with my markers. Managed to get into some pretty tight sites this way.

DW, camphost, neighbor, doesn't matter. Most times it's just smoother to do it alone.