trouble lining up your hitch?

A neighbor has a fairly large power-boat on a trailer and tows with a crew-cab F350 dually. His alignment aid is a post on.the centerline of the trailer's hitch with a fairly large flat mirror mounted at 45 degrees to the horizontal The height of the post is set so he can see it hi rear-view mirror.

He just backs up until the truck's hitch appears in the mirror and adjusts position to line up. I've watched him do it in less than 20 seconds. For some reason, when he replaced that trailer, he didn't transfer the mirror pole to the new one.

Bumpyroad wrote:

portscanner wrote:
Magnetic hitching rods

$27.29

Works with any trailer or tongue weight. Works with or without weight distribution hitches. Can be easily transferred between vehicles.

Harbor freight has them for about 1/2 that price
bumpy

I am sure i bought a set of those that could be collapsed like the old time radio antennas from HF for $9 and thought I got hosed in the process. :h they work great for my utility trailer.

portscanner wrote:
Magnetic hitching rods

$27.29

Works with any trailer or tongue weight. Works with or without weight distribution hitches. Can be easily transferred between vehicles.

Harbor freight has them for about 1/2 that price
bumpy

Lynnmor wrote:
You can buy a backup camera for a lot less than $349.

Terryallan wrote:
And install it quicker than you can use that contraption. Mine works great, and is useful in normal day to day driving. A well spent $129.00

No need to even install my Swift Hitch SH02 (5 pics) wireless camera system as both the camera / transmitter and the monitor are each self powered ... simply turn on and use. :B

This is how I learned how.
Stick it on the ball and backup till you knock it over.

Magnetic nail retriever

Magnetic hitching rods

$27.29

Works with any trailer or tongue weight. Works with or without weight distribution hitches. Can be easily transferred between vehicles.

timmac wrote:
I installed this on my trailer and I can crank my trailer to my hitch without any issues or backup camera.

Trailer Valet
https://youtu.be/uqVDxOMrgak

my tongue jack/roller works fine on my boat on concrete. anything heavier or on gravel, forget it.
bumpy

After nearly 40 years of hooking up the trailer together, it is pretty rare for us to have to make more than one pass at it. I back up the pickup and he gives the directions. We tried it the other way, and found that it's easier for him to be the one giving the directions.

Cool.

This is what I use.

This is cheap and there is not the compromise of the longer overhang ratio amd greater complexity as there is with levers etc..

It cannot not adjust for back and forth distance, only sideways, so not as flexible. With my setup (not a typical one) I don't need to worry about back and forth as it just slides in till it don't slide no more. Most setups would still require some effort to get the distance and so it's only half a solution in that sense.

Chris Bryant wrote:
I don't think much of that hitch (clever, though), but that's an interesting website- with things like this

Not to hijack this one but tell us more about your setup or link to earlier post with info.