Just brought home the new Wildwood 28' TT yesterday! I knew getting into the driveway would be tight and sure enough, despite turning as wide as I could, the trailer's tires cut the corner thru the grass leaving ruts. The driveway is long but narrow (10' wide) and is perpendicular to the street. The street is a typical neighborhood street, probably about 25' wide. Not helping the problem, my truck is the long bed crew cab Ram, over 20' in length. Obviously one option is to widen the driveway near the street or put down pavers, but I'm wondering if in a situation like this, if backing might work? I'm new to pulling something this big, so there was no way I was going to try backing in without practicing in an open parking lot first. I'm just wondering if the geometry is such that, when I get good enough at backing, that doing so will allow me to get into a narrow drive when pulling in won't (at least not without leaving the pavement). I will say, with this truck as long as it is, if parking in a tight parking lot with little room to maneuver and parking between two occupied spaces, I find it much easier to back into the space. If you try to pull in, there is just no way to get the back end over. I have no idea if the same principal would apply when towing or not. I will probably try making chalk outlines with the exact dimensions in an empty parking lot to try it. But in the mean time, any advice would be great!

I have a similar issue. There's a drainage ditch that runs in front of my house and the driveway is only about 12 feet wide. I back in and drive out. It's better than driving in and finding out you can't back out.

In a perfect world, you will dodge and hit the exact same locations if you are pulling the trailer forward or pushing it backward. Your truck still has the same turning radius going either direction, and your trailer is still the same length. The difference is that while backing up, you can jackknife the trailer and push a short distance before you need to pull forward to straighten out the truck and continue your backing up. If you can back it in, you can pull it out. And if you can pull it in, it can be backed out. I feel that it is easier to pull in to a tight spot, but you still gotta get out of there. An option is to use a front mounted receiver hitch on the truck. This increases the maneuverability of the truck/trailer combo because you can now swing the tongue of the trailer faster by steering the truck.Before I was able to widen my gate I HAD to use my front hitch to get my trailer in to the side yard. I'm at the end of a cul-de-sac so my lot is pie shaped, and I have a fire hydrant in the corner of my driveway. I must dodge the hydrant, then back at an angle to miss the overhang of my garage, then pivot back to keep the trailer from hitting the gate. I couldn't do it with an ex cab short bed truck from the rear. Now I can pull my trailer in/out using the rear hitch of my crew/long truck. It just goes to show the added maneuverability.

I have a very narrow & steep driveway and found it much easier to back into the driveway and drive out. My first attempt to do it the other way turned into a disaster. There's much more room to maneuver the truck to make the turn in the street that there is in the driveway while backing into the street.

RV circus is right, I think. Backing won't be any easier than going in frontwards, but coming out frontwards is definitely preferable to backing out - especially with others living on your street. Our last house had a narrow driveway, basically 9-10' wide, at a 90-degree angle from our small street; the street had deep ditches on both sides of it too, making things a little more complicated. Our TT at the time was 34' long. I have a good "backing coach" (DH) and, not worrying too much about a few ruts, as long as we missed the ditches, we were able to get the trailer in. We'd block the street off for a while until the job was accomplished, but so be it. Neighbors were mostly understanding. :) I'm sure your long-bed truck doesn't help matters. I think I'd opt for the pavers, or even getting the end of the driveway paved a bit wider. Good luck!

In truth. It will be easier to back it in than pull it in. You will need less room. Just line up the rear of the TT with the drive as close as possible. In other words. Come down the road on the same side of the drive, and as the TT passes it pull to the other side of the road. That will angle the TT toward the hole, and make hitting it easier. Getting the TT lined up with the hole is over half the battle. then all you have to do is follow it in.This from experience, as I have to back out of the road, thru the drive, and between a tree, and a flower garden. They are less than 10' apart. Then I have to turn, and go down the side of the house, turn again and go thru a fence gate, and while going thru the gate, turn and go under the TT shed which sits long ways beside the fence.Not that hard to do going backwards. But would NEVER happen going forward.

Narrow driveway, pull in or back in? | Good Sam Community

BossCamper
Explorer
Mar 01, 2015
RDMueller wrote:
Definitely going to try the scoop! The camper is at the storage lot now, but next time I bring it over to the house, I'll give that a try. My guess is that with good technique, it'll go right in, staying on pavement at all times. No need for widening the driveway, pavers, etc. I'll update this thread after I give it a try.

Yeah ... in the video, he does the scoop, and keeps going with the Tow Vehicle. I've found that I get better results if after doing the scoop, I turn back again towards the side I want to back into. That actually turns the rear of the trailer more into the end of the driveway. You'll see what I mean when you try it. Just have to follow the trailer in after that.
With a bit of practice, (getting the rear of the trailer where you want it) you'll get in there easily.
RDMueller
Explorer
Mar 01, 2015
Definitely going to try the scoop! The camper is at the storage lot now, but next time I bring it over to the house, I'll give that a try. My guess is that with good technique, it'll go right in, staying on pavement at all times. No need for widening the driveway, pavers, etc. I'll update this thread after I give it a try.
BossCamper
Explorer
Feb 28, 2015
RDMueller wrote:
Just brought home the new Wildwood 28' TT yesterday! I knew getting into the driveway would be tight and sure enough, despite turning as wide as I could, the trailer's tires cut the corner thru the grass leaving ruts. The driveway is long but narrow (10' wide) and is perpendicular to the street. The street is a typical neighborhood street, probably about 25' wide. Not helping the problem, my truck is the long bed crew cab Ram, over 20' in length.

Obviously one option is to widen the driveway near the street or put down pavers, but I'm wondering if in a situation like this, if backing might work? I'm new to pulling something this big, so there was no way I was going to try backing in without practicing in an open parking lot first. I'm just wondering if the geometry is such that, when I get good enough at backing, that doing so will allow me to get into a narrow drive when pulling in won't (at least not without leaving the pavement).

I will say, with this truck as long as it is, if parking in a tight parking lot with little room to maneuver and parking between two occupied spaces, I find it much easier to back into the space. If you try to pull in, there is just no way to get the back end over. I have no idea if the same principal would apply when towing or not.

I will probably try making chalk outlines with the exact dimensions in an empty parking lot to try it. But in the mean time, any advice would be great!

This is a bit exaggerated, but I think you'll get the idea (if you don't already know about this little move) called The Scoop
fil564
Explorer
Feb 27, 2015
I back in mine, there is a parking space directly across from my driveway that I will park my wife's car there to hold the space when I bring the trailer home and move it when we arrive. My driveway slopes down and I have a small paver walkway at the edge of the driveway by the street that I back across along with the grass. I started doing it this way because my neighbor had a tree that overhung my driveway at the top. He cut it down but I have stuck with this method because I now it works and where i have to put the tires to make it happen. If it is wet the pavers move and I put ruts in the grass, but it is nothing that can't be dealt with.
Doug33
Explorer
Feb 26, 2015
With my previous TT, I tried to back in next to my house, and sideswiped a pine tree at the property line. It caused some minor damage to my TT siding. Since then, the tree was REMOVED! No more problems. ;)
time2roll
Nomad
Feb 26, 2015
Better find another place to store the trailer :R
Mark_and_Linda
Explorer
Feb 26, 2015
I have about the same situation with mine, a somewhat narrow street. I have a drainage ditch at the front of my drive with concrete culverts on both sides. It wasn't bad when we had the PUP but then went to the Puma. My wife was out filming when I first brought the trailer home, I fooled her. I do it myself now all the time, watching the left tires as they barely make the cut, I straighten up and then put her straight back. I have took marking paint and marked an L where to put the front corner of the trailer.
Atlee
Explorer II
Feb 26, 2015
At my house, I could never pull in. If I did, I'd lose use of my truck because I couldn't get it out after dropping the trailer.

I have very little maneuvering room when making a 90 degree from the street. I can do it, but it's hard. And for me, it gets harder when I have a couple of cars on the street waiting for me to clear the street.

I am lucky right now though. My neighbor's driveway across the street nearly lines up with my drive perfectly. He is very good about letting me pull into his driveway. I can almost get the truck and trailer in a straight line, before I back into my drive. It doesn't take a lot of maneuvering of the truck to get the trailer moving straight into my drive.

He's also good about moving his vehicles in his driveway to give me room to pull in.
fireman41
Explorer
Feb 26, 2015
If you back out of your drive way your truck is going to be in the yard when making your trun.

With my house if I tried to back my camper out of the drive I'm pretty sure that the over hang would catch my mail box on the way out. But when I back in the front of my truck misses my mail box by inches.

Also the street I live on two cars will not fit side by side unless someone pulls off to the side and stops.
Big_Love
Explorer
Feb 26, 2015
Is your across the street neighbor's driveway available? That would allow you to make a wide turn, pull into their driveway, giving you more room to make the turn backing up into your driveway. I do this at campsites when possible - pull into the campsite across from me (if vacant) and then it is much easier to back into my campsite! As pointed out earlier, always try to back in turning towards the driver's side for better visibility.