Narrow driveway, pull in or back in?
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 gr...
Forum Discussion
mdamerell wrote:boogie_4wheel wrote:
If you can back it in, you can pull it out. And if you can pull it in, it can be backed out.
This is not true in all cases, just ask a semi-truck driver. It's often considered a rookie mistake. If it's tight, it's better to back in. If you are at a truck stop it's why the rigs are normally backed in. Unless the driver can back straight out they, will often get stuck nosing into a space.
The average parking space leaves no room to manuever the cab (pickup), so the trailer comes straight back, because that is all it can do.
The average traffic lane has room to swing the tractor (pickup) left/right while the trailer goes straight into that tiny spot.
Granted a semi trailer is longer but as a rule, any hole you can back into you can pull out of, but not every hole you pull into can be backed out of. A "hole" in driver talk is a parking space, dock, alley, etc.
In essence, the trailer becomes a rear wheel steer vehicle when backing. This allows you to postion the trailer centered to the spot entering, and manuever the trailing (cab/Pick) to follow. Kinda like one of those rear-steering fire truck.
When going forward, the trailing part can do nothing put follow. Much harder to judge, and no room to adjust with out backing up and trying again. The longer the trailer, the more time you have to react (I find it easier to back in 53' over a 28' pup), but the "5th wheel" steering principles remain the same whether it is a 28' TT or a 53" semi.
If you can back, I'd try backing into your driveway. If your neighbor's driveway is directly across from yours you may ask if you can pull up in their driveway and then you have a straighter shot at backing into yours.
[COLOR=]Straight back is always good. When you can't, the preferred side is the driver side (you can see that side by hanging your head out the window) the passenger side (blind side) takes lots, and lots of practice to "judge" where it is going---cause you can not see it).
Use a spotter, and slow down. I laugh at people who try to back in at 50mph. More often then not, they pull forward a bunch of times. Slow down, give yourself time to react.
