How Long Can I go?

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is the use of a weight distribution anti-sway hitch, this may limit the ability to turn at full lock. I have had my centerline hitch brackets on the trailer move when turning tight and I was not at full lock.

It was mentioned that all trailers have the same length tongue and I don't believe that to be true, my brother-in-laws trailer has a foot less between ball and front of house than mine and they are only 1 foot different in overall length. Tongue may actually be the same length, but the house may overhang the v of the tongue there making its effective lenght shorter. As to a trailer never hitting the TV when going forward, I would not take anyones word on that and check your mirrors when turning. Just because someone has never experienced it does not necessarily mean it can't happen. Even if the geometry tells you it can't, why risk it when all you have to do is look in your mirror and be ready to stop if it looks wrong. Best tested in a large open space.

Another thing to consider as mentioned, is the fact that tandem axles will cause skiding\scraping of the tires when turning sharply and this has been a source of axle\undercarriage issues, lippert 3500 lbs axles in particular.

I think the suggestions of driving in to the culdesac and backing up a bit, then forward may be the better solution. You can put the back of the trailer over a curb or driveway and not put your wheels on them, just be aware of where the obstructions are and that you will not swing in to them. When I am planning to do any backing up, I stop and look at it before driving in or I get out and walk it first to make sure.

Good luck!

deltabravo wrote:
Turning radius of the truck is completely irrelevant for the purpose of trying to figure out how sharp you can turn while towing. You simply cannot make a full lock turn while towing a trailer, otherwise you will jackknife it.

:h I can drive around in a circle at full lock with both of my trucks.

E&J push'n wind wrote:

Homecrew wrote:
I just want to thank all of you for your ideas and suggestions. We KNOW we cannot back the trailer into our driveway - we could barely put our 17' trailer in, it is a narrow street.

We are almost 700' from the corner to our house, I suppose that we could back the trailer in, but that sounds intimidating to me...anyone done that ?

Right now it seems the best course of action would be to take the cul-de-sac measurements to a dealer, chalk them out in their parking lot and see if we can make it. I think a real-world test will tell us if we are biting off a longer trailer than we can chew.

Unless of course, if there is anyone in the Charlotte,nc area that would like to take a shot at it :)!

If it is any consolation, a longer TT will have better "backing manners" in that it will take less correction to keep it going in the direction you want it to go. If you have a ground guide it makes the job a little less stressfull. With practice it is completely doable. A little more confidence in yourself is all you need, again it is doable, folks do it all the time and they had to learn as well. Hope this helps, FWIW!

We backed in our TT. It was a little dicey but our driveway was raised so the back end of it could be off the drive. We are also almost at a corner, which made it helpful. For our new MH we had our driveway redone, which is something you might think about if 1. You want your unit close by and 2. you don't want to rely on hrs and cost of storing it elsewhere.

Turning radius of the truck is completely irrelevant for the purpose of trying to figure out how sharp you can turn while towing. You simply cannot make a full lock turn while towing a trailer, otherwise you will jackknife it.

Homecrew wrote:
I just want to thank all of you for your ideas and suggestions. We KNOW we cannot back the trailer into our driveway - we could barely put our 17' trailer in, it is a narrow street.

We are almost 700' from the corner to our house, I suppose that we could back the trailer in, but that sounds intimidating to me...anyone done that ?

Right now it seems the best course of action would be to take the cul-de-sac measurements to a dealer, chalk them out in their parking lot and see if we can make it. I think a real-world test will tell us if we are biting off a longer trailer than we can chew.

Unless of course, if there is anyone in the Charlotte,nc area that would like to take a shot at it :)!

If it is any consolation, a longer TT will have better "backing manners" in that it will take less correction to keep it going in the direction you want it to go. If you have a ground guide it makes the job a little less stressfull. With practice it is completely doable. A little more confidence in yourself is all you need, again it is doable, folks do it all the time and they had to learn as well. Hope this helps, FWIW!

myredracer wrote:
Don't know if this will help you - we have a circular driveway in front of our house. Has an inner radius of 18' and outer radius of 34' on one side and a few feet more on the other side.

With our old F150 standard cab and long box towing a 20' TT, I could could drive around and around all day long easily and hug the inner curb.

We now have an F250, supercab with long box. I believe the wheelbase is 155". Without the TT, just the extra 20" or so of wheelbase makes a HUGE difference going around any street corner. I often have to watch how I set myself up going into a corner if it's on the tighter side.

We now have a 29' TT and when I tow it around our circular driveway, I can just make it around. If I'm not really careful and get tight to the outside curb, I can end up going over the inner curb in one spot.

I can't believe the turning radius really is 50.4' If I can drive our F250 (without TT) around our driveway with an outer radius of 34' and still have lots of room to spare, something doesn't make sense. It must be "curb to curb turning circle".

The length of trailer you can get will bed limited by your payload capacity, not towing capacity. And if you have a crewcab or supercab, that will take away from the payload capacity. You may not have to worry about a long trailer getting around the cul-de-sac.

Based on our own driveway experience, if your cul-de-sac radius is 27.5', the max. trailer I think you'll safely get around the circle is maybe 24'. But it may only be 20'. Don't forget that the outer rear corner of the trailer will overhang the curb a wee bit too and you don't want to take out mailboxes or lamp standards or whack anyone standing on the sidewalk. The placement of the axles relative to the tongue will have an affect too and each trailer is a bit different.

I think the safest way would be to "test drive" from a dealer and find a big empty parking lot and drive around in circles. Or trade your truck in for the shortest wheelbase one you can find then you'll be okay.

The turning radius number is what Ford publishes for our F-150. Yes, the mailboxes that sit right at the curb all the way around the cul-de-sac mean that any overhang is a big deal.

Just bought the truck, so that's the last solution on the list, LOL!

"Test Drive" is a great idea. Thanks.

I just want to thank all of you for your ideas and suggestions. We KNOW we cannot back the trailer into our driveway - we could barely put our 17' trailer in, it is a narrow street.

We are almost 700' from the corner to our house, I suppose that we could back the trailer in, but that sounds intimidating to me...anyone done that ?

Right now it seems the best course of action would be to take the cul-de-sac measurements to a dealer, chalk them out in their parking lot and see if we can make it. I think a real-world test will tell us if we are biting off a longer trailer than we can chew.

Unless of course, if there is anyone in the Charlotte,nc area that would like to take a shot at it :)!

Most likely a dumb question, but here goes....if there is a long length of trailer behind the wheels, isn't it possible that even turning tight could let the rear of the trailer take out a mailbox???

Also on a Cove and our 23' HTT was a snap to turn around, while the new 26' TT, not all that much longer, is tougher....happy to have our neighbor across from us with a driveway that almost lines up with our driveway, so we just pull into his and then back up. As I see it, the OP is not only asking about the turning part, but how to get straight enough to back into his own driveway.

campigloo wrote:
I know this may sound dumb and I will probably get a bunch of where did this yahoo come from replies, but here goes. Way back when, my father had a 21' TT and had a wheel on the tongue jack. He hooked it up to his riding lawnmower and moved it up and down the driveway at will. You have level ground? May be worth considering.

A RV dealer in middle Tennessee uses a shaft driven lawn mower to move 30 plus ft tt's around his lot. If I had not seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it.

As to the op's question. I think that the axle placement on the trailer may have more to do with this than the trailer length. Case in point. Coming out of my gravel driveway and turning hard left I would be able to pull my 31 ft TT onto the road without hitting the ditch in my yard. The first time I did this maneuver with my father in laws 24ft trailer the back tire on the drivers side of the trailer barely kissed the ditch.

I got to investigating this issue and found that the axles on the smaller trailer are nearly two feet further back in relation to my trucks axle than the 31 ft TT. Weird situation but it is something to consider.

Thanks

Jeremiah

I couldn't help laughing when I saw this thread's title shortly after reading an article stating that mammals urinate for 21 seconds...

:S