Learning to tow

[MudQueen22]

How did you learn to drive while towing?

I know this seems like a basic question, and you've all probably done it so much that it's nothing.
But I've been thinking about how it's done, and the only thing I have to compare it to would be my minivan that I drive daily, and the trucks I've driven in the past.
I make wide turns when driving a truck.
How do you turn when pulling a trailer? How do you stay in your lane without your trailer ending up in a ditch?

[matfam]

My dad was a long haul driver when I was growing up. He taught me two important lessons that have served me well:
1. Never ever go down the hill in a bigger gear than you came up in. In an automatic tranny, this means moving the lever and selecting the right gear to use the engine to do a bit of the work for the brakes.
2. Never pull into an area that you can't/don't want to back out of. My dad had a crew cab dually diesel with a splitter in the rear end (no idea how). He made me pull a yard trailer up a windy logiging road and back down. The catch.... once I went in reverse there was no forward or I failed. I learned to back a trailer pretty quickly

[falconbrother]

rockhillmanor wrote:
Pick up two orange traffic cones.

Go to an empty parking lot and place the cones at the back of a lined parking spot and practice, practice, practice.

One real important thing I was told when I was a newbie that made ALL the difference is to always approach your site where you are backing in on the drivers side. So you are using your side mirror NOT the passenger side mirror. All that takes is going around and coming in from the other direction. You will be shocked what a difference doing this small thing makes.

And those two orange cones? KEEP them on board. When you go camping place them at the end or your site on either side. You will never need another person to help you back in ever again. You will see where the end of the site is and where to stick your RV between the cones. No yelling waving hands spouse, walkie talkies needed!! :C

Great advice!

[rockhillmanor]

Pick up two orange traffic cones.

Go to an empty parking lot and place the cones at the back of a lined parking spot and practice, practice, practice.

One real important thing I was told when I was a newbie that made ALL the difference is to always approach your site where you are backing in on the drivers side. So you are using your side mirror NOT the passenger side mirror. All that takes is going around and coming in from the other direction. You will be shocked what a difference doing this small thing makes.

And those two orange cones? KEEP them on board. When you go camping place them at the end or your site on either side. You will never need another person to help you back in ever again. You will see where the end of the site is and where to stick your RV between the cones. No yelling waving hands spouse, walkie talkies needed!! :C

[Hannibal]

I learned to tow trailers with several U-Haul rentals when I was younger. Then my dad's 17' boat. We rented a popup trailer one time. Then when we bought our 18.5 Aljo travel trailer and I towed it home. I seemed huge. I quickly warmed up to how wide I needed to take turns and centering the truck in the lane to keep the trailer tires on the road. Start small and practice slow. You'll catch on pretty quickly. Swing wide on turns and then you can get a little sharper as you get the feel of the trailer. Now, towing our 32.5' trailer causes me no apprehension at all. Docking my new boat is my new nerve rattler.

[cbshoestring]

Ron3rd wrote:

bguy wrote:
Late corner entry.

Could you elaborate on this for the rest of us?

Forgive me bguy, I know the question was directed at you.

The entry point of any turn is.. the point at which you begin the turn.

The trailer begins to turn, as soon as the tow vehicle begans it's turn. Since the trailer is BEHIND you, the trailer takes a shorter radius than the TV. Beginning YOUR turn later, allows the trailer to start IT'S turn later.

You do a "late" corner entry...the trailer takes the "proper" entry point suitable for the radius required. Sometimes this requires you to drive PAST the entry point, then come BACK to the EXIT point, in order for the trailer to enter and exit the turn at the correct points.

[cbshoestring]

I drive for a pay check.

One thing I always try to tell myself is: "swing wide...swing once".

On left turns this is not normally an issue...it is the right turns that will get you. That is why you will see a sticker warning of wide right turns on a lot of tractor-trailers. Pay attention to that upcoming turn and use the left hand lane if you can't make the turn from the right hand lane. Just watch that mirror CONSTANTLY, because the impatient driver will ignore your turn signal and drive up your blind spot. Always use the most outer of the turn lanes, when more than one is available.

If you come up short on a turn, you may end up backing in an intersection to avoid hitting a pole. NOT something you want to do. So, TAKE every bit of space available to you,,,swing wide, keep going. Coming up short is BAD, BAD , BAD.

Speaking of backing. Trucking industry has a term....G.O.A.L... Get Out And Look. People will do the stupidest of things...like drive up so close, and directly behind you, that there is no way you will see them behind you.

SLOW DOWN. Let me say that again. SLOW DOWN. You will learn to give a bit of extra space between you and the guy in front of you. Someone is going to take away that space, because they have no clue, or just don't care. Just slow down, back-off....especially with on ramps and off ramps. The careless driver will "jump" into that open space you leave.

Hint for backing: Forget all that worry about "everythink is backwards when backing" talk, that the advice givers will give you. The easiest way to back up a trailer for the NEW GUY/GAL is: Put your hand on the bottom section of the steering wheel. Turn hand in the direction you want trailer to go. Your hand on the bottom of the wheel does the "backwards" thinking for you.

I have to hang half my body out the window to see around the exhaust and sleeper, when backing hard to the left....so I TRY to set up for the BACKING by getting as straight as possible. It is a trick you will learn with experience. There are some videos online you can watch, then go practice as other's have suggested.

Friends ask: How can you pull such a long trailer? I reply: I turn the wheel up front...the trailer follows me.

Relax...have FUN. For the most part, that big box will follow you. Just be patient, slow down, and DRIVE. You will make mistakes, you will get yourself into a bind. Just remember you can always STOP. As in... STOP, before things get bent or broken. If it ain't working, don't just keep going, figure out what WILL work.

[MitchF150]

I remember being around 5-6 years old and peddling around on my tricycle and hooking a hand truck to the back and 'towing' it around... I would go "camping" with it.. Load it up and peddle out in the yard and back into my 'site' and camp..

While cute at the time, I think it helped me learn how something tows behind you..

All during the rest of my youth, I was exposed to driving early on and towing stuff around the property when I was around 14 and just kept going from there..

In my mid 20's I worked construction and towed equipment trailers from site to site, state to state, coast to coast.. These were just you typical 16-26 foot utility trailers towed with whatever vehicle was around at the time.. Sometimes a nice big 1 ton dually, but most of the time 3/4 ton vans or trucks. Once had to use a 1/2 van towing way overloaded, but back in the late 80's, no one really cared about 'tow ratings'..

Anyway, that's my "learning to tow" story... 🙂

I love towing anything and look forward to towing something any chance I get.. 53 years old now.. Learned a lot from my Dad growing up too, so I should plug that in too! 🙂

Good luck!

Mitch

[Ron3rd]

bguy wrote:
Late corner entry.

Could you elaborate on this for the rest of us?

[bguy]

Late corner entry.

[Ron3rd]

MudQueen22 wrote:
How did you learn to drive while towing?

I know this seems like a basic question, and you've all probably done it so much that it's nothing.
But I've been thinking about how it's done, and the only thing I have to compare it to would be my minivan that I drive daily, and the trucks I've driven in the past.
I make wide turns when driving a truck.
How do you turn when pulling a trailer? How do you stay in your lane without your trailer ending up in a ditch?

That's a very good question; and we all started at the same place. For me, I got into the game in 2004 and had never towed a trailer. I was on this forum for about 6 months asking questions before we ever bought our first trailer. I got all the tips, swing wide, etc, and so on, and finally when the day came, I drove to the dealer, picked up our trailer and drove it home. Before I parked it however (we had a pad on the side of the house), I took the the trailer up the street to our local church that was not in session and had a huge parking lot. I practiced backing up for about an hour and then pulled it home and backed it into a slot on the side of our house. All it takes is practice and and I'm still learning after 13 years.

[eichacsj]

jersey_traveler wrote:
Practice.

Swing wide and go slow. Watch your mirrors.

GO to the Walmart parking lot at night and try maneuvering through the islands. That will teach you how much space you need to turn. Just watch out for light posts. Hitting a curb here or there at slow speed probably wont hurt anything. Brushing a light post will!!!

Agree no other way. Find a parking lot and practice. Even back into spaces.

[rbpru]

The advice for keeping an eye on the overhead is right on. Tree limbs and sign posts have no fear of TTs.

Also, it does not matter how good you are, you will from time to time find a spot that is just plain hard to back into.

As already said. it all comes with practice. In some campgrounds you will get lots of practice. 🙂 🙂

[time2roll]

Go slow. Watch what you think are good habits of a big rig driver and follow that. Otherwise same as learning anything else.

[wrenchbender]

Lots of practice , concentration and a touch of good luck.I try to do my homework prior to departure.