Gonna Get In Trouble But....

[crokett]

I just have to laugh! Not only can I back up a a trailer I can back up a straight trailer.

I am truly impressed. I tried this last summer on a farm trailer my dad borrowed and I did it but it took a while and t'weren't pretty.

[Black wallnut]

I just have to laugh! Not only can I back up a a trailer I can back up a straight trailer. A straight trailer is one with wheels on both ends, the front ones turn to steer and the rear ones are fixed. One thing I've learned in my years pulling trailers; the shorter the trailer the harder it is to back up.

[sparkeyjames]

I remember when I was a kid how terrible my mother was at backing up a car without a trailer. Several times I saw the tree in the front yard come close by the passenger window. Sometimes close enough to see the bugs crawling on the tree and they were running for their lives. The tree was 10 feet from the driveway and front porch and about 20 feet from the road. Funny thing is she never hit the house the garage or one of my fathers cars. Seeing her back out of a parking space in a lot was cringe worthy. This is why I laugh at people who get lost backing out of their driveways. My mother was lost before that could even happen.

I cannot back up a vehicle with a trailer attached. Whoa be the fence or building in my way. My dad used to be a truck driver way back in the 1950's and can back up a car/truck trailer combo without missing a beat. He's never been able to teach me how to do it right.

[ironhat]

I always thought that I was a dork at backing up a trailer because I use a garden tractor and a trailer to haul wood and yard debris. I got the chance to use an 18' trailer attached to my F150 and while it's no breeze it's also a challenge when you're in a tight area. I ended up pressing dimples in my back bumper - never felt it. They're not deep but I kick myself every time I see them. I have learned that there's a point of cutting the wheel, anticipating the trailer's movement and then cutting back the other way a bit. Otherwise, there's no bringing the trailer around to where it will respond. Dimples - grrrrrr !! I admire truckers for their skill, or the most part, and try to be courteous and to them.

[LinuxRandal]

I had a job with an asphalt crew. I was asked to bring over the 1 ton, and 18 foot trailer, through a residental street, that all the people on the perpendicular street were parked on.

I had never driven a stick, or used a trailer. They couldn't understand why I refused.

I am now on my third stick shift vehicle. Never had to replace the clutch on the first or second, but did so when I bought the second truck (first truck hit by an uninsured motorist, second truck bought as a carcass, with a blown motor). Since I have the truck, I haven't yet, needed a trailer. (if I need a trailer, it is normally too big/much for one person so I end up with others, who have trucks).

Some of us didn't grow up around it.

[Pappy]

First run I ever made in a TT was to a place called Blue Diamond Supply in Dallas. Found out later it was a set up[ that all new drivers got. The dock was pigeon hole with maybe 12" clearance so a fork could work a flat bed from either side. No room for a straight shot so you had to back in on a turn. Took me over 1/2 hour and gave the 'gang' some good entertainment. Never had a problem backing again!

In the Marines I drove a 5,000 gal foam rig and taught a lot of guys to drive. I had a small Honda and a hitch carrier that the front wheel sat in. That was my training vehicle for backing. If you could control that while backing, you could back anything!

[eccentrictinkerer]

When I was 19 and a new recruit in the Army Reserve, they gave me a deuce-and-a-half with a workshop on it (I was in crypto repair). Attached to the back of this pig was a 50KW generator on a heavy trailer.

The second time I drove it they made me back the rig into a space only 5 millimeters wider than the truck. I put a gash 2 feet long in the fender of the adjacent truck. Never felt a thing.

As punishment I was assigned to drive 1/4 ton Jeep for the next 6 years. Darn!

[Black wallnut]

LMAO! In my former job position I watched many drivers back up poorly. The worst I ever saw IMO was a husband and wife long haul team where the husband was trying to back into a tight spot, wife was directing. She directed him in the same exact track 4 different times and could not figure out why it did not work! I gave up watching.

[LCHIEN]

This is funny because I can't back up our little utility trailer at all. Mark got to laughing at me one day when I had to back it up just a few feet and couldn't do it. And this is why I don't go to the dump because it would require me to back up the trailer and don't want the men at the transfer station to laugh to hard at me.

ah, concern for their welfare. how thoughtful of you.

[crokett]

Melissa, don't feel bad. Dinky trailers like that are tough to back up - very short wheelbase. I will haul my dad's 14' flatbed any day over my util trailer. It is much easier to drive a big trailer around than a little one.

[Mrs. Wallnut]

Wanna die laughing? Tell a woman to back your boat down to the ramp...

This is funny because I can't back up our little utility trailer at all. Mark got to laughing at me one day when I had to back it up just a few feet and couldn't do it. And this is why I don't go to the dump because it would require me to back up the trailer and don't want the men at the transfer station to laugh to hard at me.

[Ed62]

In the interests of fairness there are men who are stupid drivers too:

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pb...0327/-1/NEWS01

Yeah, but we're not called the "fair sex".

Ed

[cgallery]

I have a flagpole 27 inches from the edge of my driveway.
Two women have backed completely over the thing.

Up here we have markers for the snow plows (to show where the streets/driveways end and the grass/landscaping begins).

I watched as a customer leaving my shop backed her car up right over one. These are permanent markers (well, they were permanent). She did quite a bit of damage to her car.

So she came back into the shop and said she wants to make a claim. "For what?" I asked.

"That pole and my car just collided," she said.

Being the a$$ that I am, I said, "I was watching, and I DID see it swerve once it saw you coming, but apparently it couldn't move out of the way fast enough."

She never returned. She was always a PITA anyhow, so I was happy to see her go.

[germdoc]

In the interests of fairness there are men who are stupid drivers too:

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pb...0327/-1/NEWS01

[Richard in Smithville]

LOML is actually a very good driver. She was taught by her dad and after 19 years of marriage, she drives a lot like me(my job requires a safety course every two years). Her sister on the other hand thinks she is a great driver. I don't ride with her.