rock077
PA
Senior Member
Joined: 08/25/2005
View Profile
 Offline
|
I went from a 20ft HTT to a 33ft 5'er last spring. The biggest difference I see is that I have to pull up past the site further than with a bumper pull in order to get lined up right.
2009 Colorado 30CE
2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab CTD 4X4
PUP 4 seasons, HTT 4 seasons, Fiver 2 seasons...
|
wild bill
Mira Loma, Ca. USA
Senior Member
Joined: 08/25/2002
View Profile
Offline
|
I never let my wife or grandkids out of the truck until the wheels are stopped and chocked.....Don't be afraid to get out of the truck several times and walk back to have a second look at where your trailer is...try not to get into a situation where you are trying to back in on your blind side...keep your trailer wheels close to the point you trying to back around....At my home I must blind side my 39' trailer each time I bring it home.....I use a large traffic cone to mark the spot my wheels must pivot around to keep from hitting the house roof....takes some practice.....basic rule...turn the steering wheel the direction you want the back of the trailer to go...and then follow it.
05 Dodge 3500 Q-Cab,GearVendor 8 Sp,PacBrake,Banks intercooler & intake,TST R49,Transferflow 70 tank,TrailerSaver Hitch,05 Raptor 3612,Second AC, solar 6 battery sys Xantrex 3000, WEB SITE
http://home.earthlink.net/~wbrown02/wildbillwashere22/index.html
|
BARRY2010
North Ga
Full Member
Joined: 03/01/2010
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
I enjoy reading the feedback and yes it is comical to watch my wife ( that's
if i could see her in my mirrors ) give me signals on which way to go. Then i
figured out the EASY way of having her help me back up. Chances are each of
you have a cell phone - have her call you this way you can actually communicate
and you dont have to worry about looking for her in your mirrors. Seems to
work well for me.
|
Martyn
Bennett, Colorado, USA
Senior Member
Joined: 09/27/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
Veebyes wrote:Backing a trailer is like docking a boat. You always do your best job when nobody is looking. The screw ups happen in a crowded CG at cocktail hour when everyone is outside or, docking a boat, when you are coming alongside at a crowded dockside restaurant.
Aha - so you noticed I had a boat too...... 
Between that at the dock and the fiver in the campground, I am a complete entertainment package.
2004.5 Dodge Ram 2500 QC CTD 4x4 SLT; 2007 Coachmen Chaparral 267RLS;
Reese 15K Slider; Prodigy; JT's & Rotochoks; 2 Honda EU2000i's;
2006 Glastron MX175;
2009 Subaru Tribeca for the DW
|
rick83864
North Idaho
Senior Member
Joined: 09/04/2009
View Profile
|
BARRY2010 wrote:I enjoy reading the feedback and yes it is comical to watch my wife ( that's
if i could see her in my mirrors ) give me signals on which way to go. Then i
figured out the EASY way of having her help me back up. Chances are each of
you have a cell phone - have her call you this way you can actually communicate
and you dont have to worry about looking for her in your mirrors. Seems to
work well for me.
I'm sure that works if your within tower distance. It seems half the time she takes me to places that have no cell service, no internet, and no ESPN. Huh maybe a message here. Ole well the dog likes it.
06 Dodge 3500 CC LB Laramie 4x4 Dually 5.9 Cummins 325/610 48RE Jacobs brake Smarty Jr
GVWR 12,200 Payload 4580
06 Grand Junction 34' High profile 15500 GVWR 3200 pin Mor/ryde 5500 Onan genny Dual A/C
27' Hallett 502, 500HP
|
|
|
Cimriver
Colorado
Senior Member
Joined: 01/05/2002
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Well after only five years of learning to back up our fifth-wheel, I actually getting reasonably good at it. I'll never forget the first time I attempted to back into a campsite. Not a pretty site. Really fun for the camping neighbors though!
One thing I've noticed about backing is that it seems to take forever for the fifth-wheel to start turning, but then it really goes. That makes it easy to over turn. You really have to anticipate thing more than with a TT.
So now that I've got it down, we are waiting for our new fifth-wheel to get here. I will add 7 feet to the backing challenge, so I'm pretty much starting over!
Gordon & Patti
2008 F-350, 6.4L. Power Stroke, CrewCab
2012 Dutchmen Komfort 3130FRL Fifth-Wheel
Be Safe!!!!!
|
DuallyMike
PA
Full Member
Joined: 10/11/2009
View Profile
Offline
|
DCNKY wrote:Man it's great to know I'm not the only one who has had this experience. Whenever i bring my fifth wheel home....my neighbors also come out to watch. My next door neighbor walked outside with a beer,sat down on his porch and got a great laugh. I got out of my truck walked over to him...called out to his wife to bring me a beer and sat down next to him. You should've seen his face. We all laughed.
I never had a problem backing in, but I have one of those neighbors who doesn't miss anything going on at MY house.He really liked the time I came home, backed the 5er part way down the drive and went up on the roof and trimmed my trees!!! Always thought they backed up the same as my TT, just a different pivot point. Now, throw in the Pullrite slider, and that's a little different.
|
buehl
PA
Full Member
Joined: 06/13/2008
View Profile
Offline
|
I bought a set of 2 way radios so the wife could give me direction easier. Her battery went dead & the whole process of backing up got a whole lot easier.
|
jweather
US
New Member
Joined: 09/04/2009
View Profile
Offline
|
I'm not sure I could back my 5er without DW on the cell phone (we'll get walkies one of these days). Neither one of us knew how to back a trailer when we started out, and it takes both of us to do it now. She "drives" by telling me where the back of the trailer should go, and I just turn the wheel. We make a pretty good team. My worst experiences parking were when I tried to listen to a campground host's directions instead, because everyone has a different way of talking about things. If you get stuck, just hop out (put it in park first!) and look at things for a minute. It may help you get a mental picture of where your truck wheels need to go.
And if all else fails, you could upgrade to one of these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56XL0TysIn0
'05 Dodge Ram 3500 DRW
'07 Travel Supreme 36' 5er "The Toy Hauler" (full of Fisher-Price)
Self, DW, 3yo boy, 2yo girl, and lots of happy memories
FT since June '09
|
chasfm11
Dallas/Ft Worth Areas
Senior Member
Joined: 02/28/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
I don't have a 5er and have never backed one. I still have two comments.
- I would crawl into a strange truck with a 5er and attempt to back it in any day (never having done it) before I would want to dock a boat again. We chartered 40' sailboats and there is nothing so comical as trying to get a single screw boat next to a dock with current (tide) and a strong breeze working against you. Sailboats don't turn unless you are moving (and have water flowing over the rudder.) The momentum of a large sailboat once you get it moving is hard to stop. Reverse is not a solution to that problem. It takes constant practice to retain that skill, IMHO.
- JWEATHER offered one of the best pieces of advice in this thread - don't listen to the CG hosts. They are well intentioned and some of them might even know what they are doing. The majority seem to have a lot of bad advice. However poorly you and your DW back, at least you are familiar with each other (or will get that way over time) and you are better off with known rather than unknown. We allow the CG host to guide us to our spot and then politely say "thanks a lot, we'll take it from here." Our worst backin problems came with an outsider trying to help.
2000 Georgie Boy Landau 36'DP Cummins 5.9, Allison 1000 5sp
2005 Saturn Vue Toad, Falcon2 Towbar, BrakeMaster Toad Brake
|
|
|
