mayts
Los Angeles
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Joined: 09/21/2010
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Such a wealth of knowledge here and lots of great advice 
My husband and I were practicing with toy cars and he was educating me on things. As the spotter I think I am mostly going to make sure he doesn't hit anything and I have to remember to LOOK UP! to make sure he doesn't take out our motion sensor lights or rain gutter 
Here in soCal most of the camping sites we have been to and plan to visit require backing into so we better get good at it. I just have nightmares of parking the popup which was excruciating when it came to tight spaces.
2011 2500HD LTZ Duramax Crew Cab
2012 Keystone Cougar 293 SAB
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Weazletoe
Idaho
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Joined: 04/12/2010
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I'm pretty decent at backing. Was raised on tractors etc.... last summer my dad who is a retired OTR truck driver came out here to Idaho camping with us. This time, he was spotting for me instead of my wife. WOW! What a difference an experienced spotter makes. Not taking anything away from Holly, cause she's a great girl. What would have taken her and I 5 minutes ot better, took my dad and I literally less than a minute.
Based on this, I'm going to get her in the driver seat and pull it and back it, so she understands how it reacts and works. I can tell her till I'm blue, but there is nothing like getting behind the wheel and seeing for yourself.
TV- 1990 Chevy 3500, 454, 3 speed, 4x4
5er - 1991 Prowler, 25ft
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big buford
Buena Park, Ca
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Joined: 05/25/2004
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Beaker wrote:I have found it much easier backing up once I learned to pull further ahead.
Can't explain it but takes much less turning of the wheel and less of an angle between truck and trailer.
I have more problem with my 10' utility trailer.
Funny you mention this. The first time I was backing a 5er in a very tight campground. A fellow walked up to me and said, where ever you stop to start your backing... pull foward another five feet.
Worked like a champ and have been doing it ever since.
04.5 GMC 2500HD D/A
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07PSDCREW
Berlin Ma
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Hello all. I drive a heavy duty recovery unit built for towing tractor trailers (75 ton Century rotator on peterbuilt extended chassis) I've had many times when I'll be rescuing an OTR trucker and he will need to get that trailer delivered and docked to be unloaded. Imagine the fun when there's TWO pivot points!! In all honesty, the idea is the same on a tt unit as on a 5vr...it just takes more room.
My wife also has no clue on the process of backing a trailer so the safest spot for her is right next to me until the rig is parked..... She actually gets very anxious and nervous and has no idea how I do it...I tried to have her try it in a parking lot but got nowhere with that... I just have to be really careful and use the GOAL method if needed.
2007 Ford F350 6.0 CC SB
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2000 Damon Hornet 2850BH 5er
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milo
4 Corners
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Joined: 07/19/2008
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mayts wrote:Hi Folks,
Thankfully we have a wide curb part of the driveway and our neighbors across the street have a wide driveway as well.
Thanks much!
Good Evening
Could you possibly use your neighbors driveway? If it is long enough, by using the both the width of the street & their driveway to get your truck & fver as straight as possible, you'd could then back it straight across into your driveway. Just a thought.
milo
Janet(boss)& Milo 36 & 1/4 yrs 2gether
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13 F-150 Eco Screw HD 4x4 07 294RLS Cougar TT
Confidence is the feelin you have just before you fully understand the situation
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shiba88
CT.
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Joined: 04/15/2012
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Two things to remember Start with hands at the bottom of steering wheel.Turn wheel in direction you want camper to go.If someone is going to direct from the back make sure they stay in sight of the mirrors.As long as you can see each other in the mirrors you can use hand signals if need be.Good luck
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mayts
Los Angeles
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Well thanks for all the fantastic advice.
We were able to get it into the position to back it in to the driveway. The problem is the driveway isn't straight and we just couldn't get it lined up to fit between the house and the concrete wall (neither of which we want to hit). The RV kept leaning because the concrete leans due to drainage issues. and we just couldn't line it up. With the awning and lights and such we only had inches of clearance and didn't want to chance it if the driveway kept leaning towards the house as we backed up.
So the RV will live at my mother in law's  not an ideal solution but not too bad. It is about 45 minutes away and she'll take good care of it and we can have a place to crash if we want to spend the night there if we ever need to.
I did get a chance to back it up myself and my husband and I practiced him directing me and me listening, we were really effective that way and I actually got it to fit the best but we just didn't feel comfortable with the inches of wiggle room we had.
Thanks for everyone's help! I look forward to posting more here and hopefully offering advice in the future instead of just taking it
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ol Bombero-JC
USA
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Joined: 06/24/2004
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mayts wrote:Thanks for all the advice
Sorry for not using the search  tsk tsk, I am usually the queen of search....
There really have been some *excellent* threads on backing!
Use current search & *archives* over 1 year old.
~
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