The Reality of Handling Trailers in the Back Woods
- Thread starter fike
- Start date
I have unhitched and manhandled a Comet Extreme hard side trailer a number of times. Not fun, and a little unnerving on North Idaho mountain sides. The box is 12 feet long for a total length of about 18 feet. Anything bigger than that and you can forget unhitching it and moving it by hand.
Here is what I know:
1. Like others said SCOUT your trail. Various overhead imagery and topo maps are great. Forest Service lands are required to have motor vehicle use maps. These help immensely since if they claim they are passable they are maintaining the roads. Unhitch your trailer and scout ahead if in doubt. Walk if it looks sketchy for your rig. As you pass wide spots make note of them and know how far it is to get back to those "bail out" locations. Prior planning and a relaxed unrushed approach to the road or trail is a good idea. The folks in the UK have a saying "As slow as possible, as fast as necessary." Good advice.
2. Tongue weight is a big deal. You have to be able to reduce the tongue weight if it is much over 100 pounds or so. Counter weighting the back bumper helps, removing batteries, and propane tanks, etc might be something you do.
3. Use your rig as much as possible. If you can get the trailer mostly jack-knifed you need only move it a few feet and re-hitch. Like others said if you got into the trail you can get out. You may have to back. One possibility is to get a hitch on the front of your rig (as noted previously). That will make "backing" way easier since you won't be looking behind you (your neck will thank you). A front hitch setup can be be fairly light duty if you NEVER intend on using it for anything other than light trailer movement. By this I mean that you would not use it as a recovery point, etc.
4. Two people. At least. This would suck if you were by yourself.
5. Come-alongs, chocks, winches, tow straps (more than one), etc are all very important. You really don't want your trailer to get away from you. I am in the habit of placing a limiting rope on my trailer just so it doesn't escape into places better left unexplored. I just tie it off on the trailer and then to a tree, or my rig, etc. Cheap insurance while I am screwing around with it. If you are comfortable modifying your trailer you can put maybe 3 tow rings on each side of the frame (front, middle, back). Those would give you excellent points to winch the trailer around.
6. A customized jack or the Aussie "jockey wheel" is a great idea. I can tell you that the jack wheel on my trailer blows plus I think I bent the damn shaft on the thing when I last unhitched and moved it around. I need to either buy or fabricate a better solution.
7. Consider lifting your trailer. It sounds like that might help you out. My trailer sits very high on 15" wheels...I just drive over things and if my 4Runner clears it I know the trailer will.
Honestly if you bring a modest amount of gear and perhaps practice a bit you will be able to do this quickly. My trailer is 7 feet wide and hitch to bumper right at 18.5 feet long. I don't celebrate unhitching it but I do it if need be. My Comet weighs right at 2000 pounds. I don't think a person could handle much more than that without a powered tow dolly. A powered tow dolly would be the ultimate solution if you can handle the expense and the size and weight of the thing. In any case unhitching just adds to the adventure.
Here is what I know:
1. Like others said SCOUT your trail. Various overhead imagery and topo maps are great. Forest Service lands are required to have motor vehicle use maps. These help immensely since if they claim they are passable they are maintaining the roads. Unhitch your trailer and scout ahead if in doubt. Walk if it looks sketchy for your rig. As you pass wide spots make note of them and know how far it is to get back to those "bail out" locations. Prior planning and a relaxed unrushed approach to the road or trail is a good idea. The folks in the UK have a saying "As slow as possible, as fast as necessary." Good advice.
2. Tongue weight is a big deal. You have to be able to reduce the tongue weight if it is much over 100 pounds or so. Counter weighting the back bumper helps, removing batteries, and propane tanks, etc might be something you do.
3. Use your rig as much as possible. If you can get the trailer mostly jack-knifed you need only move it a few feet and re-hitch. Like others said if you got into the trail you can get out. You may have to back. One possibility is to get a hitch on the front of your rig (as noted previously). That will make "backing" way easier since you won't be looking behind you (your neck will thank you). A front hitch setup can be be fairly light duty if you NEVER intend on using it for anything other than light trailer movement. By this I mean that you would not use it as a recovery point, etc.
4. Two people. At least. This would suck if you were by yourself.
5. Come-alongs, chocks, winches, tow straps (more than one), etc are all very important. You really don't want your trailer to get away from you. I am in the habit of placing a limiting rope on my trailer just so it doesn't escape into places better left unexplored. I just tie it off on the trailer and then to a tree, or my rig, etc. Cheap insurance while I am screwing around with it. If you are comfortable modifying your trailer you can put maybe 3 tow rings on each side of the frame (front, middle, back). Those would give you excellent points to winch the trailer around.
6. A customized jack or the Aussie "jockey wheel" is a great idea. I can tell you that the jack wheel on my trailer blows plus I think I bent the damn shaft on the thing when I last unhitched and moved it around. I need to either buy or fabricate a better solution.
7. Consider lifting your trailer. It sounds like that might help you out. My trailer sits very high on 15" wheels...I just drive over things and if my 4Runner clears it I know the trailer will.
Honestly if you bring a modest amount of gear and perhaps practice a bit you will be able to do this quickly. My trailer is 7 feet wide and hitch to bumper right at 18.5 feet long. I don't celebrate unhitching it but I do it if need be. My Comet weighs right at 2000 pounds. I don't think a person could handle much more than that without a powered tow dolly. A powered tow dolly would be the ultimate solution if you can handle the expense and the size and weight of the thing. In any case unhitching just adds to the adventure.
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MountainD
Adventurer
This is precisely why I purchased the XO trailer jack/wheel. Because maneuvering the trailer is difficult in a good situation and it makes it WAY easier. I mean it. In a driveway it is an actual dream. On the trail it is doable. Well worth the dough...
My trailer also has a manual brake---I run an electric over hydraulic brake actuator for my disc brakes and I put an inline hydraulic "drifting" handbrake which locks them up.
http://www.arkportablepower.com/pages/xo-trailer-jack
My trailer also has a manual brake---I run an electric over hydraulic brake actuator for my disc brakes and I put an inline hydraulic "drifting" handbrake which locks them up.
http://www.arkportablepower.com/pages/xo-trailer-jack
LandCruiserPhil
Expedition Leader
Having your same concerns I built a trailer that was very light (#600 wet) and could go wherever my LC could go. You want zero off-tracking so you never need to worry about if your trailer will clear where your truck just went no mater how tight and twisty. The ability for your trailer to go 90° to the truck is a must for a true off roading. My set up can u turn in 27' wide area and from the side mirrors tell when the trailer is at 90°.
I have never needed to disconnect but at <#600 and #75 max tongue weight I have better chance than most.
grogie
Like to Camp
Awesome post! Thanks for sharing your tips. :bowdown:
I have a Jockey wheel myself and have considering having to winch my trailer to my Jeep. Haven't had to do that yet...
Oh, and I'll also mention scouting ahead is worth a lot. Just with my Jeep, I have on a "few" occasions walked ahead to consider options.
Scouting is so seldom used it seems. After a few decades of off roading I am a huge fan of walking...or mountain biking the trail. Getting stuck in the boonies just isn't fun and neither is trashing your rig. I find that downloading imagery and maps to something like a IPad or Nexus 7 (or 9, or whatever) is amazing. You can see the terrain and know where you are. Really a huge step up from a paper map I think. I think a jockey wheel is on my shopping list. I may pull the welder out and see if I can fab something just for fun though.
grogie
Like to Camp
Several years ago I was on Drummond Island (Michigan U.P.) which the east side is very remote. I took a wrong turn and was on a very narrow trail that went through a marsh and then into tight woods (and as I noticed later on a map, it dead ended at the woods). The trail was mostly covered with water and slick on the bottom to where my Jeep's tires were spinning, and at least in the marsh there was nothing to winch to. Fortunately my trailer was back at the campsite, as I had to do one of those 25 point turns just to turn my 2-door Jeep around. Having the trailer behind me would have made it very interesting.
This was not that spot, but you can get an idea of the water conditions on the trails. I did not stop to take pictures through the marsh. (lol)
Anyway, the XO Jockey wheel is incredibly built. The only issue I've found is that since it's Australian built, they have no parts in the US for it. I ruined the spring that they have on the little handle that locks the wheel in place when it's in the up position, and their US sales told me I'm out of luck for a replacement spring (at least from them).
Great summary. I think I am hearing verification that if I do get in a bad spot I can reasonably expect to be able to "manhandle" a teardrop around with tools like come-alongs and the "jockey wheel." Scouting is, of course, always a good idea, but after an offroad "crisis," nobody ever said, "but I DID scout the trail." Everyone breaks that scouting rule....right after they break the never offroad alone rule. It is these times we have to fall back on self-reliance and carrying the right tools.
Here is a pic of my old Subie setup in one of these rhododendron jungles where the trail is narrow and rocky (this isn't as narrow as they get). The photo makes it look pretty tame, but as any of us can attest photos NEVER do a great job of expressing the difficulty of a rugged trail.
I know here in Western Montana, if I were to meet somebody coming down a narrow mountain road while I was going up it, or an encounter with a rock slide, etc. I would not want to try to back up my M416 trailer. Luckily, I have not had that happen yet. but I have also, not towed it very much yet.
sunnybean
Observer
A couple things to add, for those will little to no experience backing a trailer.
First, go slow. You'll get into trouble quickly, especially with a short wheelbase trailer, if you're trying to hurry. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Second, the easiest way to not get all dyslexic and start spinning the wheel in the wrong direction is this; place your hand on the bottom (6 o'clock) of the steering wheel, now just point/turn your hand in the direction you want the trailer to go. Don't get drastic with the amount you move your wheel and you will minimize getting jackknifed. Just move your hand in the direction you want the trailer to go. Simple.
REasley
Adventurer
Just a couple of suggestions. When I am on a rough trail that that I am not familiar with, I'll drop the trailer and scout on ahead. This has saved me a lot of grief. I also built my trailer with an extendable tongue. Normally on the trail I keep it very short, but it makes it very hard to back up on rough terrain. By extending the tongue out another 4' it becomes much more manageable.
billum v2.0
Active member
You won't receive any better advice than this. If you get squeezed the first time on a reasonably wide, flat, dry trail you'll be able to extract yourself relatively easy and that will be point of reference. But add a little moisture, or grade, or off camber, or rocks/ruts big enough to act as wheel chocks and try to push (whether by hand or backing up attached to your vehicle) and they get a mind of their own. And once uncoupled, you're committed and the real fun begins. My first experience was a two hour ordeal that could have simply been avoided if I'd have dropped the trailer when the first "hmmmm" crossed my mind.
parkkitchings
Adventurer
I've been dragging my homebuilt trailer behind my rig for years. At times I'm glad I have it and other times I'd like to push it off the side of a cliff! There have been times I've had to disconnect and spin it by hand. Problem here is both times I had my bike in the back and had to unload it prior to repositioning the trailer. You definetley want a wheel you can crank down in order to support the trailer. Once in Alaska, I got in a position where I couldn't disconnect and had to back it for almost a half a mile down a tight road. Always, get out and walk a road if it looks like it might close out to ensure there are spots to turn it around. Another thing I've done although haven't had the chance to use it, is mount a front receiver hitch on the front of the truck. Could save you a lot of aggravation in the right situation. Sound advice given by all previous posts. Love the quote earlier "hmmmmmm crossed my mind". I've uttered that phrase before and now get my lazy butt out of the truck when that thought enters my feeble mind.
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