I cant back up my trailer! Well, without the help of my 18 wheeler driving husband. Sometimes I have no problem, but if I have to back around a curve like our driveway into the trailers spot, I'm a dummy and it takes me 100 times to even get in the right position.  I feel so stupid when that happens, I legit want to cry! My hubby can do it with his eyes closed and hes patient with me but he absolutely makes no sense lol!! I am going to start working on backing it up into our drive by myself when hes not home so I can friggen learn on my own and maybe surprise him one day. Is there any tricks,tips or ANYTHING that can help this poor unskilled gal out?? :-(  I've got a 3 horse LQ. I use to be able to back up our old junker gooseneck stock trailer easily and I can back up a bumper pull pretty confidently. But something about this trailer kills me and my backing confidence 

I can't pull a trailer. That's embarrassing enough.

My dad has taught me to pull and backup a trailer. That being said...I can back a trailer WAY better without his help...no pressure and he isn't trying to direct. When he directs I get so confused and so flustered. But this is a bumper pull not a gooseneck.

What I use as my guide is turn the steering wheel the opposite direction of the way you want the trailer to go. That's what I remember and what helps me the most. However, backing around a curve would be difficult, no advice there. 

...and any respectable truck driver will tell you to use your mirrors.The abilities of truck drivers to back huge rigs into tight places never ceases to amaze me.

Me

Don't fret....it's all relative to the distance b/t the pin (hitch) and the axles.  Look at the length and compare b/t the two goosenecks.  Remember to slow down, breath and yes use your mirrors.  I bet any truck driver would agree about the difference in pin to axle ratio making the difference.  Or my other advice.....go fast it'll fit haha!!

Put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and if you want the trailer to go to the right, move your hand to the right...use your mirrors! AND, my husband finally told me the real secret...when you have it going your way, follow it around!

That should help on the curve!

Good luck and yes, practice when he isn't home!

I have a CDL.  Backing is a whole other beast!  There is a video on YouTube I watched that made so much sense to me & really dumbed it down.  The guys would try to explain things to me but it was so easy to them they couldn’t make it simple enough for me!  Wish I could remember that video! Before my test I set up barrels in a large pasture with no one around & practiced my butt off.  The first few times I set up the course really big then gained confidence moved barrels closer.  Just takes time & practice!  Try to look up some videos you may find one that makes perfect sense to you.  Good luck!!

I was laughing about my inability to back using the mirrors. The truck driving school instructor made a comment that was very helpful.  Let’s say you are backing straight. To straighten up turn your wheels in the direction you are drifting. If you practice this backing straight then you can apply it to other situations when you learn how the trailer reacts. I can back great if I turn around and look at the trailer but sometimes you need mirrors

He encourages me to use the mirrors alot. He also always says, now get back under the trailer .. whatever that means lol! I'm just tired of being intimidated by this! For instance, we were headed to the trainers once hauling the trailer and we were going down a winding road, there had been a wreck and they had the road blocked, officer was having everyone turn around... well there was 1 tiny, narrow driveway to back into to turn around on a curve... my hubby happen to be driving, praise the Lord! I told him had i been alone and driving i would have straight up had a panic attack and begged the officer to either let me thru or he would need to get in my truck and back it for me! Lol! I dont want to feel like that anymore!! I'm going to try a few of these tricks and practice every day i can! 

I'm terrible at backing too. I will purposely get to a race earlier to avoid backing bc I get all flustered if I have to back into a tight spot and people are around. And I can never get it perfectly straightagain. .

I do much better with our 4h lq that is 30’ long then I do with our 20’ stock trailer. I have found that the shorter trailer is less forgiving if I steer in the wrong way.

also, I do much better when hubby is not watching, he does the same thing yours does, give directions that I don’t understand....

the biggest thing that made it easier is when someone told me the trick that has been mentioned already. Put your hand on the bottom of the wheel and if you need to go left, move your hand to the left, go right if you need to go right.

I’ve also found it much much easier to back it in from the left (I can see the left tires on the trailer).

but the main thing is to just practice a lot.

and when I get flustered I just stop everything and just sit there for a minute to settle down. 

Good luck!

I feel for you. In my past, I have pulled and backed goosenecks all over the Midwest and never had a problem. We sold our GN a couple of years ago and got a 16' bumper stock .... it took me 30 minutes to back it into a spot in our VERY large yard..... LOL 

I think must people make the mistake of watching the back end of the trailer instead of watching the axles when backing. If you watch the back end of the trailer you will over steer everytime.

Practice with the longest trailer you have on the longest bed truck - the longer the rig the more foregiving, which is probably part of why semi’s make it look easy.  I can back our big LQ on our long bed dually pretty handily anymore (it was intimidating as heck at first, but I haul alone a lot, deep breaths and trial by fire).  If you put our 16’ dump trailer on our short bed truck, I’ll almost jackknife the sucker the first try because it responds so much faster.

Send the rear of the truck the opposite direction you want the rear of the trailer to go.  Slow and steady, the trailer takes a few feet to respond so most people will over crank the wheel and that’s when you jackknife it.

How I was taught is keep the drivers side trailer fender pointed in the path you want to go.  Use your mirrors, and always shoulder check to ensure you are not going to jacknife it and break your back window out

Find you a great big empty parking lot and drive your rig so it is straight on the left side with the parking lot stripes visible in your mirror. 

Place hands on bottom of steering wheel and backup keeping it straight with the parking space lines by turning slightly to the left and right to get the feel where the controllable  "sweet spot" is in your trailer and tow vehicle.  You will lose controll of your turns if you get out of the "sweet spot".. 

You will figure out to turn a little sooner to maintain your desired direction instead of waiting too long on correcting your truck. 

Get braver and back trailer over to the next parking space lines .. then 2 lines .. then 3 lines and straighten your rig up with the new lines each time while backing.  When you move to backing 90* .. it is ok to turn wheels and move forward a little to get "back under" your trailers "sweet spot" ...  the angle of truck to trailer is actually very small to keep trailer under control.

If you have a spotter helping .. make them point a finger/hand the direction they want the trailer to go and hands apart to show how further to back  ....  If they start making circles like a steering wheel with hand/finger go back and cut their hand off ... 

The longer the trailer and the tires being  closer to the end of trailer.. the easier it is to back.

Be aware of TAIL SWING .. most RV's tires are more centered than horse trailers and tail extends out behind and will swing out of place driving forward or backing up when in tight places.   At Love's the other day an RV rear end swung over and struck the steel bldg support and wiped out 6 ft of one side by turning to soon.  Key on where your trailer tires are and then make your turn. 

You can use wheel marks in pasture grass as your backup guides too.  Make you a big or short turn and back up by following your tracks... HAVE FUN .. 

Girl, I feel you on the directions. I'm actually better at backing trailers than my hubby (which isn't saying much) but boy when he tries to help guide me do I get messed up.  He uses these crazy construction site hand signals that look like someone throwing gang signs while having a siezure.  I never have any idea what he means and I get so busy watching him and trying to figure out what he means that I don't watch were I'm going.

I have to be honest, I kinda snorted snot when I read this

Thank you all for the tips and tricks, I'm definitely going to try these out.  I know of the perfect place to haul to practice ... huge parking lot at the expo .. plenty of room and tons of spots to practice in. 

This is the one most important trick to use.....go by the hand at the bottom of the steering wheel.  That, plus take a couple cones out to a big parking lot or field, and practice for a couple hours.