If Di and I can do it ----

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Well I suppose if you have a latte in one hand, are alone, and partially blind you may need this--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cgwe2gAkO0E

[Graeme]

Maybe someone should learn how to spell default.

[AndyG]

Ando here is was expecting a pranged Merc :angel:

[debruiser]

Really???? what happened to just turning your head....

[TerryO]

Still fantasizing about owning a D4 Pedro? .... ;)

[Chucaro]

IanV8 need one tow assistant in his trucks so he van reverse properly :p

[Redback]

Really???? what happened to just turning your head....

Or even easier, using your mirrors:cool:

Baz.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Or even easier, using your mirrors:cool:

Baz.Not with the stupid convex mirrors on the D4. :mad:

Bring back flat mirrors so you know where everyone on the road is and you're not always chasing your tail backing trailers.

(I tow a trailer almost every weekend and backing accuracy with convex mirrors is a thing of the past. By the time you can see the change in alignment you have already over corrected and have to re-correct in the other direction. When you've got a long trailer in tow (like a caravan or camper) which obliterates vision from the (flat) interior mirror and over your shoulder, you have no idea when it's safe to change lanes using the outside mirrors.)

[Redback]

Not with the stupid convex mirrors on the D4. :mad:

Bring back flat mirrors so you know where everyone on the road is and you're not always chasing your tail backing trailers.

(I tow a trailer almost every weekend and backing accuracy with convex mirrors is a thing of the past. By the time you can see the change in alignment you have already over corrected and have to re-correct in the other direction. When you've got a long trailer in tow (like a caravan or camper) which obliterates vision from the (flat) interior mirror and over your shoulder, you have no idea when it's safe to change lanes using the outside mirrors.)

I have a D4 also, adapting is what you do, learnt from driving heavy vehicles and being a heavy vehicle driving instructor;)

Always look in your side mirrors, looking over your shoulder or centre mirror, you see nothing, if you can't see down the side of the van/camper or trailer, get wider mirrors:cool:

Baz.

[DiscoMick]

I saw an instructional video on backing a semi which basically said to choose a spot on the trailer which was visible in the side mirror and use that as a guide. Keep the mark in the right place and you know you're going OK. If it moves out of focus then you're wrong. I do that with our camper trailer, which has to be backed through a single roller door to put it away. So far I haven't hit the garage.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I have a D4 also, adapting is what you do, learnt from driving heavy vehicles and being a heavy vehicle driving instructor;)

Always look in your side mirrors, looking over your shoulder or centre mirror, you see nothing, if you can't see down the side of the van/camper or trailer, get wider mirrors:cool:

Baz.I am well trained in backing using mirrors and have a HR licence myself, but I have never driven any heavy vehicle where the main mirrors were convex. Yes many have a secondary convex mirror for checking vehicles in your blind spot, but you don't use them for reversing the truck/trailer.

All I want is flat external mirrors on my D4. :mad:

[Redback]

I am well trained in backing using mirrors and have a HR licence myself, but I have never driven any heavy vehicle where the main mirrors were convex. Yes many have a secondary convex mirror for checking vehicles in your blind spot, but you don't use them for reversing the truck/trailer.

All I want is flat external mirrors on my D4. :mad:

Can't you get mirrors that you can strap on to your existing mirrors if the standard D4 don't help??

I don't feel the D4 mirrors are that bad, I know that the difference between the left and right can be a pain, because of the distance difference between them, but I think I've just gotten used to them, I back our trailer down onto a raised pad, there's not a lot of room to play with and there's a turn to get it up and onto the pad, I use a rock that stops the trailer from rolling away as my sight guide, also there's a pole I need to clear on the unsighted side I need to miss, took some practice to get it right though.

Baz.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Can't you get mirrors that you can strap on to your existing mirrors if the standard D4 don't help??

I don't feel the D4 mirrors are that bad, I know that the difference between the left and right can be a pain, because of the distance difference between them, but I think I've just gotten used to them, I back our trailer down onto a raised pad, there's not a lot of room to play with and there's a turn to get it up and onto the pad, I use a rock that stops the trailer from rolling away as my sight guide, also there's a pole I need to clear on the unsighted side I need to miss, took some practice to get it right though.

Baz.Both external mirrors on my D4 are convex.

It used to be a pain with the LHS convex but both convex is annoying. I guess its designed for school run mums who never back a trailer, but for me I'd swap both for flat in a second if I could.

[AndyG]

I saw an instructional video on backing a semi which basically said to choose a spot on the trailer which was visible in the side mirror and use that as a guide. Keep the mark in the right place and you know you're going OK. If it moves out of focus then you're wrong. I do that with our camper trailer, which has to be backed through a single roller door to put it away. So far I haven't hit the garage.

Maybe you need to park the wife's Yaris behind the Garage :D What is it, twice now.

( i hope i have remembered the right Yaris owner )

[DoubleChevron]

So you supposed to look at some piece of stupid screen showing lines rather than just looking in your mirrors so you can see where it's going :eek:

There's nothign harder than backing a caravan into a shed .... mostly because your trying to back into a "black hole" and can't see a damn thing.

This is my answer:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

90seconds work to slip the tongue onto the bullbar using two bolts. Being offset means you can see down the side of the caravan.... You can also see where your going as you put the headlights on high beam ... so your lighting up the "dark hole" that your pushing the caravan into :)

seeya,
Shane L.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

So you supposed to look at some piece of stupid screen showing lines rather than just looking in your mirrors so you can see where it's going :eek:

There's nothign harder than backing a caravan into a shed .... mostly because your trying to back into a "black hole" and can't see a damn thing.

This is my answer:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

90seconds work to slip the tongue onto the bullbar using two bolts. Being offset means you can see down the side of the caravan.... You can also see where your going as you put the headlights on high beam ... so your lighting up the "dark hole" that your pushing the caravan into :)

seeya,
Shane L. Note 1. You have flat mirrors on both sides of that vehicle (unlike the D4)
Note 2. If I fitted an additional front tow ball in that position I wouldn't be able to push the trailer into the black hole of a shed where they (3) are stored. There is only about 2.8m wide space (30m long) and one trailer is 2.5m wide.

[DoubleChevron]

Note 1. You have flat mirrors on both sides of that vehicle (unlike the D4)
Note 2. If I fitted an additional front tow ball in that position I wouldn't be able to push the trailer into the black hole of a shed where they (3) are stored. There is only about 2.8m wide space (30m long) and one trailer is 2.5m wide.


Front and center mount the towbar ... life doesn't need to be difficult. If it's a single axle trailer/van ... use a quality ratchet jockey wheel :)

I find towing mirrors not much use at all... the vibrate around to much to show you much other than there is "somone" beside the 'van.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Front and center mount the towbar ... life doesn't need to be difficult. If it's a single axle trailer/van ... use a quality ratchet jockey wheel :)

I find towing mirrors not much use at all... the vibrate around to much to show you much other than there is "somone" beside the 'van.Have you ever pushed a trailer or van 50 metres including up hill with a ratchet jockey wheel?

It is a 30 metre x 2.8 metre corridor between stored equipment and racking before I get to the 20 metres of space where I can store my stuff.

I can back well with flat mirrors and don't need the extension mirrors or a front ball, all I want is flat mirrors on my D4.

It used to be illegal to install convex mirrors on the drivers side of a vehicle. Why was that changed?

[DoubleChevron]

Have you ever pushed a trailer or van 50 metres including up hill with a ratchet jockey wheel?

It is a 30 metre x 2.8 metre corridor between stored equipment and racking before I get to the 20 metres of space where I can store my stuff.

I can back well with flat mirrors and don't need the extension mirrors or a front ball, all I want is flat mirrors on my D4.

It used to be illegal to install convex mirrors on the drivers side of a vehicle. Why was that changed?

I don't understand the problem ... Just change the mirror glass. You local glazier can probably cut you some flat mirror glass to fit.

[Graeme]

Whilst flat mirrors make reversing trailers much easier, I suspect that the mirror mount position relative to the seating position would make flat mirrors pretty useless at spotting traffic in adjacent lanes. I use my flat clip-on van mirrors when reversing the van into its tight shed spot but don't have those mirrors fitted for the narrower trailer. However each harvest I have to re-learn reversing my semi long distances up to augers in grain bunkers so regularly reversing a long box trailer with the D4 is comparatively easy even with its convex mirrors making the task fiddly.

[Redback]

Have you ever pushed a trailer or van 50 metres including up hill with a ratchet jockey wheel?

It is a 30 metre x 2.8 metre corridor between stored equipment and racking before I get to the 20 metres of space where I can store my stuff.

I can back well with flat mirrors and don't need the extension mirrors or a front ball, all I want is flat mirrors on my D4.

It used to be illegal to install convex mirrors on the drivers side of a vehicle. Why was that changed?

Actually I don't think they are convex, but are telescopic and work more like a telephoto lense, so each mirror has a different position of the lense.

(IE)

Incab rearview mirror is normal (or further away)

Drivers mirror is closer (or further away)

Passenger mirror is closer again (or further away)

Like most things, it's something you need to adapt too or change the glass, as mentioned above by DC.

Baz.

[DoubleChevron]

Actually I don't think they are convex, but are telescopic and work more like a telephoto lense, so each mirror has a different position of the lense.

(IE)

Incab rearview mirror is normal (or further away)

Drivers mirror is closer (or further away)

Passenger mirror is closer again (or further away)

Like most things, it's something you need to adapt too or change the glass, as mentioned above by DC.

Baz.

you don't even need to change the glass. Just stick a new mirror over the top of the existing one with some double sided tape (a heat gun should allow you to heat the adhesive and separate them at a later point). You could stick one of those small convex mirrors to the flat glass so you can see your blind spots.

seeya,
Shane L.