Thread: HOW TO BACK A TRAILER

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Not quite everything - backing the car up a long, narrow drive is an acquired skill - the sides are not parallel, as it tapers from the 'A' pillar back. And caution is needed making sharp turns in confined quarters, thanks to the long wheelbase and very good turning circle. As can be confirmed by the witness marks on the rear doors of most examples!

I've been driving them since I was 12years old .... So that has always been my normal. When reversing one, you just put the back wheels where you want to rest to eventually be (a bit like backing a trailer). You must back anywhere that you can't get a big enough swing to clear the wheelbase of.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

I've been driving them since I was 12years old .... So that has always been my normal. When reversing one, you just put the back wheels where you want to rest to eventually be (a bit like backing a trailer). You must back anywhere that you can't get a big enough swing to clear the wheelbase of.

I am able to back them - I've been driving them for over fifty years - but I have no illusions about them being similar to 'ordinary' cars, having seen the problems others have got into. I followed my brother into them, and my brother-in-law already had followed him, and my father got me to find him one for what turned out to be his last few years of driving. And when I married I had to teach my wife! Mine was our wedding car, and when my younger son married we managed to arrange several of them for the wedding.

1989_07_wedding_01974_arrival.jpg

Originally Posted by JDNSW

I am able to back them - I've been driving them for over fifty years - but I have no illusions about them being similar to 'ordinary' cars, having seen the problems others have got into. I followed my brother into them, and my brother-in-law already had followed him, and my father got me to find him one for what turned out to be his last few years of driving. And when I married I had to teach my wife! Mine was our wedding car, and when my younger son married we managed to arrange several of them for the wedding.

1989_07_wedding_01974_arrival.jpg

You have owned them for more years than me then ... Have you ever been stuck at the bottom of a hill ... but not able to get out? If you try going backwards, the weight transfer works in your favour and you can back up muddy/slipperly slopes that defeated you going forward.

Current state of one of my old '63 ID since I pulled the engine out a week or so back.



I must be one of the first people ever that has managed this!

I have never even heard of a crankshaft breaking like that. In a Citroen or anything else! It has to be a manufacturing flaw in the crankshaft, but I suppose it can't be a terribly serious one if it lasted this long!

No, I've never been stuck in any circumstances in a D series.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

I have never even heard of a crankshaft breaking like that. In a Citroen or anything else! It has to be a manufacturing flaw in the crankshaft, but I suppose it can't be a terribly serious one if it lasted this long!

No, I've never been stuck in any circumstances in a D series.

The motor was rebuilt a long time ago ... but milage wise, it's probably only done 15,000kms. The crank was reground and 0.5mm undersize shells fitted. I'm betting they didn't get it perfectly straight when they machined it and its been flexing while spinning .... so fatigued and cracked.

Ah! That could explain. A proper metallurgical examination of the fracture surfaces should confirm this by showing the growth of a crack.

(Thanks all for the tip about hand on bottom of steering wheel! - I've done it without realising but so simple when spelled out!)

A few years ago a daughter's best High School friend (that I'd taught to drive a decade earlier) asked me for lessons in backing a trailer.
Before I let her into my car, my trailer, I decided I'd teach the principles by getting her to reverse a two-wheel wheelbarrow through a narrow space or two, with a direction change or two - hands behind her on the T-bar handle, pushing backwards with her bum.

It was one of the smartest teaching aids I've ever come up with! - the principles - and the traps and the comedy of getting it wrong - are exactly the same as a real-world trailer. I thought I'd have her do that for maybe one minute but I found it so useful we spent maybe five minutes by the clock "a long time" before we got into the car/trailer.

A few things no-one seems to have mentioned in my scan of the topic:
For small awkward trailers (like jet-skis or things too small to see until they're out of order) "two sticks" that you can see through the back window like sand-country flags help a lot.
Personally I've found that a reversing camera is helpful mostly for connecting towbar - for actual reversing I've found it confusing.

Also - no-one has mentioned 'persons on board a trailer'. This is illegal, and for good reason. My niece died like that, age 3. Old or young, fit or fragile, simply don't do it. One of the peculiarities of falling off a trailer is that often, one's head or neck winds up underneath the trailer wheel and however slow the speed - injury or death can still take place in less than communication time. (I wasn't there, but that's how she died, and death took a long time. Very traumatising just to remember, even. Decades ago now, but I still will drop everything to prevent anyone doing any such thing whenever I see it. Most people aren't that silly, yet many a loving parent has been inveigled to this bit of 'fun'.) Hay-rides and so on? Forget it. Prevent it!

Originally Posted by rick130

My first ex was a dressage coach and all the young ladies that turned up for coaching could put a horse float wherever you wanted it.
Quite a few were on their P's yet could back with confidence.
Then the law changed in NSW and P platers weren't allowed to tow.
Another dumb, blanket law, as they were all very good, very aware drivers from towing their horses.

And yes, I was finally able to convince the ex to put her Patrol in low range to tow. It did take a little convincing.
She couldn't believe the difference in control.
It just gives you time to react.