Tips for Reversing Your Trailer

Even if you’ve been driving a trailer for a while, reversing with one is always a difficult task. To help, we here at Mountain West Trailers have written up some helpful tips to have you backing up like a pro every time! 

Hand Placement

When hauling, drivers will sometimes forget that their vehicle and their trailer are not one unit. This can be disastrous when a driver begins to reverse, as it’s extremely easy to turn your vehicle one way, only to have your trailer twist the opposite direction. To help you remember which way your trailer is going to turn we suggest placing both hands at the bottom of the steering wheel. When the left side is pushed up, your trailer will be pushed left and vice versa. 

If you are trying to steer your trailer in a specific direction, rather than reversing straight back, keeping your hand at the bottom of the wheel can help you turn in the correct direction. If you’re trying to reverse to the left you’ll want to grab the top of the steering wheel with your left hand and pull in that direction. Your vehicle will twist to the right pushing your trailer to the left. 

Steering 

The smaller your trailer is, the easier it is to oversteer. Thankfully, keeping your hands close together at the bottom of the wheel is a great way to keep your movements short and measured. If you’re driving directly back into a space this should also help you keep your wheel straight. However, if you have a larger trailer, or are reversing in a specific direction, you may find that these little movements don’t cut it. Reversing with a bigger rig, or to the right or left, will require very wide turns to keep your trailer from jackknifing—something you want to avoid at all costs. Just be sure as you take these wide turns to move slowly and carefully. 

Blindspots

It’s not easy to see where you’re going when reversing a trailer. If you’re still new to towing you may want to practice reversing a few times with a spotter. If you’re able to find a spotter we encourage you to turn the radio off and keep the windows down so you can hear them clearly. Have them use hand gestures and avoid using terms like left or right which can change depending on the person's position. If you can’t find a reliable spotter you may want to invest in a few small traffic cones to help guide you. 

We hope these tips and tricks have been helpful to you as you figure out the ins and outs of reversing a trailer. If you’re still in the market for one of these valuable pieces of equipment we hope you’ll visit our location in Herber City, Utah. We proudly serve the cities of Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, and pride ourselves on our high-quality inventory and great customer service!