View of unloaded trailer with pickups

[JimS123]

I hate pickemuptrucks with a passion. Won't own one. My Land Yacht 45 year old Pontiac Bonneville can back ANY trailer with ease. The current SUVs not so good, even with the hatch up.

The ONLY problem I ever had was with a 10' long jetski. Can't see the sucker trailer back there no matter what. Added 3' tall SS poles on the back of each fender, topped off with a red cap. Problem solved.

 

[Stinnett21]

The 2004 Lexus talked about in my original post had a camera but was small and not very clear so I never used it for backing the trailer. I did use it for hitching up.

 

[Ifishmuskie2]

I was waiting in the water at the ramp for the two guys ahead of me to pull their jet ski. The owner told his friend to back the trailer down. Well he got everything straight and started backing. He was using his mirrors and couldn’t see the trailer so everything was good. A few feet later and the trailer was wrapped around and hitting the side of the truck. He didn’t stop. His windows were up and he backed it down 50’ bouncing off the side of the truck.

 

[dingbat]

Jeep decided to add a dotted centerline on the screen which blocks out the coupler on the trailer ! This line is double side by side and useless when looking for the ball and coupler.

Interesting…would would think they all work similarly.

Ford has the dotted line but also has left and right track and zoom (ball) along with audible notification.

Once close, hit zoom (on ball) and continue to back until beep, beep, beep becomes a solid tone when hitch is aligned with the ball.

 

[airshot]

Interesting…would would think they all work similarly.

Ford has the dotted line but also has left and right track and zoom (ball) along with audible notification.

Once close, hit zoom (on ball) and continue to back until beep, beep, beep becomes a solid tone when hitch is aligned with the ball.

The crazy part is they have lines that show width on each side, then colors to let you know how close you are. For the most part, the backup camera is great, also has a fish eye lenses so you can see a lot.....as long as it isn't dead center that you need to see. With the outside lines why would anyone need a center line that blocks out everything in the very center ?

 

[flashback]

Center line follows a projected path of steering.

 

[airshot]

Center line follows a projected path of steering.

As does the outer boundary lines, either way, that centerline blocks the ball/coupler connection. Wish I could turn that center line off !

 

[bwkre]

My setup for about 10 years. The van is perfect for camping but not so good for launching the boat. It's mirrors all the way. I got good once I figured it out, I did what I called the wiggle. If the boat is directly behind it's impossible to see from either mirror. So I did the wiggle, minor corrections to keep the trailer in and out of sight of the drivers mirror. Once lined up I seldom glanced it the passenger mirror as I knew it was going as straight as possible. Worked just as well with the trailer empty. At the last minute I would over correct so I could see the trailer disappear in the water and know when to stop. I think being up high and larger mirrors also helped. Unfortunately with those vans you couldn't get a posi or diff locker so it was a one wheel drive. A bit of sand and water and its going to need to be pulled out.

I drive an Acadian now and I find it harder to launch with but I'm getting better. Down lower, small mirrors and shorter in length.
It's a learning process as with anything new.

 

[airshot]

When I had a pickup, I would open the tailgate to see backing up. Then moved to a SUV, that was a great move, easy to see when backing, if needed open the hatch with low empty trailers. When I was a young lad, learning to drive our old Jeep, I added a front hitch along with the rear hitch. Marina next door charged one dollar to use the ramp. Took people a half hour to back up, so I started pulling a boat behind and pushing one in front for the same dollar each. Launch one, turn around and launch the other, parked the two trailers and went back up front to get two more. I was making 6 dollars an hour at a time when the going rate was 1.25 per hour. After two summers of that I could back a trailer really well ! Learn to use those mirrors !