In a Jam - unhook/rehook to get out of jam.

[tuffr2]

Just wondering if anyone else has done this. It does not happen much but when it does unhooking and rehooking helps a lot.

I have done this twice. Once with a 5th wheel and once with a travel trailer.

With the 5th wheel I took a wrong turn and ended up on a narrow dirt road with deep ditches on both sides. I found a bad place to turn around with deep ditches. Anyway I got 3/4 of the way turned around but just could not make it. I had to disconnect, position the truck better and rehooked to get out of that jam.

With my travel trailer I got wedged between trees and had to disconnect the truck to reposition it to get out of that jam.

I imagine boondockers do this more often than campground campers. I was a campground camper and did this twice.

[kdauto]

I can't remember doing it. I have gotten in really bad situations where I needed to U-turn on a 2 lane dirt road or forest service road. I have always found a way out, and there's a trick in wiggling back and forth with a long bed and clearance.

I do however scrub the tires like hell, and that seems to scare the heck out of people here. Never broke a spring hanger, frame, leaf spring axle, nothing. I guess there are better fabricated units than others. I have turned well past 90 degrees countless times.

[tuffr2]

I only scrubbed the tires bad 1 time and I was watching - and it did not look good. The tires were whopper jawed pretty bad.

Probably why I only did it once.

Sent from my SM-G930V using iRV2 - RV Forum mobile app

[kdauto]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

I only scrubbed the tires bad 1 time and I was watching - and it did not look good. The tires were whopper jawed pretty bad.

Probably why I only did it once.

Sent from my SM-G930V using iRV2 - RV Forum mobile app

They are made for it,so as long as I'm running the appropriate pressure, it doesn't bother me.

[4x4ord]

My philosophy is: If I can drive in, I can back out. I have had to back up a mile towing a 55 foot trailer in the past. At least the narrow road was straight so I was able to back up at about 30 mph. It only took about 2 minutes.

[DR60]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

Just wondering if anyone else has done this. It does not happen much but when it does unhooking and rehooking helps a lot.

I have done this twice. Once with a 5th wheel and once with a travel trailer.

With the 5th wheel I took a wrong turn and ended up on a narrow dirt road with deep ditches on both sides. I found a bad place to turn around with deep ditches. Anyway I got 3/4 of the way turned around but just could not make it. I had to disconnect, position the truck better and rehooked to get out of that jam.

With my travel trailer I got wedged between trees and had to disconnect the truck to reposition it to get out of that jam.

I imagine boondockers do this more often than campground campers. I was a campground camper and did this twice.

If I can get out without damage to either TV or TT I'm not against it. I used to move well drilling equipment. When I would haul it in it was mostly open fields, but when hauling it out there were now trenches, ditches, ponds, and pipelines to move around. And deep mud. Sometime the best answer is to get a better angle. DR

[bigchick]

been there, done that.

i had to drop the 5th wheel and then rehook up at almost a 90 degree angle to the trailer. but it worked!

[tuffr2]

Wow, 90 degrees is a lot. I only needed about 25 degrees each time.

[Old-Biscuit]

Stopped to visit a friend in Sequim WA
He had wide driveway where we could park and not interfere with their comings/goings

Only issue was the entrance to driveway was one car width and went over a deep ditch
Road was narrow with deep/wide ditches on both sides so backing in was not working ----truck front end would drop off into ditch or backing of trailer would

So I pulled in then turned truck /front of trailer. Dropped the 5vr/repositioned/dropped the 5vr/repositioned repeat until I was 'backed in' on his driveway
*Leaving was easy...just had to pull out

Had to drop and reposition truck one other time in a rusty CG where approach was way off kilter -----bed rail contact tilt
Backed in/dropped 5vr then repositioned so truck was on high side and finished parking 5vr.
Pulling out had to reverse the procedure

[tuffr2]

I went thru some decision making before I decided to unhook. Can I make it or not ? Trying to figure all the angles and space needed. I had a F-450 with the better turning radius but also an 8' bed making the rig extra long. For the travel trailer that I had in the woods I had to look at low hanging branches. All in all I consider oth cases 'lucky' I was able to pull it off.

Old-Biscuit - I bet you really had to figure exactly what you had to do. Multiple unhook/rehooks is not easy plus staying out of the ditch. Like how close to the ditch can you get? Or better yet, how much of the ditch can you use.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

I went thru some decision making before I decided to unhook. Can I make it or not ? Trying to figure all the angles and space needed. I had a F-450 with the better turning radius but also an 8' bed making the rig extra long. For the travel trailer that I had in the woods I had to look at low hanging branches. All in all I consider oth cases 'lucky' I was able to pull it off.

Old-Biscuit - I bet you really had to figure exactly what you had to do. Multiple unhook/rehooks is not easy plus staying out of the ditch. Like how close to the ditch can you get? Or better yet, how much of the ditch can you use.

There were only couple inches of shoulder before dropping off into ditch and it was a deep/wide ditch due to the amount of rain fall each year.

4 set of eyes watching and it was decided best to pull in and do the unhook/hook ups as needed.

[Rhagfo]

Nope, never had to do that, I just backed out. Once at WSU campus for an Apple Cup game, backed up about a block and a half to turn the right direction.

[vroom_vroom]

I have to do it on occasion to get it to where it needs to be in our driveway from the street. Even more so if there are other cars parked out. Most of the situations are caused by the poor turning radius of the trucks we all use.

However, I have done it enough I can tell when it’s going to be a problem pretty quick. If a second attempt at it isn’t going to work that’s where I draw the line and drop it and reposition. It goes significantly quicker that fighting your tow pigs limitations.

[tuffr2]

You know you are RV'ing when you are going inch by inch to see if you can make it or not before deciding to unhook/rehook.