Reversing trailer with quad bike

[joosie]

Just... HOW??
I can't fecking do it!
I know the theory of what to do but for some reason it never works!
Anyone got an idiot's guide?

 

[silv]

The same as you would with a horse float, do you have a float? The difference is that it is a much shorter vehicle so you have to take that into consideration.

 

[joosie]

I've never towed no.

 

[meleeka]

It’s harder than a trailer and car imo. Keeping it slow is the key. Then you can make corrections as you go. Try it in an open field with a couple of cones and just keep practicing until you get it (assuming you know the correct technique).

 

[Red-1]

You label one hand 'bend' and the other 'straighten' and that helps. Except, you start with the opposite. So, I get it going, then label one bend and the other straighten. To get it going is only slight though.

I would start in a large area, turn the wheel one way then as soon as the trailer is slightly off, feel which hand bends it and which straightens it.

Most people bend it far too much to start with, once it is bent too much no amount of twinning the wheel will straighten it again, you need to drive forwards to get it all ready to start again.

Less is more!

 

[Pedantic]

Practice

 

[SpotsandBays]

Basically, think of which way you want it to go, and do the opposite of what you think you should ?

 

[JanetGeorge]

Basically, think of which way you want it to go, and do the opposite of what you think you should ?

Yep - that's about it - tractors are very similar (you justy do more damage to something when you get it wrong!) And, of course, practice!

 

[twiggy2]

Practice, as soon as the trailer starts to turn the way you want it to go start to straighten it up, go as slow as you can.
Keep practicing, it's not an easy art.

 

[Spotherisk]

Do it slowly, don’t oversteer, go just a couple of feet before stopping and assessing if it’s going the right direction. FWIW I tow a lot and I’d rather drive our Isuzu pick up with the 12’ trailer on the back around our narrow country lanes, reversing all the time, than reverse the bloody quad and poo picker onto the muck heap! Single axles are so much more difficult!

 

[doodle]

I find it easy to reverse my jeep and 511. But the quad and little trailer at work I have no chance! I can almost get it out of the yard which is a straight back and turn but that takes a while it just all seems to happen so quick. I find it hard to get the quad to move smoothly which Is the problem. It seems to rev and rev and then fires off. I have the same issue going forwards with it too. Is this a quad thing or so I just not drive it enough to master it?

 

[Spotherisk]

@Kamikaze I think it’s a quad thing!

 

[B. D]

Definitely a Quad thing - usually the tipper trailer behind the quad is a single axle and that is difficult
behind a car but behind a quad is near impossible. I just unhook mine and push it back to where it
is needed.

 

[Jambarissa]

In theory it should be much easier than your car and trailer, the larger the car wheelbase the harder it is - think artic lorries, the driving part is tiny compared to the trailer.

But it will be different, tiny movements. It's just practice and imo telling everyone to leave you alone to get in with it. I can't stand people shouting 'left hand down', what does that even mean

 

[catembi]

I **cannot** do it either! I have quad + manege grader, & when I've finished, it would theoretically be so much easier to reverse it to where it goes instead of unhitching in vaguely the right place & then shoving it by hand (it's jolly heavy). But in practice, it's easier to shove it than to get irate because I can't reverse it! I've tried tips from here before, but I fear that my brain is wired the wrong way round...

 

[94lunagem]

I can reverse my 511 on the back of my truck no problem. Give me a quad and a small muck trailer and I get in a horrendous mess.

Go backwards slowly, and if you think you’re slow enough go a bit slower. Tiny tiny adjustments. It’s easy to overcook it.

 

[Wizpop]

Just... HOW??
I can't fecking do it!
I know the theory of what to do but for some reason it never works!
Anyone got an idiot's guide?

I could’ve written this!! I can reverse a horse trailer no problem but still struggling months later to reverse on a quad bike with a trailer!

 

[LEC]

I am very good at reversing - not the quad and trailer though. It pivots too quickly even with weight in and you can’t be subtle enough with steering so I don’t bother even trying and just take trailer/grader off and move it by hand. The roller with the tractor is the same. One day I got a farming chap to have a go and he couldn’t do it and drives round serious farming kit for a living.

 

[adamntitch]

lol its defo a quad thing i dont have driving licence but can back a horse trailer no probs comes to quad and am lost lol all on private land before some one moans

 

[fidleyspromise]

For over a year I tried and tried in the middle of the field, just reversing straight while beside a fence and nothing worked. I got so frustrated. I used little movements and that trailer went any which way it had a mind to go except how I wanted it to go.

I gave up reversing it and got my partner to do it but I was there myself, didn't need to reverse it but it would make life easier and wouldn't you know it, it just worked. I was so over the moon but will I be lucky again? Who knows.

 

[Steerpike]

I can reverse our buggy quad thing and water bowser easier than my horse trailer, I can reverse the horse trailer at home but when I'm out I think I'm paranoid people will watch me reverse with the horse trailer and I get flustered and mess it up!

 

[Highmileagecob]

With a steering wheel, you can centre the wheels, put a strip of tape round the steering wheel at 6 o'clock, and whichever direction the tape is pointing, is the direction the trailer will go when you start to reverse. Can you rig something similar on the quad?