Dyslexia Interfering With Ability To Back Up/Line Up GN to Hitch-Camera Maybe?

[ChocoMare]

I never thought my mis-wired brain would get me in this area, but it has. :( (Usually it's just numbers and math). I feel like a total idiot. :cry: Mr. C'Mare has to hitch it up for me....from there I'm fine.

So, being determined to do this by myself, I am considering breaking down and investing in a Hitch Camera but am clueless as to brands, which is better, etc. Willing to spend about $250-ish. Have seen a few on E-bay, so know that this price is doable. There is one of these: http://www.onestoptruckshop.com/ONLineOrdering/SH/SwiftHitch.htm on E-bay right now for $240 with free shipping.

Thanks.

[JoZ]

I don't have dyslexia and it took me quite a while to acquire ANY skill at hooking up the trailer. Don't ask me how I do with backing it even now (mine is a bumper-pull)!!!

If you get out of the truck, go look at where you are and what you have accomplished, and get back in the truck, can you get closer to your target? Until such time as you actually reach the correct spot? You had such good posts about getting your horse(s) to load with patience, never putting your self into a rushed situation -- I wonder if the same would work for the hitching. Perhaps you are expecting too much of yourself too quickly.

But if I'm totally off-base, I'm sorry, because I have no valuable input regarding the camera! Just that I want one for INSIDE my trailer. I wonder if a single camera could do double duty? Move it from outside to inside the trailer before departing?

[ChocoMare]

Thanks JoZ, no need to apologize.

It is severely frustrating though and I wind up in a puddle of tears, feeling like an even bigger idiot/failure.

I guess there's a part that says "You're a 43 y/o grown woman and totally capable of this. Thousands of people do it everyday." Yet, when it comes time to actually do it, I dissolve. :cry:

[Raleigh's Mom]

I feel your pain -- I get my left and right confused when backing up. Even though I have an extended cab truck, I put my seat back as far as I can (using my tippy toe to work the gas/brake) so that I can see the ball in the bed of the truck. I usually can back it right up to the gooseneck in one try now, but when I first was learning, my husband painted a line with marking paint on the tailgate and bed all the way to the ball. That helped me line up straight. Of course, the marking paint has long since worn off, but I no longer need it.

[deltawave]

I just suck at backing up the trailer, too. :sigh: Mostly I just tell myself to take my time, and make sure nobody's watching. :uhoh: I've tried those mirror things and it just seems to make it worse. So I continue to hitch up by trial and error, and leave the dang truck hitched to the trailer as much as I possibly can. :D

I don't think it's a dyslexia thing--that's all language and computation. This is a motor thing, and I'm afflicted with it, too, but not the least bit dyslexic. :sigh:

[JoZ]

It is severely frustrating though and I wind up in a puddle of tears, feeling like an even bigger idiot/failure... Yet, when it comes time to actually do it, I dissolve. :cry:

Oh, been there done that... :no: And for fun, add Cranky Old Cowboy Type Dude (aka Expert Trailer Parker) who appears from his house each time I'm trying to back the thing into its parking space and says "you're over-steering! do this/do that/turn left/turn right". Bleah. Go away and let me sweat and fret and swear and cry over this by myself!

[RedTahoe]

Maybe that's why some people keep their trucks hooked up to their GNs :lol:

I think there's another product out there that's supposed to help. It's supposed to make hitching a GN a cinch. It was advertised on RFDTV.

What about lining up your trailer and your truck, then painting a small line in the bed/tailgate and a small line on your trailer? Then you can make sure the lines are even and then get used to what it looks like when it's even.

What about this?

http://www.jeffersequine.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=1&pf_id=0028522

[ChocoMare]

What about this?

http://www.jeffersequine.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=1&pf_id=0028522

Red: I owe you a big hug. :sadsmile: Don't know how I missed seeing that in all my google searches. Showed it to hubby and he thinks that just might work for me. What a cheap way to find out too!

[RedTahoe]

It was kind of like I was trying to describe except you don't have to paint and don't have to rely on "that LOOKS right." :)

Let us know if you get it and how it works for you :)

[oldbutnotdead]

I sent you a PM.

[Nibs]

Oh oh me me!!!

I totally feel your pain. I can not look in the rear veiw mirror when I am hitching. I can only look directly at the trailer, which means alot of twisting and turning!! I also can not get my left and rights sorted out. Just practice alot and dont worry if you are taking forever to get hooked up. This is a skill not many people have, and it takes time to learn. Dont be so hard on yourself if it takes you a while.

[Bluey]

I went to Wal-Mart, bought the cheapest magnetic antenna, tied an orange plastic tape to the top of it and set it in front of the gooseneck ball.
I can see that tape just fine from the seat and line it up with the gooseneck.:cool:

I also got a cheap two step folding stool, so I can see over the too tall sides if I am lined up right and get on the bed over the side to finish hooking the chains up.:)

[ChocoMare]

Thanks so much for the encouragement. Tis nice to know I'm not alone. :sadsmile:

"Hi. I'm ChocoMare. I'm a GN hitch line up failure." :lol:

I'm gonna try the gadget Red recommended first (maybe even a home-made one using a tie-down ratchet strap). Failing that, I will definitely be calling you, Oldbutnotdead. ;)

[alabama]

I'm dyslexic, too, but my hitching problems have more to do with the fact that I have an extended bed plus a truck box so the ball is completely blocked from view. I spray painted a line (knew it wouldn't last forever on the truck mat) and that really helped.

As for backing, I'm ok at it. I don't want to back into tight spaces but in general I can get it done - UNLESS!!! you ask me to back that horrible little trailer that came with my riding mower. I jack knife that sucker every time. :lol:

[CatOnLap]

those are all super ideas for lining up the hitch. I am going to kit my truck out like that and perhaps I will no longer be "GN challenged".

[Parker_Rider]

Ugh, backing up to hitch up is bad, but backing up with the trailer is awful for me!! I just cannot wrap my brain around it. Even the whole "hand at the bottom of your steering wheel, look in side mirror" thing doesn't work.

For hitching up my gooseneck, I've found the BEST thing for me hasn't been a camera (my mom's new car has one, and while I think it's freakin' sweet, it confuses the crap out of me), but the sorority letter stickers I have on my back window. As it so happens, they line up perfectly with the hitch, and thus the center of the "point" of the gooseneck. So if my letters are in line with the neck in my rearview mirror, I'm in good condition.

However, it's a pain in the ass to figure out if I need to move left or right if I get it wrong... ugh, it sucks having to take twice or three times as long to figure out something super simple such as "move the truck left to be under the hitch." I'll let you know if I ever figure out a good pneumonic-type device to keep that straight...

[todshow]

I use a tall toilet plunger with red tape around the top. I place the plunger in front of the ball. Stripe of red tape on the trailer lines up with the tip of the plunger. I use my review mirrow to line them up. When the plunger is lined up I know I am on the ball. Remember to set your break so the truck does roll forward or backwards.

[JSwan]

Hey ChocoMare - you'll get the hang of it.

For folks having trouble maneuvering their trailer or hitching up - it's something that you can learn. It makes operating your trailer much easier, especially at shows where you might be finagling for a space.

Others can explain it better than me.... I learned to operate heavy equipment in the Army and it involved a lot of yelling and pushups. :D No need for y'all to endure that!

You can even park your trailer pretty as you please without ever turning your head - but you gotta contort your mind a little and rethink how the steering wheel is used.

We usually think of the steering wheel as an item that leads the vehicle and trailer where we want to go. Forward, turn a corner, go straight.

When maneuvering with a trailer, your steering wheel pushes you where you want to go. Don't think of it as left or right - especially if you are dyslexic. All you're doing is pushing[I][B] the trailer away.

Visualize you are sitting in the drivers seat and the trailer and vehicle are lined up straight.

Look in the drivers side mirror - you see the drivers side of the trailer and you can see the rear. You need the trailer to move to the [B][I]right.

Put your hands on the steering wheel and continue looking into the driver side mirror. Turn the steering wheel towards the mirror, gently, not too much, press on the gas a little, and push[B][I] the wheel towards the mirror, [B][I]pushing that back edge of the trailer away from you.

Look into the passenger side mirror. You will see the passenger side of the trailer slowly come into view.

Stop.

Drive forward until the vehicle and rig are straight.

Repeat the exercise, this time you will use the passenger side mirror. Look into it

Push the steering wheel towards the mirror, gently, and slowly, not too much, pushing the passenger side of the trailer away from you.

Look in your drivers side mirror - you will see the driver side of the trailer come into view.

Congratulations. You have learned to maneuver your rig.

Here are some tidbits that will help you in your trailering, make you safer on the road, and help give your horse a good, and less stressful trailering experience:

1) Be aware of your space. Know what is in front of you, to the sides, and in back. Don't be afraid to take a gander behind the trailer before deciding to back up - it may save you from running over someone's 4K saddle.:lol: Especially important if you do not have a ground guide/person outside the rig to advise you.

2) Know the turning radius of your tow vehicle; vehicles with long beds and or crew cabs usually have larger turning radii. It's not a big deal, but you should be aware of how much space the vehicle needs to turn; especially to the right. It may save you from an accident - some drivers like to pass on the right or don't realize you make a wide right turn - and they plow into you - usually broadsiding the compartment where the horses are.

3) Don't oversteer. That's a big one. We all tend to oversteer; overcorrect. Backing up or maneuvering are done slowly, and the corrections we make on the wheel are magnified. Harsh correction with the wheel means that rig is going to swing wide. Sometimes that's what you want - but usually you just want the back of the rig to go a few inches or feet - especially when parallel parking. If you have ever slid on snow, ice or hydroplaned, you know what I'm talking about. Overcorrecting is common and an instinctive reaction but the wrong thing to do.

4) If you do make a mistake and swing wide, by all means don't feel as if you need to keep doing what you're doing. Drive forward, straighten out, and try again.

5) Part of being aware of your space means also being aware of how far you can go without damaging the cab or bed of the tow vehicle. Practice, with the help of a good solid person on the ground, to develop an eye for exactly what is happening with parts of the rig you can't see from the driver's seat.

6) Ground guide safety. Your ground guide MUST ALWAYS BE VISIBLE. You MUST be able to see your ground guide in your side mirrors, or out your windows. NEVER let your ground guide get out of sight. Roll your windows down so you can hear your ground guide. Turn the radio off.

7) Ground guides - NEVER place yourself out of sight of the driver. Maintain eye contact at ALL times. Use consistent signals to ensure you give the driver good information. If the driver is not paying attention to you - get the heck out of the way and re-establish eye contact and communication.


If you can find a big area to practice you can really get good at this sort of thing. An empty parking lot, late at night, is usually really well lit and a very safe place to practice - if you can get permission to use the lot. If you can, you can put out cones or milk jugs and make yourself a little obstacle course - but drive backwards!

If you can drive your rig backwards - you can do ANYTHING driving forward. Promise. Really!

Now drop and give me 20 pushups!

:D

Happy trailering.

[ChocoMare]

Now drop and give me 20 pushups!


Maam, yes, maam! :yes:

[Paddys Mom]

My little brother taught me to place one hand at 6 o'clock on the steering wheel, look straight ahead and use my side mirrors. To back the trailer to the right, you move that 6 o'clock hand to the right.

Also, never be afraid to stop right when it all starts to go bad, and pull forward and re-establish straightness. :D

[GallopHer]

I"m not dyslexic and I can do a beautiful job backing my trailer. HOWEVER, when I try to hitch the truck to my bumper pull, it takes me forever to decide which way I need to turn the wheel to move the back of the TRUCK. My "trailering" brain takes over and I always turn the truck the wrong way. Go figure...

[ChocoMare]

Ok, while I do like the thingie from Jeffers and the toilet plunger idea, I'm still struggling because of that dag-blasted toolbox! It's pretty high, I'm kinda short and with the extended cab of the truck, I still cannot see clearly to line up the ball....even sitting on a pillow!

So I found this: http://www.horsetraileraccessorystore.com/hitchin_&_hauling.htm - scroll down to Gooseneck Ball Spotter. Since I am getting better at maneuvering purely with mirrors, I think this might work.

Whatcha think?

[sidepasser]

Practice, practice and more practice. So take it from all of us..learning to hitch up will come, especially now that you are learning about "gadgets" - lol..you may have to try different gadgets to find which one makes it easiest for you..check EBAY motors as well..I have found lots of trailer items on Ebay so you might find what you are looking for there.

All that said, I'd rather be poked in the eye with a fork than pull a bumper pull trailer, those are much harder to me to hitch, back up, and in general deal with and I've owned both..the GN..piece of cake to back compared to the bumper pull.

[KnKShowmom]

I use a tall toilet plunger with red tape around the top. I place the plunger in front of the ball. Stripe of red tape on the trailer lines up with the tip of the plunger. I use my review mirrow to line them up. When the plunger is lined up I know I am on the ball. Remember to set your break so the truck does roll forward or backwards.

Now that's the gadget for me - not only will I have a 100% first time hook up rate, but the look on my 14 year old's face will be priceless! :lol:

I can see it now - pulling out the plunger at a show so I can hook up.....

Yup, I am at the point of motherhood where those embarrassing moments mean so much!

[TheJenners]

What about lining up your trailer and your truck, then painting a small line in the bed/tailgate and a small line on your trailer? Then you can make sure the lines are even and then get used to what it looks like when it's even.

Dang, that's a good idea! Though I might be more likely to use some colored tape than paint. :eek:

[RedTahoe]

So I found this: http://www.horsetraileraccessorystore.com/hitchin_&_hauling.htm - scroll down to Gooseneck Ball Spotter. Since I am getting better at maneuvering purely with mirrors, I think this might work.

Whatcha think?

That looks like it would work. I assume the mirror clips on and isn't permanent?

[poltroon]

I've used colored duct tape on the bed to mark the center - I bet putting some on the toolbox would work. You can also try other alignment cues, like where the trailer is with respect to your bed rails.

It is just hard to learn at first. My biggest rule is that I never listen to anyone on the ground tell me how to move my wheel. I want them to tell me if I'm going to hit anything and a distance. If they try to micromanage, then I ignore them and will get out of the truck as much as necessary to see for myself and get it done.

[ReSomething]

It has been the story of my life that if I buy some nifty gizmo it will get busted or lost.
So, I suggest you add to another poster's suggestion and make yourself some alignment cues, or range markers. Range markers are what they use on runways and in channels so you can line yourself up perfectly straight. Two marks, a distance apart, that you line up. Two on the truck box that line up with the ball (even though you can't see it), then a mark on the trailer so when all three are lined up you are backing with the gooseneck heading straight towards the ball. Then, you need a second set of marks that sight diagonally across the truck bed and across the ball. If you are backing up with the straight set lined up, when the gooseneck reaches the diagonal set it will be over the ball. With a bit of practice you will be able to get exactly where you want to be in one go, and then not have to worry about the marks either.
Over the road truck drivers have it harder, yet easier. Different trailers all the time, but the keyhole opening on the fifth wheel plate is self guiding and self stopping - all you have to get is close and you can hook up.

[goeslikestink]

Thanks JoZ, no need to apologize.

It is severely frustrating though and I wind up in a puddle of tears, feeling like an even bigger idiot/failure.

I guess there's a part that says "You're a 43 y/o grown woman and totally capable of this. Thousands of people do it everyday." Yet, when it comes time to actually do it, I dissolve. :cry:

chocomare -- as iam like you but worse in some areas little tip
i used to be like you until one day a farmer mate of mine said i was doing everything to quick
so
now i go slower when backing up not that i went fast as in driving fast but more so in thinking fast- as co ordination with hands on wheel

1st when backing up or reversing round corners

its the opposite to what you do going forwards --
2nd -- if you have a small trialer most have a window at the front the hitch is in the middle of the viechile ok
now when mine was hitch up and jockey wheel up the handle was just at the start of my rear wheel which was on the back of my landy disco
so wheni backed up to hitch up i knew if i looked round to line it up with the start of my spare which i could see - i was in the right place

nver had a problem hitching up afterwards with any trailer
2nd as i knoew where the jockey wheel was then when i looked over my schoulder to revervse i knew the postion of the trailer

3rd use your wing mirrors or buy some that are extentsions to put on the front of your vechile so you can see down the sides of the trialer - in my old landy i had extra ones on the front with disco they are wide and in the right place to see both sides so make sure your wing mirrors are decent and positioned well

4th- do everthing slower sit and think and then start again but do it slower and the box will move in the direction you want it to go

funny thing is when iwas teaching debs how to tow at a very young age as she leanrt to drive early in life with an old banger doing the pooh picking with an old box trialer that you couldnt see out of the window she tens times better than me and gets in one go shes 26 now and she can tow anything big or small comes as natural to her as it does her brother but me takes me a tad longer but doesnt matter as i get the same results in the end

dont despire - practice makes perfect -- if you havent got anything behind you in your window like i have like a spare wheel then use your back wiper blade

[lintesia]

What worked for me was some reflective tape. I put a strip of it down the center of the gooseneck post and a strip on the bed of my truck. I still have to get out to check the distance from the hitch, but the alignment is 99% correct.

We also rigged up a little camera (bought it at Costco for about $50) that's attached (somewhat permanently) to the exterior of the rear window -- it points down to the hitch ball. When I want to use it, I pull out the little screen, plug the screen into the charger, plug the camera cord into the rear seat charger and then I can see the hitch ball as I'm backing up.

But I found that for all practical purposes, once I had attached the reflective tape, it was much faster to just get out of the cab for the final adjustment than to hook up the camera.

Another thing I do when I'm making the final adjustment (assuming the alignment is all set), is I'll make a mental note of how many inches I need to back-up or go forward. Then, I leave the door of the cab open and visually pick out a stone or something on the ground to look at and reference it against a spot on my running board so that I can "measure" the amount of backing I need to do. (I'm not explaining this well - sorry! Here's another attempt: Say I check my hitch and I'm off by 3" (again, the alignment has to be good, this is only for the final forward/reverse adjustment), so I need to back up another 3". When I'm back in the cab, I leave the door open and pick a visual reference to that I know when I've reversed 3". It seems to take the hit or miss element out of that final stage.)

[Equibrit]

When you have the trailer hitched up get hubby out to help you do this. When you are seated in your normal reversing position to hook up, have hubby put a piece of tape on the toolbox and another on the gooseneck that you can then line up to get the ball under the hitch. Then all you have to do is worry about getting them together. I think the camera may be even more confusing for you.