1. Realize that backing up a trailer requires preemptive motion of the towing vehicle to move the trailer in the correct direction. A pre-planned route is required, keeping in mind the direction of the trailer, the direction of the towing vehicle, any object in the immediate vicinity of the driving path, and the relative motion between all involved objects.
2. Place one hand on the steering wheel and turn your body and head to watch behind you and at your trailer.
3. Turn the wheel to the left to make the trailer go left (as you are looking toward the front of the vehicle). Another way to look at it is, the bottom of the steering wheel directs the trailer. Facing backwards tends to help the backwards feel of steering the trailer.
4. Turn the trailer around a corner by steering (in the manner above) the trailer toward the corner, then you must steer somewhat in the opposite direction to maintain the turning angle.
5. The most common backup is a right angle. If possible, back the trailer to the driver's side (e.g. to the left in a left-hand drive car) not the passenger side, which is harder to see. The following instructions are for left-hand drive:
6. As you approach the space, pull past it, turn right to the middle of the road, >then turn the vehicle sharply left, so that you are positioned at an angle (less that 180 degrees on the left hand side as if you have been driving forwards round a left hand bend).
7. Place your hands at the bottom of the wheel and as you reverse adjust the steering wheel to keep the trailer travelling in the right direction.
8. It is important not to get the truck and trailer jackknifed, so do not let the turn go to far. Ideally, you can back into the space in one smooth motion. You almost always will have to stop, pull forward to achieve a more straight reverse.
9. Back and pull forward as often as necessary until you are home.
10. Oddly enough, the most difficult part of the process is having many people watch you, waiting for you to screw up.

Tips

• Practice in an empty space (parking lot). Buy some small orange cones to help spot you.
• A spotter may be helpful as another pair of eyes behind the trailer will be able to see things you (as the driver) cannot.
• Go slow! If something unexpected happens, stop the vehicle and figure out what needs to be done before taking any action.
• Short trailers are more maneuverable and responsive, thus more difficult to reverse. Longer trailers are more forgiving of mistakes, but will take more work to get around a corner.
• Try learning with a long trailer, then attempt a small trailer. Whenever you are learning be sure to take it slow.
• Invest in a set of short range 2-way radios. This will make communications a lot easier than yelling and/or trying to listen to a spotter.
• Don't be afraid to stop, get out, and look to see where you are. It's better to stop numerous times to check where you are than to pay to fix damage to your trailer/truck/someone else's stuff.
• One way to think about the movement is that your vehicle's rear wheels are the steering wheels for the trailer (imagine that the trailer has four wheels, the front steering ones actually being the vehicle's rear wheels). So, to make your trailer move in the right direction, you need to have the angle between the tailer wheels and the vehicle's rear wheels correct. Therefore, first use the vehicle's steering wheels to get the trailer and the vehicle's rear wheels at the right angle (by turning the steering wheel the "wrong" way), then you can reverse in the direction you really want to go.

Warnings

This article was orignally posted here.