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Hi,

We bought our first caravan this year and enjoy it a lot. However we have 1 big problem. When reversing the van all is ok in a straight line and slight alterations but if I try to do a sharp reverse turn the car turns ok but the van stays stationary and eventually the corner of the van will hit the car ! Eg full left lock on the car....car turns and reverses but hitch stays in same place and the turns so eventually the corner of the van touches the car and the van just hasnt moved an inch. What am I doing wrong ? The van/car  has a std (but old) ball hitch on it.

Many thanks

Andy

Sounds like you are putting full lock on your steering when trying to turn the van. Try starting further forward and introducing the steer into the reverse, as the rear starts to come around you can correct it as required.

The fact that you are touching the van with your car is worrying.

Chewie

Yes...but I have seen others do fairly tight moves (eg reverse into a pitch from the road) There is no way I could accomplish this...Should my problem happen ? Obviously the van shouldnt touch the car so something must be wrong I guess ....is the hitch too loose for example ?

ta...andy

Hi,

Get out to a car park/industrial estate on a Sunday when its quiet. Just have a go and see what happens, get used to seeing how the van reacts to various movement of the steering wheel.

Both Mrs Ulti-Mate and myself have attended a Caravan Club manouvering course and it was a great confidence booster, although lots of practice helps as well.

From a straight line turn the wheel and see how it starts to push the van around on it's axis. Once the van starts to turn you change the lock on the car to "follow" the van through the turn. It is not magic, just practice.

I don't get it right every time, but after three years I get it right more than I get it wrong.

Mr Ulti-Mate

The courses are well worth it! I still get it wrong though, it needs practise! You should not pull full lock on straight away, put a little on and watch the van come round, it does'nt always need much lock!

We used to be able to reverse into our drive but a combination of bigger van and more cars in the close made it quicker to unhitch and push it on the drive! Now we have a motor mover as we are getting older and backs can get hurt!

There's a technique to reversing with a van, something to do with putting your hands on the bottom of the wheel, watching the van in the mirror and turning the wheel either the opposite way to that you want the van to go, or in the same direction! - someone on here must know the proper details.  I can do it when sitting in the car, but here at the computer can't remember how!!!   You also need to get the position right before you start turning and don't try too tight a reverse from a standing start.

You are on the right lines, Val.  If you hold the steering wheel at the bottom, and watch the van through your rear view mirror, you pull the wheel in the direction you want the van to go.  For the van to go right, pull the bottom of the wheel right, and so on.  As soon as the van is at the angle you want it to be, in relation to the car, bring the wheels gently over to the opposite lock, so that car and van coninue backwards without the angle between them changing.

The reason why a caravan is more difficult to reverse, is because the distance from the van wheels to the car's rear wheels is not much more than the wheel base of the car itself.  This means that the van will respond wildly to very small turns of the steering wheel.

Have you noticed how articulated lorries are expertly manoeuvred into tight places? Note how far along the trailer the rear wheels are, and the short wheelbase of the traction unit.  It would be so much easier if the caravan wheels were at the rear end, but there would be a hell of a weight on the towball.   And the van chassis itself would need to be a lot heavier.

Bertie.

Whichever way you feel at ease, Dont rush it and if its not going the right way pull forward and try again, It'll suddenly 'happen' that you can do it as you practise. I sometimes drive a wagon and drag with a front bogey axle on the trailer so have two swivel points and can quite easily turn the air blue when reversing.

I've never reversed a caravan (newbie getting into this) but spen many years driving tractors and trailers.

It is all about practice - as said above, start in a staright line (or a slight turn the way you want to reverse) and then just 'guide' the caravan back with small turns of the wheel.  Remember to turn the wheel in the opoosite direction to the way you want to turn.

Personally, I would never use a full lock unless the turn in is really really tight.

If you want a real challenge, reverse a trailer with a turning axle at the front of the trailer, with a fixed axle at the back - for a real challenge, add another of these trailers on the back of the first.  I could only do it when the trailers were empty and I could see all corners!