I'm picking up my towbars today and they will be getting fitted this week. After mentioning to a couple of people about towing a trailer they mentioned fitting an extra wheel (jockey wheel???) Will this make it easier for a first time tower? I have visions of me turning corners and forgetting it's there and having a nasty accident.
Not heard of fitting extra wheels to a small trailer, and Mr Know it All Richard is away at the moment. (To give him his due he's spent 20 something years as a Heavy Goods fitter so does know something.)
Seriously a small trailer is not difficult to tow. We got ours last year and I have been made to get used to towing it - including motorway towing. The trailer will follow the car - provided the trailer is narrower than the car - if the car fits through a gap so will the trailer. I take corners slightly wider that normally - but not a noticeable amount. If pulling in or out of gaps, you've got to remember that you're going to need the extra length for the trailer.
When we first got our trailer I took it around some quiet road just to get use the the fact that I had a trailer on my back. Then I did a run to the local tip. Couple of weeks later - loaded up ready to go camping and Richard phoned to say he was delayed - I had no option but to tow 70 miles in rush hour traffic. The only thing that I haven't master yet is reversing - sort of on the agenda when I get round to it.
Marie, I havent even driven with my trailer yet but years of watching parents pull boats means I know something. You will need a jockey wheel if the trailer or load will be particularly heavy or if you need to do lots of manoeuvering (spl).
If its just for camping you should be able to move the trailer yourself or you could unload and then move it. We plan to stick all the heavy stuff in the trailer (not overloading it!) and then we will just have to take some stuff out when we get to a site if its too heavy for us all to move.
Only other thing I would recommend is that you make sure you have a spare wheel (I work for a breakdown company dealing mostly with Landrovers and we get many calls from people with no spare - its not an insurmountable problem but it causes many difficulties). and make sure you you get your vehicle breakdown cover extended if you can to cover the trailer.
Hi Marie, a jockey wheel will only make it easier when hitching or unhitching a heavy trailer or moving it around when full. during travel the Jockey wheel is either removed or lifted up and locked in place on the drawbar. As said earlier due to the small size of a camping trailer it will follow wherever you lead with the car. I would also say that reversing with a small trailer is not the easiest thing in the world as the wheels on the back of the car and on the trailer are very close together, far easier to just unhitch it and push it into the position before starting to unload, that is where the jockey wheel comes in handy, especially if everyone else has made a mad dash for the nearest hiding place to get away from the work of setting up!
As dawn says, a good idea to make sure your car breakdown insurance covers you for a small trailer.
If you need any spare parts, wheel and tyre for one then to date Towsure has always been one of the best on price. As for forgetting its there, our kids always told me it had fallen off, just as well I kept half an eye on the mirror. My grandaughter cried when we unhitched the caravan at a site. She wanted to keep it on the car cos it looked lonely on its own on the grass! Thankfully she has grown a bit and now understands the concept of a hoose on wheels!
one thing no-one's mentioned is to hook the safety cable (failsafe in case the hitch fails) round something other than the bracket, use the car's towing eye.
regarding reversing and manouvering etc, take yourself and the trailer to a resonably empty carpark or industrial estate and practice put down a few cones so by the time you go onsite you will be able to do it like a pro.
you find most small trailers you can`t see them from inside the car so rev is a issue you cant see it to see whats its doing, unless you put 2 flags onthe rear of it.
The two flags is something I was going to get when we bought our trailer, but somehow never got round to. Really must get up to Halfords - they have those for bike trailers/extentions at a reasonable price.
Yes have to agree with breakaway cable but when you talk to experianced towers they say unless the trailer is braked independently there is no point in having a break away chain on???? is this right.
------------- Lifes all the better when you get old!!!!!!!
from a mechanical point of view you would feel the hitch failing, the cable should technically keep the thing attached to the car plus you will see the trailer moving around. should allow you to make it to the side of the road but would imagine the bumper of the car will be trashed. Without the cable the A frame will immediately it the ground and probably the trailer will start bounding over end over end and will either hit the back windscreen of the car or go into oncoming traffic. Nasty
this has never happened to me while towing (thank god, try to avoid towing and hire a van if I need to shift anything) but looking at the basics of it that is what I reckon will happen
hope I havent put the fear of death into any of you, best advice is to check all fixings carefully, torque on bolts etc if anything looks ropey replace it
the breakaway there so the dam thing if it ever does come off wont hit on comming traffic or the vehicals behine, and stops a real nasty mess, yes i seen small trailers come unhitched stupid sunday drivers visting the local tip, they hokk up and drive off first bump its off.
Make sure you get a spare wheel, i got a punture on the motorway, no spare lukily breakdown took me to a garage and got a new tyre, i didnt even feel the puncture, but the breakdown who i am in said it is illegal to tow with out a spare, i dont know if this is correct but i would get one definatly
Always use a safety chain on a small trailer and the breakaway cable on a braked trailer. A trailer that brakes loose will demolish a stationary car, I have picked up the aftermath of such an accident, thankfully the car that it landed in was empty, if there had been anyone in it they would have certainly been severly disabled if they had survived at all.
In addition to the jockey wheel query:
If there is no jockey wheel fitted to the trailer then it should have a skid bracket to prevent the hitch from touching the ground when not on the car.
This is a requirement of all new trailers but advisable for older trailers anyway.
Part No C193 £1.95 from Towsure
Although I'm sure most people will have the skills to make one.