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Quote: Originally posted by Fozzer on 15/4/2010... how do you check brake lights are working correctly before towing single handed.

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Quote: Originally posted by G7ACU on 15/4/2010

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Quote: Originally posted by Fozzer on 15/4/2010... how do you check brake lights are working correctly before towing single handed.

It's not that common for me to hitch solo, but when I've had to I find the hitch lock a suitable weight to hold my brake pedal down to check the lighting. As for indicators, click em on and get out to look.

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Saw an amazing piece of solo hitching yesterday. Folks down the road are moving. They have had a twin axel in the drive for some years which never moved (shame) and had arranged for a local caravan repairer to take it off their hands. He hitched the van to the front of a land rover and, driving that forward, backed the caravan down our narrow street to an adjoining street. Unhitched and the land rover moved. Then another driver in a transit moved his van down the street ready to reverse to the van to hitch up. Now the transit had a fully painted back including the windows so he could not use his interior mirror to look back. Put vehicle in reverse, straight back at a steady speed and then just stopped right under the hitch. Jumped out, dropped the hitch and drove off.

Never drove slowly back, didn't jump out to see how close he was to the hitch....none of this forward backward stuff...didn't have to lug the caravan to the tow ball...just straight back, stop and drop. Brilliant job.

Phil

We have a mover on the caravan.  On the horse trailer we have this. 

I quite like the idea of a video baby monitor for the interior of the horse trailer ( as long as they are not mains powered ).

Quote: Originally posted by cwdc56768 on 16/4/2010

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... hitched the van to the front of a land rover and .. he could not use his interior mirror to look back...

Phil

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I very rearely use the car for manoeuvring since we bought a motor mover. So easy to walk alongside the A-frame and take the van right up to the car's towball.  The main advantages are being able to slip the van onto tight pitches without bother, and it greatly reduces clutch wear (modern clutch discs are much more prone to wear since asbestos was removed from their manufacturing process).  At home we have no choice in any case. The van has to go in "head first" between tall gates with only 2" clearance max. per side.

Bertie.

Quote: Originally posted by cwdc56768 on 16/4/2010

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Saw an amazing piece of solo hitching yesterday... Now the transit had a fully painted back including the windows so he could not use his interior mirror to look back. Put vehicle in reverse, straight back at a steady speed and then just stopped right under the hitch. Jumped out, dropped the hitch and drove off.

Never drove slowly back, didn't jump out to see how close he was to the hitch....none of this forward backward stuff...didn't have to lug the caravan to the tow ball...just straight back, stop and drop. Brilliant job.

Phil

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Quote: Originally posted by Fozzer on 15/4/2010Sorry if this seems a daft question but how do you check brake lights are working correctly before towing single handed.

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Quote: Originally posted by LegsDownKettleOn on 16/4/2010

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It's easier to "fiddle" the check on the caravan, you can put a feed onto the 12n pin and check them without the need to even have the car present.

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I line up the high level brake light with the centre screen in our van - as I see it in the rear view mirror, when we had the Folding Camper I put a square of bright tape on the front & lined up the high level brake light in this - worked ok