My Airstream friends from the Long Long Honeymoon have a great video up about their six best hitching tips. These tips focus on their 25 foot Airstream Classic travel trailer, but their tips can benefit anyone who tows a camper. While most teardrop trailers under 1,500 lb. will not have brakes and won't need anti-sway bars, any way that you can be safer on the road will be appreciated.
The best thing about the video is hot and sexy intro.
Here are a few of my own tips for hitching up your teardrop trailer.
1. Stay focused
When hitching up your camper, pay close attention to what you are doing. Don't get distracted by partners, children, pets, neighbors, your phone or another task. Focus on getting the hitch coupler fully around the hitch ball and locked down. Make sure your chains are crossed and completely hooked and locked onto the hitch receiver. Double check your wiring connections, lights and signals.
2. Watch your weight
Because most teardrop trailers are on a single axle, any weight that is put too far towards the back can make the trailer fall backwards or tilt dangerously toward the rear. In addition, too much weight towards the front can make it more difficult to hitch up correctly. In fact, we will load our heaviest item (our ice chest) onto the front cargo rack after we are safely hitched up.
3. Double, triple and continuously check your connections
When you are towing, being a little OCD is a benefit. Every time we stop at a gas station, restaurant or campground, we check our electrical connections, the hitch ball and the chains. Sometimes we will each do our own check in case someone misses something. If you are a first time teardropper, having a written checklist with you is also very helpful.
As a long time RV'r I can say these are common errors people make. Good information.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's easy enough to say, "I got this." However, if you have not hitched up in a while, details can get fuzzy.
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