Winching a trailer into place... Insanity?

[Eville Edna]

Ok, so we bought the camper. Mint condition 2008 Fleetwood E1. She is sweeeee-eeet. But I can't get her where I need her to go.

My driveway is steep and that's why we got an offroad trailer so it wouldn't bottom out. At the top, we have a rounded 3 way junction basically. You go up one side, to the right is a turn into the garage and straight ahead of you is a 12 foot long area we use for storage and backing the cars out of the garage before going down the driveway and out. We want to store the trailer in this 12ft space but we spent 3hrs with our Ridgeline going in and out of the driveway trying to turn the trailer around so we could back it into the spot. Et Voila! Except not. Nowhere near.

After 3 hours we realised we're about 10ft short of space to get the turn. So, this was suggested. Take it up the driveway, jack-knife it around as far as we can (which is about half the turn we need to get it lined up to this space.) and using a winch installed on the back, winch it the rest of the way into the space leaving the the tow coupler in the right place, truck ready to take it down the drive and out for the next time. We have spoken to an off-road place and they reckon a 5000lb (?) winch secured on a plate at the back of the trailer would do the trick.

Is this utter insanity?
Has anyone any experience of doing anything like this?

In the attached images, the truck is where I want the PUP to go.

If this doesn't work I need to find storage elsewhere of get a pad constructed at the bottom of the driveway but I have a loopy neighbour whom I don't trust at all.

Tx

 

[neighbormike]

I would just try backing the camper up the driveway, personally.... Of course this is without seeing what you're up against.

 

[PopUpSteve]

Go to an empty parking lot and practice, practice, practice!

 

[chambo]

Attach the winch to the back of the PUP? You'll need to do something to reinforce whatever it attaches to, or have a stockpile of spare bumpers. A winch could do the trick and it's been done before. But if you can drive it out of that spot I don't see why you couldn't back it into that spot with some practice. But like neighbormike said, I'm not seeing what you're up against.

 

[Katskamper]

can you mount the winch to the park pad location.?
ive thought about it for mine. i cant push it over the 1/2 inch lip to my garage.

 

[xxxapache]

A front mounted hitch would probably let you push it where you want it.

 

[LjohnSaw]

So, did you go up the driveway with the trailer in tow? Pull into the garage and then tried to back the trailer into the turn-around? How long is the approach to the garage? 10', 15', 20'? How wide is your garage? Single or double? If you have at least 10' from the drive way to the garage opening and a double garage, you should be able to do it.

 

[Eville Edna]

I would just try backing the camper up the driveway, personally.... Of course this is without seeing what you're up against.

It’s 150ft at least 30% incline, probably more like 40%. It’s always been a problem with the property and I just don’t think the Ridgeline in reverse has the grunt to do it without screwing up the drivetrain.

 

[Eville Edna]

A front mounted hitch would probably let you push it where you want it.

That's a suggestion we haven't had yet. Tx

 

[Eville Edna]

Attach the winch to the back of the PUP? You'll need to do something to reinforce whatever it attaches to, or have a stockpile of spare bumpers. A winch could do the trick and it's been done before. But if you can drive it out of that spot I don't see why you couldn't back it into that spot with some practice. But like neighbormike said, I'm not seeing what you're up against.

It’s an off-road camper with a 6x2 steel frame. There’s gotta be somewhere that will work.

 

[Sjm9911]

Pictures of what tou got. Pretty sure you can get it there, might take some practice though.

 

[Eville Edna]

can you mount the winch to the park pad location.?
ive thought about it for mine. i cant push it over the 1/2 inch lip to my garage.

The driveway curves about 45 degrees so I don’t have a straight run for the winch. I thought it might be possible but we’d have to have a second one to get it to its final position.

 

[Eville Edna]

So, did you go up the driveway with the trailer in tow? Pull into the garage and then tried to back the trailer into the turn-around? How long is the approach to the garage? 10', 15', 20'? How wide is your garage? Single or double? If you have at least 10' from the drive way to the garage opening and a double garage, you should be able to do it.

Yes. With the truck fully in the corner of the garage the pup was still on the slope side of the driveway. It’s a tight double garage and the manoeuvres got us uncomfortably close to the building structure very quickly. Also all the shunting made the truck overheat as The trailer was always on the steep incline. It’s a bitch. When we get anything delivered people drive up, park, then reverse straight down.

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

rent a storage space for the trailer

 

[jmkay1]

Is there a way to take a picture or video of what your up against? It’s very difficult to know what your describing. How difficult would it be to build a separate parking pad for the camper in an a more straighter section of the driveway? My uncle had a long steep drive way himself with an too sharp of a left turn at the end. He ended up making a small parking pad on the straighter section of his driveway. Slight right of it. Kind of parallel of it. It was still difficult to Back into with the hill, but it wasn’t impossible. The pad itself was only gentled but still a hill. With good chocks he was able to park his horse trailer there.

 

[Dingit]

My dad put a hitch on the front of his old CJ5 with the sole purpose of taking over parking the trailer at home once things get too tight for his TV. That man can back a trailer anywhere, but sometimes it's just not physically possible. It's not a bad option!

I'm not sure of the actual situation you have, but if it's almost flat once you get it up there, a geared trailer dolly like "Trailer Valet" might be enough.

 

[Toedtoes]

A hitch on the front of the vehicle might work.

Other options:

If you have an ATV or riding lawn mower, you might be able to use that to move it into the final position once you get it up the hill.

Or get a dolly to manually push it into the final position.

 

[joet]

A front mounted hitch would probably let you push it where you want it.

I will second this. I can push a trailer into places that you would think impossible

 

[Overland]

I will second this. I can push a trailer into places that you would think impossible

Agreed..

I worked in a Marina as a younger man, front mounted ball will allow you to put it exactly where you'd like.

Show us a pic..

 

[mpking]

@Eville Edna, you can screenshot Google Map's satellite photo, and post it. (Try not to have your address on the screen, or cut it out with Paint)

That would help with us trying to understand.