hitching/unhitching on a downward sloping driveway

[dblagsvedt]

I posted earlier about this "rookie dilemna" for being unable to unhitch my trailer when parked in a downward sloping driveway. I have included a picture to help illustrate the problem. I eventually unlocked the pin on the WDH and drove forward with the truck. Clearly not a solution. So two issues, 1) Immediately: what do I need to do to the back of the trailer to get some sembIance of leveling so that I will have a decent chance of the coupler falling on the ball at a close to 90 degree angle. The wheels are already chocked .2) What is the permanent fix if I choose to use my driveway as a storage location. Build a wide ramp with a serious incline or depends upon stablizers jacks. I am sure I am not the first one to make this rookie mistake! Thanks for any help.

[cpaharley2008]

Get a pair of B@l X Chocks

[Mike G]

Your photos make me more puzzled and confused, not less!

It looks as if the driveway slopes downward from the house... but you only have chocks behind the wheels, which suggests that it slopes downward from the street instead and you're chocked to prevent the trailer from rolling downhill into the house. But if that's so, why do you need blocks under the jack to get the trailer leveled? And why do you have 2 blocks under the jack, with the jack almost fully retracted, instead of extending the jack out farther and using only 1 (or none) block? The way it is now, if you can get the ball under the socket when you back up the vehicle, you won't have any jack space left to drop onto the ball (however, if the tongue needs to be raised to get overtop the ball, you're in good shape, and I see no problem).

To your question, I don't see why you would need to do anything to the back of the trailer (at all!) when you want to hitch or unhitch. And stab jacks won't support a trailer's weight, so you don't want to use those to raise either end.

I think we need more information! And you might want to put some chocks in front of the tires, not just behind them, unless the driveway climbs higher from there toward the street.

[Mark B1]

That slope does not look too bad. I occasionally have to leave my trailer on the sloped part of my driveway which is similar. First thing though is that your wheel chock is on the back (uphill) side of your left tire and I don't see any on the right.. You absolutely must chock the downhill, or in this case the front of the tires on both sides to prevent the trailer moving down hill. The only thing stopping your trailer from rolling down hill in the picture is the friction between the jack and the block on the driveway. I would go out and chock the wheels now before reading further.

From your picture the slope doesn't appear to me to be that bad to park without leveling the tires, but if you want them level you could back your trailer a couple feet further back than you want it and then place a 2 x 6 (or required thickness) on the ground in front of the front tire and pull the trailer forward moving the front tire onto it. The block under the jack will help with leveling.

[dblagsvedt]

I think the pictures show clearly that there is a downward slope from the street. There is a chock on both uphill slides of the trailer. I will definately choke the downhill sides.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by dblagsvedt

I think the pictures show clearly that there is a downward slope from the street.

Might be, but if that's the case then to prevent the trailer from rolling forward, the chocks need to be in the front of the tires, not the rear.

[YakRV]

Originally Posted by dblagsvedt

I think the pictures show clearly that there is a downward slope from the street.

Actually, from the pictures it looks like a downward slope TO the street. Perhaps another shot that shows the trailer, driveway, and street would help.

P.S. We’re a couple months away from receiving our very first trailer, so I anticipate having quite a few rookie mistakes of our own too. Hang in there. You’ll figure it out.

[sherminator]

You can find many posts on the forum about difficulty with unhitching the coupler on the Escapes - many have changed theirs out, often to the Bulldog brand. I too had my share of difficulties at first, and resorted to pulling the hitch pin and pulling away with the hitch assembly attached to the trailer, but I have learned a couple of things that helped me to not have to resort to that anymore:

1) After chocking my trailer and removing the WDH bars, I raise or lower the tongue until I see the hitch draw bar (the part that inserts into the receiver) has a slight gap - above and below - between it and the receiver. This means there is little to no pressure vertically between the ball and coupler.

2) I make sure my truck is parked so it is putting a little pressure on the front side of the ball - meaning pulling away from the trailer. The coupler mechanism engages the back side of the ball, and you don't want your tow vehicle to be pushing back on it.

If you have achieved those two things, you should be able to lift the coupling latch and raise the trailer off of the hitch ball. Your tow vehicle should move slightly forward as the coupler raises off the ball.

[HABBERDABBER]

As I interpret the photos, the driveway slopes towards the road and the visible chock is placed on the wrong side of the tire, to prevent the trailer rolling towards the house. Chock front and back, both sides. And yes, 1 or none shims under the front jack may be necessary.

[Ron in BC]

I would call the slope of your driveway benign. Mine slopes about the same amount away from my house,

What catches my eye is your use of the term "levelling". That isn't something that you should be doing as part of hooking up or unhooking.

Your tug and trailer should be on the same plane with the trailer wheels chocked on both sides.

Then use the tongue jack to take the weight off the spring bars until the levers are easy to undo and remove the spring bars and lower. Unlock the coupler and jack it up. Then wiggle etc., even rocking the hitch with the tug if required.

Leaving the trailer levelled for a long while loads up one axle more than the other and I don't think that's recommended'

Ron

[Civilguy]

Don,

Yes, you have a pretty healthy slope from the street down to the garage there, but there's nothing unmanageable here.

I sent you a PM. Let's connect and discuss this as I'm sure it's just a matter of talking through and understanding the sequence to get on and off the hitch there.

Regards,
Mike

[Bobbie54]

I have a downward sloping drive (very slightly down) and do often have trouble. But what I do is based partly on living on a dead-end road with a 25mph speed limit. I get the coupler on and drive .15 miles to a level turnaround and then fix it.

If the trailer is in the garage, I'm fine. Trailer level, truck isn't, still hitches up fine. Both not level-not so much.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by dblagsvedt

I posted earlier about this "rookie dilemna" for being unable to unhitch my trailer when parked in a downward sloping driveway. I have included a picture to help illustrate the problem. I eventually unlocked the pin on the WDH and drove forward with the truck. Clearly not a solution. So two issues, 1) Immediately: what do I need to do to the back of the trailer to get some sembIance of leveling so that I will have a decent chance of the coupler falling on the ball at a close to 90 degree angle. The wheels are already chocked .2) What is the permanent fix if I choose to use my driveway as a storage location. Build a wide ramp with a serious incline or depends upon stablizers jacks. I am sure I am not the first one to make this rookie mistake! Thanks for any help.

The coupler doesn't need to be level going on to the hitch ball. The coupler does need to not have any forward trailer pressure on it in order to lock / unlock it.

Hitching shouldn't be an issue as your trailer should remain chocked until hitched up. The key is to have the trailer ball toward the front of the coupler as you lower it. If the ball is too far back, it lands on top of the locking mechanism of the hitch and jams it.

Unhitching is basically what you did. Position the trailer. chock the trailer. Allow the tow vehicle to roll forward so it it not pushing back on the trailer at all. Unlock the hitch and raise the hitch until it clears the ball.

The trailer doesn't have to sit completely level in storage. Having it lean forward will actually help prevent any water pooling on the roof. The only time you have to worry about it being level is when you are precooling the refrigerator. Then you want to raise the front so it is close to level.

Something to keep in mind when using X-chocks is you are not supposed to raise or lower the trailer hitch with the X-chocks installed as this will create too much stress as the X-chocks will resist that movement.

[Bobbie54]

I think that bit that is loose inside the coupler shifts forward on a downward slope, and then it jams the closing mechanism. The coupler goes onto the ball but the lock won't go down. It shouldn't, but definitely does, make a difference if the trailer isn't level. Also, getting the perfect distance is not so easy, and is harder if you can't move the trailer back a fraction by pushing on it (I can't push mine uphill.)

[Civilguy]

The slope is downward from the street to the garage.