Backing a trailer down a ramp

The technique

1. Set up straight and square before you start reversing. Most bad launches are a bad approach, not bad reversing.
2. Use the mirrors, not the rear window: you need to see both trailer sides and the lane edges.
3. Hand at the bottom of the wheel. Move it the way you want the trailer to go — this is the one trick worth internalising.
4. Small inputs, then straighten. A trailer responds slower than the wheel and then keeps going.
5. Correct early. Once the angle opens past about 30 degrees you will not recover it in reverse.
6. When it jackknifes: stop, pull forward until the rig is straight, start again. That is not failure, it is the procedure.

Ramp-specific problems

• A crowned or off-camber approach pulls the trailer downhill; expect to hold a slight correction the whole way.
• A steep ramp hides the trailer below the tailgate line. Get out and look rather than guessing.
• On a wet slope, algae above the waterline is more slippery than the water. Reverse in low range if you have it, and do not spin the wheels.
• At night, the lane edges are the thing you cannot see. A ramp with published lighting is worth choosing.

Practise in an empty lot with cones, at a quiet hour, before you learn on a Saturday with six rigs waiting. Nobody was born knowing this and everyone pretends otherwise.