[TITLE & MUSIC]
Hi there smart drivers, Rick with smart drive
test talking to you today about how to
hook up a trailer. And this is for ball
and hitch assembly, this isn't for pintle
hook or fifth wheel hook. Now just
before we get started here, if you're a new
driver working towards a license or
you're starting a career as a truck or
bus driver, hit that subscribe button for
all the great information that will help
you to pass your license and get you
started as a CDL driver. So today we're
going to talk about towing a trailer. It
really extends the capacity of your
vehicle. You can tow a utility trailer, RV
trailers, or boat trailers. all of that is
really good. We're not going to talk
about sway bars today. And most of the new RV
trailers are going to have sway bars on
them. So today, it's just ball and hitch
assembly. As well, make sure that you have
a look down in the description if you
don't know anything about towing
capacity, pin weight, tongue weight, or
overall gross vehicle weight and gross
axle vehicle weights. All that is in that
video and that will keep you safe when
you're towing a trailer. Because that can
really affect the handling and stability
of your vehicle when you're towing a
trailer if you don't have those weights
right. So have a look at that to be safe
on the roadway. The other thing about
trailers - if you've got them parked
around and those types of things you want to
have a pin lock on them. And if you have them
in an area where you're not quite too
sure about it, as well get a wheel lock
for your trailer so this doesn't go away
by itself. And have a look down in the
description there, you can find the links
to the pin and wheel locks down in the
description. lf you just have a
pin lock on the trailer, what happens is the
thieves - they just wrap a chain around
the tongue and then they just tow it
away and they cut the pin lock off it
whenever they get it to a garage or
whatnot.
So a lot of times you might want to
consider having a wheel lock on as well.
Now the three main components on hooking up:
1) a ball and hitch - you have got the hitch
assembly with just the lever on the top
here that sets it down on the ball. And
you need the right size ball for your
trailer, and we'll talk about that more
in the body of the video. You have the
jack for the front of the trailer. You
have an electrical connection and as
well you have safety chains. And we're
going to show you how to hook all of
that up today. So stick around, we'll be
right back with that.
[INTRO & MUSIC]
Hi there smart drivers, welcome back. Rick with Smart
Drive Test talking to you today about
hooking up a trailer. As I talked about
in the introduction, you can rent utility
trailers and you can rent recreational
trailers for camping in the summertime
and for cleaning up your yard. You can
use a utility trailer that you can rent
from U-haul or the local rental shop -
they will have trailers. Now the first
thing that U-Haul is going to do when
you go and rent a trailer from them--
they're really inexpensive, they're only
about twenty or thirty bucks--is they're
going to look at your trailer hitch. And
they're going to make sure that your
trailer hitch has the capacity to tow the trailer
behind your vehicle. And the trailer
hitch is capable of towing that trailer. So
there's a weight rating, as you can see
here in the image on the trailer hitch
for towing a trailer. And U-Haul, from
personal experience, will not rent you a
trailer if this is not stamped on the
trailer hitch. Now, first thing when
you're hooking up the trailer is get
some gloves. Because this will just
protect your hands against metal slivers
and those types of things, because let me
tell you, if you get a metal sliver in
your fingers and whatnot, it really hurts.
And as well, it'll protect you from pinch
points because when you're hooking up a
trailer there's lots of pinch points
with the inserts, at the trailer the jack
handle, and all of those types of things.
So first thing, get some gloves and protect
your hands. And you might even want to
put on a pair of safety glasses and
those types of things. Now just as a note,
this is just for a ball hitch assembly
on how to hook this up. This is not for
pintle hook or fifth fifth wheel. And I
do not have the sway bars on my trailer
so I'll see if I can find a trailer that
has sway bars on it and I'll do another
video for you in terms of sway bars. Now
the first thing you got to do--and I don't
recommend that you drive around with the
insert (receiver) in the back of your trailer hitch.
Take it out and stow it in the vehicle
somewhere. And essentially the insert (receiver) as
you can see, is the ball part. And when
you're hooking up to a trailer you got
to figure out what kind of hitch is on
the trailer and how big the ball you
need
to tow that trailer. The most common is
probably a two inch trailer hitch. And
for those of you that have a different ball
size, just leave a comment down in the
comment section there and tell us what
kind of trailer you're hauling. That just
helps out all the new drivers and smart
drivers who are getting into trailering
and towing trailers to extend
the capacity of their vehicle. And that
gives us more information for
towing trailers. So it's got a pin on it
here that holds it into the trailer
hitch assembly here on the back. And it's
got a lock pin so you just pull the lock
pin out here, pull the pin out and then
slide this into the back of the hitch
assembly and just pull it out so you get
the pin in and then put the locking pin
in and make sure it's locked. And that's
all you do to put the insert (receiver) into the
back of the truck. Now the next thing we
need to do is, we need to figure out the
height of the truck and trailer to make
sure that the trailer is the right
height to get the ball hitch
underneath the tongue of the trailer. So
essentially all I do is I just bring it
up to my leg here and I just hold my
hand on it and then I walk over to the
trailer and make sure that the trailers
at the right height above the top of
that ball hich so I'm not going to bang
into it when I back up to it. So I just
walk over to the trailer here. And then I
was up to here because I got a pocket on
here so I knew where it was. So I need to
crank the trailer up a fair bit here
before I back the truck up underneath
the trailer. And it needs to go up a fair
height here and I just need to go up to
about here, which there should be about
good. And then I need to unlock the
trailer hitch here. And you want to have
a trailer...a lock on your hitch. You know,
so that people aren't driving away
with your trailer. This little lock
assembly, it's made of brass so it
doesn't rust and I picked this up at the
local locksmiths for about $20. The
trailer, you know--RV places and trailer
hitch places will have these kinds of
lock hitches. as well and if you're
working with a utility trailer and
you're in a neighborhood that you
know, maybe you don't quite trust and
those types of things - know that a lock
hitch probably isn't going
to protect you because thieves,
essentially all they do is put a chain
on the front of your trailer and then
they drag it away. And then they cut the
lock off later. So you're probably going
to need a wheel lock assembly as you can
see here in the image. And that will stop
your trailer from driving off by itself.
So we got the trailer at the right
height and now we just unlock this hitch.
We can leave this sitting here for now [SETTING THE LOCK AND KEYS ON TONGUE]
And now what we're going to do is we're
going to back up underneath the trailer
hitch with the truck. And essentially
what I recommend when you back up to the
trailer, make sure you have the window
down on the driver's side if you have a
hatchback or you have windows on the
back of your pickup truck. Have those
open as well so you can listen in case
you bang into the trailer or something
goes awry. It's always good to be able to
listen as well, especially if you've got
a spotter. You can hear them
better if you've got your windows down.
And the other thing I always recommend
is try to backup from the driver's side.
So always back around this way, obviously
if you're on the other side of road in
the UK or in Australia, you want to back
around from the right. And if you're on
the left side of the vehicle back around
from the left. That way you're going to
have a better line of sight than you do
on the passenger side. So consider that
as well when you're backing up to get
the ball hitch underneath the trailer.
And the last thing is, if you have a
bigger trailer--this one here I can move
around a little bit--but if you've got a
heavy trailer, you're not going to be
able to move it around, so you've got to get
the ball htich pretty exact underneath
the trailer hitch. So we're going to back
up to the trailer now.
So the other thing you want to do is
when you get close to the trailer,
you just want to get out and look, if you
don't have a spotter and you're by
yourself. So I'm pretty much lined up
there and I know I got to come back about
three feet. So the other thing I do is I
know I got to come back about that far
so what I do is I pick a spot right
straight out from the driver's side and
that way I don't have to look out the
back because obviously I can't see this [POINTING TO THE HITCH ASSEMBLY]
So I just back up that far and look at my reference point straight out
the driver's side.
[SPOTTER] Little more.
[SPOTTER] Whoa! Go ahead a little bit. Whoa a little
[SPOTTER] bit more. Right there. So we've the vehicle
backed up and we've got the ball hitch
directly underneath the trailer hitch
thanks to my Mom who's helping me a
little bit there. It can be a little bit
tricky by yourself.
If you've got somebody around who can
give you a hand with it, by all means
get them to help you get the ball hitch
underneath the trailer.
So we're directly underneath here - we've
got the hitch open here. And
essentially all this is, it's a ball
hitch and this is a cup that sits over
top of it. And it's a little cup a little
piece of metal that slides
underneath and holds it from popping off.
So essentially what we do now is crank
the handle down until it sits directly
on the ball. Now one of the things you
can do--so we've got the weight
completely on the back of the truck now--
is lock this down and if you want to
make sure that the hitch is in fact locked here,
is you can crank this back up. And when
you crank this handle back up, it should
lift the back of the truck up. Because if
you got a bigger trailer, you're not
going to be able to lift that up and
make sure it's on there. So I know that
it's on there because now I know that it
the trailer jack has lifted the back of the
vehicle up. So now I can put that all the
way down [WINDING UP JACK] and then I pull this out [RELEASING THE JACK] and I
stow the handle. Now these come... actually the jack
goes forward! Lock that in, put the handle
there. And then we put our lock back on
to our hitch assembly here so that this
hitch doesn't come unlocked and the
trailer fly off the back of the truck or
the towing vehicle on us.
And the other nice thing about this is
that this locks it on here. It locks it and
prevents it against theft. And as well, it
keeps it on the back of the
towing unit. So we've got the jack up,
we've got the pin locked, and the next
piece is - you can hook up either
your electrical or your safety chains. It
doesn't matter. All trailers have to have
safety chains for towing safety (ball and hitch assemblies). In
case the hitch assembly fails, then it's
not going to fall off the back of the
truck. So this one here, you can see this
is a seven point electrical connection.
This is for recreational trailers for
the most part (electric brakes too). If you're just pulling a
utility trailer there's going to be a
four pin, as you can see here in the
image. And then essentially you just lift
this cap up and underneath here there's
a little clip here that locks the electrical connector on.
You can see it locks into this clip here.
So you put that in there and just wiggle
it in until that lid sits down and locks
the electrical connection in. We can see
as well ,the electrical connection is not
going to drag or get caught on anything
when we're turning corners and those
types of things. So that's the electrical
connection. And then the chain... we take
the chains here and we hook up the
chains. And essentially you want to have
the chains crisscross underneath and
these hooks here as well, you want to
have these hooks come up from underneath
and then hook them on. And both
on the either side - you can see that my
chains are crisscrossed underneath here.
And the reason for criss-crossing that
is if the trailer does come off the back
of the hitch assembly it will sit down
there and those chains will cradle the tongue
so it doesn't drag on the ground. It'll
actually hold it up a little bit. That's
the purpose of criss-crossing your chains - your
safety chains underneath the the tongue. So
essentially it's all hooked up. So
it's basically just three
items, unless you've got a bigger trailer
that you're going to have sway bars on.
And a lot of the bigger RV units are
going to have sway bars on them. You'll
have to hook your sway bars up as well.
And of course the hitch assembly will be
completely different because it will be
designed for those sway bars to provide
stability to the trailer. But this is a
simple ball and hitch assembly. And it's
the ball, lift the jack up, which is the
ball,
make sure this is locked down. You have a
pin. This is the insert (receiver) is locked into
your trailer hitch. The electrical
connection and the safety chains are
hooked up and criss-cross underneath the
assembly here. And if you go to a U-haul
dealer or you hire a trailer, they will help you
hook up the trailer as well. And the
final part of doing the hook-up for your
trailer before you exit is to ensure to
do a pre-trip inspection on your trailer.
Make sure there's correct tire pressure in the
tires and these are good. Make sure all the
lights work, and if you got an RV trailer,
make sure that the doors are locked
and closed, and all steps are put up into
place and locked into place and those
types of things.
If you've got propane tanks and those type of
things, make sure they're shut off as
well. So the last part after hooking up and departing
is to do a pre-trip inspection. As well,
make sure you have a block of wood under
your jack when you unhook it or hook it
back up - that way it just prevents it
from sinking into the ground. So that's
how you hook up a trailer for the
purposes of towing.
[COMPLETE SEQUENCE OF HOOKING UP TRAILER] [MUSIC: MEAN STREETZ -downloaded from YouTube audio library]
Quick review up hooking up a trailer. If
you're going to rent a trailer and you
haven't had the trailer on the back of
your vehicle before or you don't have a
hitch assembly, go to a trailer hitch
installation place, camper trailers, RV
outlet, and those types of places and they'll
have certified technicians who will be
able to give you information about the
correct trailer hitch that you need to
mount on the back your vehicle. Three
components of hooking up for a simple
ball and hitch. The ball, the jack, the
electrical connection, and the safety
chains. And make sure you crisscross the
safety chains underneath. Now after you
hook up, do a pre-trip inspection on the
trailer - make sure the tire pressure is
up, tire wear is good, there's no damage
to the body. If you're pulling a
recreational trailer, make sure all the
steps are up and stowed away, the doors
are locked. Make sure the load is
balanced and it's not going to fly off. If
you're pulling a utility trailer, make
sure you have the load tied down and/or
tarped. A lot of dumps and rubbish places
where you're going to dump off rubbish
and garden waste and those types of
things , the load has to be tarp to go in there
in this day and age. So know that as well.
And make sure you got the load well
distributed and that 60% of the load is
in the front of the trailer. And if you
have any questions at all, go to the
vehicle manufacturer, and they will give you
information about towing. Or go to a
trailer trailer hitch
installation place. They too will be able
to give you information about installing a trailer hitch for the towing capacity of your vehicle.
Question for my smart drivers: do you
pull a trailer what kind of trailer do
you pull? Leave a comment down in the
comment section there. All of that helps
out the new drivers looking to extend
the capacity of their vehicle by using a
utility trailer, or an RV trailer, a boat
trailer - whatever kind of trailer they
might be towing. If you like what you see
here share, subscribe, leave a comment
down in the comment section. As well, hit
that thumbs up button. Check out all the
videos here on the channel if you're
working towards a license or starting a
career as a truck or bus driver. Lots of
great information here. As well, head over to my
website. Great information over there, and
tremendous online courses that you can
purchase. In May 2017, we're bringing out
"air brakes explained simply." It's an
air brake manual that updates the 40-year
old air brake manuals that are currently
in circulation here in North America. As
well, there's a hundred multiple-choice
questions that replicate the exact CDL
questions you will be asked on a CDL
theory exam for the purposes of getting
your CDL license. I'm Rick with Smart
Drive Test. Thanks again for watching.
Good luck on your road test. And
remember, pick the best answer not
necessarily the right answer. Have a
great day. Bye now.
[CLOSING CREDITS :: TRUCKS TOWING RV TRAILERS] [LINKS TO MORE GREAT INFORMATION]