Its one of those practice or lose it things.?ÿ When I'm working on things that take a four-wheeler, I can get back in the hang of reversing with it, but if it has been a while between such jobs - I look like Austin Powers trying to turn in that little hallway (minus Elizabeth Hurley sitting next to me!).
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I parked this today, short little Datsun truck bed conversion. I had to drop the tailgate so I could get perspective.?ÿ
And the drag next to it too. FUN times.
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OMG, a spare tire.?ÿ Can't recall the last time I even owned a spare tire for a two-wheel trailer.?ÿ Even then, it would have been setting at home when I needed it.
The summer I turned 8 my father made me drive this tractor with a mower attached to it, I learned to back it up and over the next couple of decades I worked on some ranches stacking hay, driving the hay wagons. Then I drove a pea combine which was an old tractor pulling the combine, I was the only one on the crew that could drive it.?ÿ
Years later I'm trying to back up a trailer onto a boat ramp for a friend of mine and it wasn't pretty.
You need to keep up on your skills I guess.?ÿ
I'm not terrible at it now, but I was really good at it in my youth, long before I had a driver's license.?ÿ
OMG, a spare tire.?ÿ Can't recall the last time I even owned a spare tire for a two-wheel trailer.
Trailer, hell our EV car dosen't even have a spare. The give you an air compressor and a can of Fix-a-Flat. And the EV wasn't cheap. ?????ÿ
OMG, a spare tire.?ÿ Can't recall the last time I even owned a spare tire for a two-wheel trailer.?ÿ Even then, it would have been setting at home when I needed it.
EVERY TIME I go out to the trailer..."I should get a spare."
Years have gone by...still no spare.
Lack of spare is not new. My 2015 van doesn't have the mechanism to hold a spare underneath, although that could be installed. It came with the compressor and can of goop.
It's my understanding that if you use the goop you throw the tire away, even if it just had a nail hole. True?
In early September 1976 I purchased a new (7 miles on the odometer) 1976 Pontiac Gran Prix.?ÿ It had a wheel but no tire on it for a spare.?ÿ The tire companies had been on strike as I recall..?ÿ The manufacturers were lucky to come up with four tires to put on the ground.?ÿ It was several months before a spare arrived.?ÿ Meanwhile, I had?ÿ a academic probation quality tire that I had found at a salvage yard for $10 installed, just in case.?ÿ I don't think I ever used it but had already put quite a few thousands of miles on the car by the time the spare arrived.?ÿ For the youngsters in the crowd, this is before the invention of the worthless donuts.
The day that I started legally driving my father gained a chauffer.?ÿ At 17, I was towing around his 25' sailboat, backing it down ramps, parking in in the driveway and just about anywhere it needed to fit.?ÿ the trailer had an overall length of 32' to the tongue.?ÿ I also did the same in a boatyard I worked a few summers in, it got to be a piece of cake, but that was long ago and far away.?ÿ
A year ago I bought a Class C motorhome and I don't find backing it in anywhere near as easy as backing in an articulated trailer.?ÿ The straight body line of sight, even with a back up camera make it more difficult for me.?ÿ Hopefully I'll have it down by the end of summer.?ÿ?ÿ
I had?ÿ a academic probation quality tire
Hilarious turn of phrase right there.
Living in a subarctic climate, I now have a good appreciation for tire quality and suitability.?ÿ Growing up in a more forgiving climate (but with horrible winter roads, PA), my father sourced "new" tires from the local salvage yard.?ÿ Seemed reasonable at the time, but not a practice I'm inclined toward these days...
I back into my spot at the office nearly every morning. A nice young lady in another part of the building follows me into the lot at least once a week. She insists on riding on my bumper and gets offended when I stop and back up without giving her an hour to process what's going on. At least she stopped trying to fit into the spot I'm backing into...
