Your
Driving
and
the
Road
passed vehicle before vou can return to
your lane.
Backing
Up
Hold the bottom of the steering wheel
with one hand. Then, to move the trailer
to the left, just move that hand to the left.
To move
the
trailer to the right, move
your hand to the right. Always back up
slowly and,
if
possible, have someone
guide you.
Making Turns
When you’re turning with a trailer, make
wider turns than normal.
Do
this
so
your
trailer won’t strike soft shoulders, curbs,
road signs, trees, or other objects. Avoid
jerky or sudden maneuvers. Signal well
in
advance.
Turn
Signals When Towing a Trailer
When you tow a trailer, your vehicle has
to have a different turn signal flasher and
extra wiring. The green arrows on your
instrument panel will flash whenever you
signal a turn or lane change. Properly
hooked up, the trailer lights will also
flash, telling other drivers you’re about to
turn, change lanes or stop.
When towing a trailer, the green arrows
on your instrument panel will flash for
turns even
if
the bulbs on the trailer are
burned out. Thus, you may think drivers
behind you are seeing your signal when
they are not. It’s important to check
occasionally to be sure the trailer bulbs
are still working.
Driving on Grades
Reduce speed and shift to a lower gear
before you start down a long or steep
downgrade. If you don’t shift down, you
might have to use your brakes
so
much
that they would get hot and no longer
work well.
On a long uphill grade, shift down and
reduce your speed to around
45
mph
(70
km/h)
to reduce the possibility of
engine and transmission overheating.
If
you
are towing a trailer and you have
a manual transmission with fifth gear,
you may prefer not
to
use fifth gear. Just
drive in fourth gear (or, as
you
need to,
.a lower gear).
Parking on Hills
You
really should not park your vehicle,
with a trailer attached, on a hill. If
something goes wrong, your
rig
could
start
to
move. People can be injured, and
both your vehicle and the trailer can be
damaged.
But if you ever have to park
your
rig on a
hill, here’s how to do it:
1.
Apply your regular brakes, but don’t
shift into
“F’”
(Park)
yet,
or into gear
for a manual transmission.
2.
Have someone place chocks under the
3.
When the wheel chocks are in place,
release the regular brakes until the
chocks absorb the load.
trailer wheels.
4.
Reapply the regular brakes. Then
apply your parking brake, and then
shift to
‘T”
(Park), or
“R”
(Reverse)
for a manual transmission.
5.
If
you
have a four-wheel-drive
vehicle, be sure the transfer case is
in
a drive gear
-
not in
“N”
(Neutral).
6.
Release the regular brakes.
.
.-’
.
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