Parking Lot Practice - Montana Owners Club

Bill-N-Donna · 06-01-2009, 02:15 AM

I’ve seen a lot of advice for people to go to a parking lot and practice so they can learn to back up. This sounds really good but I’m just wondering how many people actually have done this. I haven’t done this myself. I guess after towing for many years and starting out with a much smaller trailer I haven’t seen the need for it. If I was starting out with the Monty and didn’t have any towing experience, I believe it would be a good thing for practice. I wanted to start a poll but I didn’t see a way to do this without being an administrator.

So with that have you ever taken your Monty to a parking lot and practiced parking?

H. John Kohl · 06-01-2009, 02:27 AM

Yes for my son to practice.
No for myself.

2 Sinks · 06-01-2009, 02:50 AM

No for the Montana Mtneer... but we did go to a grocery store parking lot to pratice backing / maneuvering our first trailer,a 26 foot SOB used travel trailer (no slides) pulled by a 1998 3/4 ton 4x4 big block Suburban.

akf15e · 06-01-2009, 03:01 AM

Nope - same as you. I started with a pop-up, then a 19' boat, then a 26' TT, followed by a 32' 5er, then current 38 footer. It seemed like a natural progression and I never felt too uncomfortable. If I had started out with current rig, I would be more likely to try the parking lot thing.

paperheart · 06-01-2009, 03:11 AM

Well, having no experience with a fifth wheel or a new slider hitch, my hubby went right from the pdi to a high school parking lot on the way home. He wasn't parking right between the lines in the beginning but he sure is now. Practice makes perfect.
Paperheart

richfaa · 06-01-2009, 04:03 AM

Yes.Even tho we had been driving RV's for years this was our first 5th wheel and there is a difference. We spent many hours in our church parking lot an still do it on occasionfor to keep the skill level up. As a School bus driver we had "rodeo's and driving courses every year to sharpen skills.

BB_TX · 06-01-2009, 04:17 AM

I took mine to the relatively flat high school football field parking lot for 2 reasons.
I took my carpenter's level and used it get the Monty level and then attach bubble levels to the front and side so I could easily see when I was level when parking at a site.
And I also set up cones to determine if I could get the Monty into my narrow driveway from my relatively narrow street without getting into my very particular neighbors yard. I couldn't.
It was also good practice since I had never towed anything larger than a 16' implement trailer. But the backing seemed even easier than the implement trailer. Seems the longer they are, the easier they are to back and I never felt intimidated by it at all.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 06-01-2009, 04:26 AM

Like many others, having towed pop ups, boats, travel trailers of different lengths, and then the 5er, the going forward stuff was not much of an adjustment. Just make those wide turns even more exagerated.

However, I still am not doing the back up thing (could not do it with ANY of the others either, sighhhh)

So, I would be happy to find a empty parking lot some day. No schools here close by with parking lots large enough, and I don't get up early enough to get the rig to a store or something before those parking lots are full!

skypilot · 06-01-2009, 10:33 AM

First year and every year since then I do the parking lot 'retraining', especially after we moved from the cougar to the mountaineer and now to our SOB. Each has a different turning point, each backs differently, and, as Rich said above, practice makes perfect. I have found that with even a month between trips I tend to get bit rusty and it takes a bit longer to back in.

exav8tr · 06-01-2009, 10:44 AM

When I picked up our Montana two years ago, my first trip was a truck driving school in Wasilla, Alaska. It was basically a large parking lot, packed gravel, with lines and cones. The instructor put me thru the course. I felt much comfortable after that and have been on the road ever since then so have had no retraining, other than DW yelling at me over the walkie-talkie. BTW: This is my first experience at pulling anything. I basically went from a Dodge Dakota to a one ton dually and a 40 ft trailer.

NCFischers · 06-01-2009, 11:06 AM

Right after we got the rig, I took the DW to the mall parking lot so she could practice. After a while, she did really well. I have been driving large trucks and trailers for a long time so the Monty wasn't a problem for me.

8e3k0 · 06-01-2009, 06:14 PM

The Monty isn't a problem for me, but will take the DW to something similar with open space to practice, then set up something to a driveway to back into straight.

Longwell · 06-02-2009, 08:50 AM

Yep. I've driven semi's and gas tankers, but wanted to see how the trailer handled on a different pivot point, weight and length.
Also, my wife was worried since she had no big rig experience, and the parking lot did take away MOST of the anxiety.
Larry

Art-n-Marge · 06-07-2009, 09:32 PM

Hey Longwell, you drove semis and gas tankers, but not big rigs? I thought semis were big rigs.

Anyway, to answer the poll, I have not used a parking lot for "training" but I wish I had.

However, I have been pretty lucky so far, but I do reconnoiter the area real well and will set out a couple of cones to use as guides to help me line up where I want to be, then go slow. I actually do better when I do NOT have help. I tended to concentrate on my helper too much and put too much faith in them and once I actually clipped both my trailer and truck doing that. Now, I kindly thank all offers of help but prefer to be left alone to concentrate and have been doing great ever since. I do surprise most people, especially DW and my neighbors when I do it this way.

Fire5er · 06-08-2009, 06:24 AM

I have driven Farm tractors and trailers when I was a kid, Aircraft Crash trucks and a Runway foamer tanker truck in the Military, 100' aerial ladder truck and pumpers in the Fire Department, towed boats and utility trailers, but never a 5er and never anything that I had spent so much money for. So you bet I went to a parking lot to practice. The plan was to learn how it handled and to get the DW some stick time. But we had only been there for 10 minuets when the curb side shackle broke, and we had to have roadside repairs made before we could move any further. After the repairs were completed we just went home and parked it. So we only ever got 10 minutes of parking lot practice. Now two years and a few K-miles later I have no problems towing a 55' rig, but the DW has never driven and doesn't want to. So one of these days soon we will be going back to a parking lot so she can get some time behind the wheel and learn that its not that bad and that she can do it if she had to.

richfaa · 06-08-2009, 01:55 PM

We still take some refresher driving every year. I drove big busses every day and backing, etc came second nature but we may not drive the 3400 for long periods of time like 6 months in Florida. We always feel a bit rusty and a bit of refresher training does not hurt. Helen and I have equal skills in driving the 3400 and we both feel the same about refresher driving.

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