Baymule
Herd Master
That looks really good. Barns and other structures are great!
rachels.haven's Journal
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rachels.haven
Herd Master
Well, 8 days from when we want to drive out seemed like a good time to take the trailer out since we were in town and weren't sick and weren't under a tornado watch with driving rain and weren't out of town and someone moved it up his priority list for his nagging wife. Since we both have never driven any trailer of any kind and are trailer idiots.
Somebody had set the trailer break control on maximum so when I gently tapped the truck breaks to slow down the trailer STOPPED in a cloud of tire smoke...which was only an issue when we were stopping from up to speed about 10 minutes down highway 431 (I checked if we COULD stop before leaving the driveway, then again at the empty intersection...in fact at the next one too because after a break failure incident in my teens while learning how to back down a huge iowa hill up I am VERY paranoid about break failure...turns out you need to check break sensitivity too and at all speeds). We turned on hazards and slunk into the nearest big parking lot and googled things and I fixed it. Then, shaken, I did a loop and turned back onto the road.
That was when I discovered one of the kids had popped the hood. So I got to pull over and fix that. This was starting to look like we had a DAN infestation, conveniently DAN insisted on coming in the truck with us for this ride with no recollection of anything so we couldn't be mad at him, right? (future in politics, eh?) So we got stressed out and didn't mind not shielding Dan from our emotions and stressing him out via down river emotion flow too. Impulse control and taking responsibility for our stupid, stupid actions even when scared are things we struggle with as a Dan and we are as always working on it. (for instance, turns out a few months ago when I was trying to learn how to back up the trailer into the camper port to keep it dry Dan had decided it was a good idea to get INTO the trailer and go for a long, backwards struggling to get aligned ride and decided to timidly tell us he did so now so we laid into him more...how he slipped in is beyond me, but MAN, does that burn me up). Aiden is anxious and errs on the side of not messing with things because he tends to think things will go horribly wrong if he messes with them and Shaun just colors on everything and doesn't disassemble or tinker with things as often as Dan likes to so I'm pretty sure I know how things got messed with.
We're going to be going out every day this week for about an hour, possibly more. The trailer follows well and isn't too wide to handle. It does seem to struggle with turns, even wide turns, but that may just be a trailer thing. The truck did not change operating temperature at all so I don't think it's going to over heat but it can not accelerate very fast. In fact it crawls up to 55 and feels loud while at it. I'm concerned that even though the truck is rated for 4k pounds towing capacity and the trailer is 2.8k that the trailer is too much weight for our little GMC Canyon (we're only towing the 3 big bucks and 3 little bucks so we will be well below limit) and that we should be looking for a truck in the next class up...which are available in the area, but...Truck's engine rpm's stay below 3k, more like 2.5, which is very normal, but it feels so much louder now. Which could be nothing, but could be something (I'm always a worry wort)
DH thinks it's fine and the truck will handle it, which is odd because usually he's the one who gets stressed out and so it may be fine and my timid driver side is coming out...so I'm having a friend of mine come and look at and drive my rig up 431 and back and give me an evaluation this Saturday. Meanwhile, more trips to Walmart and eventually the Kentucky border if I can find another Walmart or truck stop not on an accident and/or under construction road. I'll probably be nervous until I've driven it for a few years and I know every in and out of how it handles and can "feel" how wide and long and heavy everything is behind me. Then I will be the more confident driver and will be the one to handle difficult situations. Not super helpful right now. This is why it's nice we have 3 potential drivers to take turns driving the truck going out and not just two.
Too bad I can't just put my bucks into a 16 ft Uhaul. I can drive one of those. I'm so glad we found someone to drive the other group of goats out and that we don't have to go there and back and then there again.
Somebody had set the trailer break control on maximum so when I gently tapped the truck breaks to slow down the trailer STOPPED in a cloud of tire smoke...which was only an issue when we were stopping from up to speed about 10 minutes down highway 431 (I checked if we COULD stop before leaving the driveway, then again at the empty intersection...in fact at the next one too because after a break failure incident in my teens while learning how to back down a huge iowa hill up I am VERY paranoid about break failure...turns out you need to check break sensitivity too and at all speeds). We turned on hazards and slunk into the nearest big parking lot and googled things and I fixed it. Then, shaken, I did a loop and turned back onto the road.
That was when I discovered one of the kids had popped the hood. So I got to pull over and fix that. This was starting to look like we had a DAN infestation, conveniently DAN insisted on coming in the truck with us for this ride with no recollection of anything so we couldn't be mad at him, right? (future in politics, eh?) So we got stressed out and didn't mind not shielding Dan from our emotions and stressing him out via down river emotion flow too. Impulse control and taking responsibility for our stupid, stupid actions even when scared are things we struggle with as a Dan and we are as always working on it. (for instance, turns out a few months ago when I was trying to learn how to back up the trailer into the camper port to keep it dry Dan had decided it was a good idea to get INTO the trailer and go for a long, backwards struggling to get aligned ride and decided to timidly tell us he did so now so we laid into him more...how he slipped in is beyond me, but MAN, does that burn me up). Aiden is anxious and errs on the side of not messing with things because he tends to think things will go horribly wrong if he messes with them and Shaun just colors on everything and doesn't disassemble or tinker with things as often as Dan likes to so I'm pretty sure I know how things got messed with.
We're going to be going out every day this week for about an hour, possibly more. The trailer follows well and isn't too wide to handle. It does seem to struggle with turns, even wide turns, but that may just be a trailer thing. The truck did not change operating temperature at all so I don't think it's going to over heat but it can not accelerate very fast. In fact it crawls up to 55 and feels loud while at it. I'm concerned that even though the truck is rated for 4k pounds towing capacity and the trailer is 2.8k that the trailer is too much weight for our little GMC Canyon (we're only towing the 3 big bucks and 3 little bucks so we will be well below limit) and that we should be looking for a truck in the next class up...which are available in the area, but...Truck's engine rpm's stay below 3k, more like 2.5, which is very normal, but it feels so much louder now. Which could be nothing, but could be something (I'm always a worry wort)
DH thinks it's fine and the truck will handle it, which is odd because usually he's the one who gets stressed out and so it may be fine and my timid driver side is coming out...so I'm having a friend of mine come and look at and drive my rig up 431 and back and give me an evaluation this Saturday. Meanwhile, more trips to Walmart and eventually the Kentucky border if I can find another Walmart or truck stop not on an accident and/or under construction road. I'll probably be nervous until I've driven it for a few years and I know every in and out of how it handles and can "feel" how wide and long and heavy everything is behind me. Then I will be the more confident driver and will be the one to handle difficult situations. Not super helpful right now. This is why it's nice we have 3 potential drivers to take turns driving the truck going out and not just two.
Too bad I can't just put my bucks into a 16 ft Uhaul. I can drive one of those. I'm so glad we found someone to drive the other group of goats out and that we don't have to go there and back and then there again.
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- #4,924
rachels.haven
Herd Master
At this point I'm kind of like, "Self, why can't you be more interested in something normal like quilting? You wouldn't need a freaking quilting trailer..."
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rachels.haven
Herd Master
Tiny truck, lightest trailer I could find.
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rachels.haven
Herd Master
Just got DNA results back on my doe kids and retained buckling. All is as expected and we no longer carry any abnormal G6s mutations in the herd, including the Nubian crosses even though one of the kids mothers was a carrier. So that is no longer a concern of mine. Good news.
HomeOnTheRange
Golden Herd Lurker
Love those out buildings! Nice truck and trailer combo. Picture looks better than most car ads these days.
Baymule
Herd Master
I had to learn trailering too, but by myself. Count your blessings! You have help! You can do this!
farmerjan
Herd Master
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Not so "tiny".... you have to remember that the truck being a crew cab... and having a short bed. it looks smaller. Just remember that it will turn quickly when you are backing up with the shorter bed on the truck...and the longer cab will throw off your judgement for a little bit until you get used to it.... so to not "overturn" it while backing... gently and slight turning the front wheels to get the back end of the truck to angle the trailer and to follow it around sooner, rather than to let the trailer get angled too much and then into a jack knife position with a 90 degree turn... in otherwords, don't try to over drive it when backing...
You will get a feel for it after a few times, just take it slow and easy and if you get too frustrated, quit and then go back after a little bit....
I don't foresee you having much trouble at all with it.
farmerjan
Herd Master
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One other thing to think about... if it has a trailer brake control box in the truck... and the slide moves when you put your foot on the pedal for brakes, you CAN use the trailer brakes to slow the trailer down by manually moving the slide a little... so it doesn't put all the "weight" of the trailer on the truck brakes... we use the trailer brakes alot to help slow the whole thing down without having the truck to do all the work of the combined weight... so that the trailer is actually slowing down and "holding back" the trailer and the truck a little... you may find that you will automatically reach for the trailer brakes to slow it down a bit without wearing out the truck brakes... AND if the trailer ever gets to swaying too much, using the trailer brakes a bit to just get it to stop the "fish tailing" movements is the safest way to get the trailer to "straighten out"..... just using a LITTLE bit of the trailer brake slide can be a godsend....
Just a little tip that you might remember .... the trailer can "push the truck" like going down a hill... or it can be used to "hold back" on the truck a little....
Just a little tip that you might remember .... the trailer can "push the truck" like going down a hill... or it can be used to "hold back" on the truck a little....
