Easiest way to back up a trailer using the outside mirrors is to remember this TRIPLE T or "Turn Towards Trouble".

In other words, there is no special hand position, no special way to move your hands, nothing to remember other than those 3 words.

Put your hands on the steering wheel like you always do, and look out the drivers or passengers side mirror as you back up....when you see the trailer in that mirror about to get close to something, turn towards whatever that something is. Don't think about it, just turn towards it like you were driving normally.

So, if you are watching in the drivers side mirror, and the trailer is getting close to another vehicle on that side, turn the vehicle to the left, or to the drivers side, or towards that other vehicle on the drivers side........doing this will kick the rear of the jeep to the drivers side, which will in turn move the tongue of the trailer to the drivers side, which means the rear of the trailer moves to the passengers side and away from trouble......easy peasy.

If you have a decent spatial understanding (you can figure out if it will fit), you only have to use 1 mirror, as you KNOW it will clear the other side if it is not too far away from the side you are watching.

In other words, when I park my boat or camper, I don't even watch the passenger side, as I know if I have 1'-2' of clearance on the drivers side with the boat, I also have 1'-2' on the passengers side, and if I have 1' on the drivers side of the camper, I have enough room on the passengers side to be able to open the camper door without hitting the neighbors fence.


Anyway, remember, Triple T..."Turn Towards Trouble", and backing up a trailer using the outside mirrors will be much easier.......cuz looking out the back isn't always an option.


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[QUOTE=caged;3454402]you would look funny pushing a travel trailer down the interstate. lol.
LOL That would be no worse that driving from Burlington,VT to Ticonderoga,NY in reverse because that is what I had.

 

I have a backup camera in mine, manly because of the 35" spare tire on the tire carrier makes it hard to see things directly behind me when I back up. I used this one, replaces the rear view mirror, and looks OEM.

 

Thanks to you guys for the link for the in mirror screen. I like that setup. Simple and discrete.

 

I just picked this up for my mother in law (A D2 Land Rover Discovery will be the vehicle it goes in) I'll let you know how it goes when I get it done.

 

That would be great, thank you

 

Any update on this?
I'm also looking to install a rear view camera and wondering how your install went and if she or you have any feed back?

 

She actually just dropped the Disco off for a power steering pump replacement today so I should be getting to the camera install by this weekend. Update to follow as soon as I'm finished installing/testing.

 

This is a more expensive solution, but a good one I think. It is a single din stereo head unit with an adjustable position, detachable screen. In an older XJ like mine I don't want to sacrifice the AC vents for a screen. This one would be usable if you swapped the HVAC controls for the stereo. It has a backup camera option as well as all the other blue tooth goodies

 

Update on the unit I installed


The quality of the image is mediocre and in bright light it gets worse (we're in central FL...bright light is all we have), but the biggest issue I didn't account for was that installing it on the LR Disco-II using the license plate bracket put the camera all the way over on the drivers side of the rear door. So basically at least a third of the rear visible area isn't captured (super dooper coverage of the drivers side area though). So you've got to either have a center mounted license plate, be ok with mounting this sucker high up and on the center of the hatch/door, or get creative.

The other thing I'm not a fan of is the screen size and quality, being in the mirror it's quite small and unless you have ZERO visibility behind your rig or need a specific angle it's not very effective.

I wouldn't say it's a "hard pass" for me, but I'll need to find a different option for my mother in law who is quite particular. I'll just keep this on a shelf for a different vehicle.

 

I picked up one at Costco for around $100. You can mount it permanent or just use a magnetic back and put it on when you need it. The screen is about 4 inches and has a good picture.

 

My brother just gave me a backup camera kit. I think I might install it just to see how it works. You mount the camera itself in the hitch receiver. Then the screen can be mounted anywhere on the dash. It plugs directly into the trailer wiring so its 100% plug and play. Automatically turns on when you put it in reverse. If I do end up installing it, I will post some pictures in here.

 

I saw those, but it would t work for me because i tow. But the jeep has much more viewing area then my truck that has a back up camera, so i never really looked deeper into the options.

 

That is the thing I dont like about it. Sure it will help you back up to the trailer but you still have to pull the camera out and switch it out every time. I dont tow all that often so it will be rare that I ever need to pull the camera out. And yes, the Jeep has a pretty good viewing area to the point where I dont need a backup camera. But if I have one, I might as well try it out.