Turning in a tight gate

[Tom19]

I’m ok with stock but one thing I’m shocking at is driving and I don’t know why, does anyone have any advice for turning in a narrow gate (10ft) from a narrow road with a 20ft trailer . I always cut the corner short I’ve tried the jackknife technique but still to no avail. Or should I just give up

 

[Lincs Lass]

Widen the gateway

 

[Jerry]

If it’s really tight reversing in us often easier

 

[Tom19]

If it’s really tight reversing in us often easier

It would, but I know others can get in the gate no bother without reversing I was just wondering if there where tips to drive in

 

[Tom19]

Widen the gateway

I could if it was my gate

 

[Gadget]

Watch how others are doing it?

 

[milkloss]

Hook or clevis will make a big difference. One trick is as soon as the tractor is halfway through the gate turn hard the opposite way so the trailer follows through the gateway diagonally.

 

[Tom19]

Hook or clevis will make a big difference. One trick is as soon as the tractor is halfway through the gate turn hard the opposite way so the trailer follows through the gateway diagonally.

Good tip , tis a hook hitch

 

[PSQ]

Turn in so that the trailer takes out the gatepost on one side, and the tail swing takes out the post and the gate on the other.
- Hey presto, in a week it will have magically transformed itself into a new 14' gate! (Always seemed to work for my brother).

 

[ollie989898]

I'm convinced it is all in the mind almost. I used to get a bit nervous about gateways or outfits I was not familiar with but once you have got in their the first time you nearly forget about it. Mind you, there are some combinations where the two just will not go together so be careful.

I would be very very wary about reversing a tractor and trailer on a public highway without checking what could be behind you first. You will hide a cyclist or a Mini cooper behind a silage trailer very easily and they won't be able to get out of the way fast enough if you reverse at anything but a crawl.

Mind that different tractor/trailer combinations and even the tyres they are on will behave slightly differently- I used to drive a 6620 JD that would get anywhere and seemed to fit down country roads and dodge in out of traffic easily. 6920 or 7710 were nothing like as handy.

 

[Bullring]

A 10ft gateway really is quite small these days especially off a narrow road with a 20ft trailer on board. Can you not widen it to 12 or 14ft, would make your life so much easier. Depends what your trying to get in there with, a 2wd david brown will do it with ease but a 4wd 140hp tractor will be more difficult. Sometimes you have to think about safety and also if you cut a tyre it would have paid for the new wider gate.

 

[7610 super q]

Usually twin beacons, Grassmen sticker, and a straight pipe, make you exempt from taking blame for agricultural cock ups.
Ditto tattoos, and Hi viz jackets for lorry drivers......

 

[Dry Rot]

This may sound a bit silly (and you will certainly look silly if you're caught!) but practice with a child's toy vehicle and trailer or, failing that, mock up a vehicle and trailer with some flat pieces of card and practice on the kitchen table when the wife has gone to bed. Try different combinations of each, lengths, widths, etc. That's what I was told to do to learn how to back a trailer (same principles) -- and it works.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Life’s too short for narrow gateways................ unfortunately machinery seems to be getting bigger faster than I can widen them.???

 

[michael N123]

Widen it by ‘accident’ then next time it’ll be easier

 

[Monty]

I don't think I would fancy going through a 10ft gateway with 20ft trailer to be honest. To begin with drive as far away from the gateway on the opposite side of the road as possible, right up to the hedge/fence/ditch, Turn in as late as possible just missing the far gate post with the front wheel, keep the rear tractor wheel as close to the far gate post as possible and as the rear wheel is level with the post turn back the other way as you go through and the trailer should go through on the angle. Using a smaller/shorter tractor will help as well. Some gateways are just too small and impossible to get in with big trailers

 

[Tomr10]

Are they using same kit as you small differences make a big difference

 

[Bobthebuilder]

Might sound a bit patronising but have you had your eyesight checked recently ??‍

 

[Wellytrack]

Ahh.

Depends what your turning off. Narrow lane or an A road.

It reminds me of 20 years ago when on silage drawing, arse of a gate that a crush pen had to be driven through to get lined up for the 10 foot gate.

Mad heavy third week of June first cut.

My 1/3 contribution would have been about 30 drawn loads through it, two loads from the finish I came back to discover the RSJ gatepost was 20 yards up the field bundle of concrete attached sheepwire and all.

I was a bit miffed it hadn’t happened at 10 in the morning

 

[dowcow]

Slow down way more than you would if there was a wider gateway, and be off the brakes before starting to turn. You need to be as far over the other side of the road as possible from the gate, and be able to get full lock on in a much shorter amount of time and distance, hence the very slow speed. Just miss the far gate post, and be ready to stop if you aren't going to make it I've got rented fields with some fairly tight gateways, and two gates are right hand turns with hedges and trees on the left just through the gate so I can't turn that way after getting through the gate with the tractor. It's possible, just have to get right down through the gears before starting to turn.

Tractor wheel base, tyre width and track width makes big difference too. Wide tyres in particular... oversized tyres will restrict how much you may be able to turn and with mud guards will restrict what you can see. Wheel stops might be set a little too conservatively, allowing less steering angle than what may be possible.

Landlord has rebuilt several gateways the same width as they were before they were broken (contractor.... not me, honest! ) and worse than that on occasion has built his gateways further to the road with fencing around the hedge to stop people parking in the gateways and using them as passing places. Farmer on the other side of the road replaced his gate with double gates, and did some silage work for him once and could have driven though them in top gear if necessary. Finally our landlord saw sense to widen one particular gateway as we were going in through another field and doing a loop to get through another gateway joining his two fields... I don't think he liked the sight of that compacted loop.