Turning radius

[rmcdon8848]

Does anyone know where I can find the turning radius of Airstream trailers? My tow vehicle will be a Toyota Tundra and I will be looking for an Airstream in the 22-25' range. I am having a small barn built and have been asked by the excavator for the turning radius of the trailer that I plan to eventually house there so that he can plan the driveway. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[markdoane]

Oh, you lucky dog! Can't help with the numbers, but I'm totally jealous!

[RivetED]

Originally Posted by rmcdon8848

Does anyone know where I can find the turning radius of Airstream trailers? My tow vehicle will be a Toyota Tundra and I will be looking for an Airstream in the 22-25' range. I am having a small barn built and have been asked by the excavator for the turning radius of the trailer that I plan to eventually house there so that he can plan the driveway. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'm sure a call to Jackson Center will help. If every inch of space isn't at a great premium, using 'ave' numbers will be more practical. (Like at the Terra-Port in J.C.) Your tow vehicle & trailer combo will probably change before the driveway wears out . I've had to change our gate & add a corner when we bought our most recent A/S.

[Condoluminum]

I fear that you've asked near impossible question, as turning radius is function of tow truck's ability to turn (wheelbase and front wheel angle) combined with length of trailer from hitch to axle (or centerpoint between two axles..) and rear axle ot Toyota to trailer axle(s)...

This the same trailer might make sharper turns behind a Toyota 4 Runner or Ford Bronco than a Suburban or long-bed pickup...

If contractor really wants radius of turn in driveway (like Civil Engineering-speak for how sharp to make the corner..) that's a slightly different hard question anyway... I'd consider explaining to Contractor you want gentle bend, nothing over 60 degrees and radius able to be used by a big bus..

I doubt you'll get much better data from Jackson Center...

John McG

[Over59]

Are you pulling in or backing in. I can pull out of my drive onto the street in one pass, straight 90 degree corner. However backing into the drive requires some back and forth. You may want a shaper turn either way so the trailer can straigthen out before the barn. Hell pave the whole lot and have WBCCI parking.

[markdoane]

You want to have a minimum 1.5X tow+trailer length straight apron in front of the barn, more if you can afford it. The apron should be 2X the width of the trailer.

For the entry radius, how to turn around for backing in; get a piece of paper and sketch it out. Make templates of your tow vehicle and trailer. Visualize how you would do it.

If you have a lot of room, put doors on both ends of the barn and make it a 'pull-thru'.

[CanoeStream]

Once you have the tow vehicle's turning radius in hand everything else gets quite variable! The distance from the rear axle to the hitch ball is another factor and varies with your hitch and anti-sway equipment. Can-Am recommends minimizing this distance as much as possible -- and a review of the available equipment will show a lot of variability. So be sure to factor this into your scale modeling....

[85MH325]

Originally Posted by markdoane

You want to have a minimum 1.5X tow+trailer length straight apron in front of the barn, more if you can afford it. The apron should be 2X the width of the trailer.

For the entry radius, how to turn around for backing in; get a piece of paper and sketch it out. Make templates of your tow vehicle and trailer. Visualize how you would do it.

If you have a lot of room, put doors on both ends of the barn and make it a 'pull-thru'.

Good call, Don. FWIW, my driveway is about 70' long and 20' wide, but that has an apron that widens in the last 20' to about 30' at the street.. I live on a street that is only 24' wide. My storage pad is 40' long and located immediately off the driveway on the side of my garage and is about 14' wide. There is about 5' between the wall of the garage and the parking pad. I can back my 34' with the Excursion (53' overall) off the street and with only one pull-ahead, back it off the driveway and onto the raised pad. I use about 60' of the 70' driveway while backing. Hopefully, rmcdon8848, that ought to give you some real-world info that might be useful.

Roger