Hello from the Rocket City-front wheel question

[hardrock]

Hello All

I am retiring January 1 from a defense contractor in Huntsville, Al. I am only a short distance from the Oliver factory. I have visited Robert several times and am looking forward to the build of my unit

I have a technical question and have scoured the website for a clue

I have a concrete driveway and a large garage to store my unit. Inside the garage and occasionally outdoors I want to move the unit without using my truck. I have a utility trailer that I frequently move easily by hand. It weighs very little by comparison to a trailer and has a bolt-on trailer wheel.

I contacted the company that builds the hydraulic leveler regarding a detachable wheel / footplate. The company said that they did not recommend putting a wheel on the leveler because it is not built for the purpose of supporting movement of the trailer. As s I think through this, I agree. Stress on the hydraulic post may damage the integrity of the post.

Does anyone have experience in attaching a wheel to the front of the trailer to accommodate moving the trailer without a vehicle? I have been looking at the Trailer Valet, but that has mixed reviews. I have a small slope on my driveway and the garage floor is very flat. Most importantly, not sure if there is adequate room / clearance on the tongue for a rotating wheel?

 

Hardrock

[ScubaRx]

Hello Hardrock and welcome to the most exclusive molded fiberglass trailer club in the world.

 

These trailers would be HEAVY to attempt to move by hand. That said, on a flat surface it could be done. I'd be leery of an incline, it might get away from you and run you down.

 

I would probably try to use something like this: http://www.amazon.com/BAL-29041B-1000-W ... T80YZWYBDQ

 

Have you considered a front receiver on your vehicle? I use one to push the trailer into tight places.

[trumpetguy]

My advice is don't even try to move the Ollie by hand. 5,000 pounds is a lot of weight to get started and then stop. Injuries and damage are not worth whatever benefit you would derive.

[mountainborn]

Sounds like the perfect place to use the motorized trailer mover. About the size of a push lawn mower, it works on electricity. The SeaDawgs on these forums had a similar situation and they researched then priced them. Seems like they found a good clean used one and it works really great for them. These get little use so I would think that a used one would be just fine. Maybe Paul or Shetty can tell you about theirs and maybe post up a photo. Or, Maybe use the search panel at the top of the page to pull up their article when they were in the middle of it.

[mountainborn]

found it under motorized dolly

[mountainborn]

Then I found these plans to build your own.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRAILER-MOVER-PLANS-12V-Electric-Power-Dolly-Caster-/231423976884?pt=Motors_Manuals_Literature&hash=item35e1f1a5b4&vxp=mtr

[SeaDawg]

Hardrock,

Congrats on your retirement. Likely you'll feel the same way we do... wonder how we ever found time to work!

 

We have used three methods for moving our Oliver without the trailer:

1. Least satisfactory: trailer dolly from harbor freight, and lots of manual effort. Actually, on a flat surface, the dolly isn't so bad for me and Paul, but on an incline, or over grass or turf block, it's either a bear, or impossible. Or, we had to recruit a couple neighbors, as well as me and Paul, to move the trailer 30 feet.

2. The EZ Tug... Great product. Don't know if they make an upgraded model, but the tire was really small, and tended to go flat on us. Paul hooked it up to our trailer battery, so we had plenty of "power", but going even slight inclines, on grass, usually required me pushing on the front of the trailer, while watching to avoid the tree on one side, shrubs and garage eaves on the other. It worked, way better than a tow dolly, but not ideal. It really helped if my very kind neighbor sat on the bed in the back to take some of the weight off the tongue while we maneuvered the trailer. Yes, she is a very, very good friend to do that for me.

3. The Parkit 360 is our newest addition. We bought a nice barely used large or xl unit. First attempt didn't go very well. Then, we read the directions online , and watched the youtube on how to use it... (I know, when all else fails, read the directions.) Seriously important if you use this, because it has two wheels, and if not attached properly, and seated properly, you feel like you could tip the trailer on a sharp turn.

This works fairly well. More power than the EZ tug, but perhaps not as much "traction." Both times we've used it have been after heavy rains, and on slick ground, we lay out old plywood cutoffs to give a better footing on the grass. I'm looking forward to using it at our new house next year... concrete and turf block over shell, not grass, and not much of an incline.

 

We did think about adding a front hitch to our Honda 4 wheeler, briefly, but rejected that. Firgured the weight of the tongue might lift the Honda off the ground... As good as Paul is at backing and maneuvering the truck (and I do believe he's really skilled at it), there is no way we'd get our trailer into its winter spot by our garage with a front mount on the Ram truck. Just way too tight, and we'd tear up the lawn for good measure.

 

Personally, I'd probably try a really good trailer dolly first, if you could borrow one. Then look for the Parkit 360, unless Ez Tug has upgraded their tongue weight capability. For quick use, and you can swing it up and carry it around with your, the EZ Tug is tough to beat, just a little undersized for our trailer. It's a lot easier to set up and operate than the Parkit 360, one wheel, portable, and uses the trailer battery. The parkit 360 has its own battery, and is heavy, longer setup, and doesn't feel quite as intuitive.. Big pro for the Parkit 360: It moves the trailer pretty well.

 

Sherry

[hardrock]

Thanks to everyone for your replies

For clarification purposes, I need to add two points.

1. I am purchasing the new smaller trailer-18.5 elite so the weight I am moving is less

2. The primary place I want to move the trailer is INSIDE my garage, a smooth concrete floor 100% level. I can get it through the 10X10' garage door, straight shot. There is a large concrete pad outside the door but I would not trust myself to manually move it there because there is a slight incline and decline. Once inside, I would like to spin it to allow for better utilization of storage.

[ScubaRx]

Under the circumstnces you describe, with possibly just a small amount of help, you could easily move your Oliver with one of these:

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/600-lb-Hea ... 69898.html

 

Your tongue weight won't be anywhere near 600 pounds.

[SeaDawg]

Steve's link looks like our Harbor Freight tow dolly. Should work to move it around the garage. Works ok on the level parts of our driveway. Our 17 won't fit thru our current garage door. New garage/new house was built with the trailer in mind, 10 ft door, so we can park the Ollie inside if necessary.

Sherry

[allenpamela]

Been looking at the Parkit 360 to help us maneuver our trailer into a space beside the garage. See that Sherry and Paul purchased one almost a year ago and am looking for a hopefully positive review. Any recommendations from others would be helpful. There is also a Trailer Valet that looked promising at first but it hooks to the frame which isn't possible with the Oliver.

 

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you, Pam