I would hate for this to be a deciding factor in whether to get a trailer or not, but we live in a neighborhood with fairly narrow streets with cars on both sides, making them essentially one-lane. We also often have people parking close to our driveway. The driveway itself is long and narrow, with a telephone pole next to the entrance.

How much room do we need to be able to back into a driveway? Has anyone dealt with keeping a trailer in a semi-urban neighborhood?

We can't and don't want to pay to store a trailer somewhere. Are we doomed?

I think this would all depend on how good you are at backing up also if the street is not a real busy one you should be ok. On a after thought if drive way is flat you may be able to push it up by hand. Other will chim in.

Try one of these you'll be amazed....

Northern Industrial 600-Lb. Capacity Heavy-Duty Trailer Dolly — 10 1/2in. x 3 3/8in. Tires

We have no experience backing up a trailer, but I imagine we'll have to get good right quick!

The driveway and street are pretty level. You do have to go up the little incline into the driveway. It's not a very busy street, but does get some traffic that sometimes goes too fast off the arterial.

That contraption is intriguing!

It sounds like you have a pretty tight area. A couple of things would help. First,if there is a driveway across the street you could pull into, that would help get the angle to target your driveway. Another would be a turn around area in your yard even if you had to occasionally drive on the grass. That would allow you to go in forward then get the trailer turned whare you want it.

A straight driveway helps. We have a 2 lane road with a fairly wide driveway but have to turn the trailer almost as soon as we enter it because it T's. This requires a lot of maneuvering sometimes. Oh, yes we have trees on both sides.
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When we park it on the other end of the T for the winter, we can pull in forward and back it straight up until we have to turn it into the parking spot, also snaked in between the trees.

With a little practice and a good spotter, you can park them just about anywhere. I have found that a longer trailer with a short TV is the easiest to back.

Depending on your TV, some people have installed a hitch ball on the front to give maximum turning control. I seen baking challenged people launch boats this way.

Good Luck

Dave

I always have several fiberglass trailers around, and that dolly moves them on hard surfaces as easily as moving a kiddy coaster wagon. And one person can still move them on the grass with a slight bit more effort. Magnitudes easier maneuvering too!

I have a dolly like the one flyod has (made by a old engineer and crazily overbuilt). It works great for moving your trailer into tight spaces. I use it all the time - in fact my friend has borrowed it as he had to get his 'project' into his garage and he only had 6" clearance on the sides.

My wife would refer to me as being 'baking challenged'! I did manage to bake her a cake once or twice while we were still dating though.

I would definitely fall into the category of backing challenged as well. I also have a narrow driveway on a small street with people parking right next to my driveway. At least there's no parking on the other side of the street. Usually I just get it close, unhitch and push it in. I have to get a slow running start in order to pop the wheels up the sidewalk ramp, but it works pretty good, I push with my shoulder on one side to get it going and can usually keep it moving just with my hands around the belly band area.

One day I'll practice enough actually back it in, but for now this works out to be quicker and less stressful.

I have a wheeled tongue jack which sits in the centre of the a-frame. Someone has posted here that the side mounted ones are not as sturdy, not sure if that would make a difference when pushing over the sidewalk.

That dolly looks pretty tempting. Can anyone compare it to just using the tongue jack wheel.

Reading about the homemade one and the hitch mounted to the front of the TV has got me thinking - can someone figure out how to attach a hitch ball to a snowblower or something to give you a motorized dolly?

I've been looking for an excuse to show this photo. I need to get the belly band just touching my siding in order to have room to open the door fully without hitting the neighbours house.
Kevin
Click to view attachment

I back directly into my garage as I don't have a driveway (garage opens onto the sidewalk) and it can get tricky, so I have a tongue jack and as soon as I'm more or less on the garage pad I disconnect and hand-move the trailer to just where I want it. But I'm pretty experienced at backing (not that you'd always know it watching me do it- the trailer jackknifes much more easily than my boat trailer.) It can be tough to back in because of cars parked up and down the street, but it is do-able. My hint: practice somewhere else!

The tongue jack wheel control is less precise and the slightest imperfection in the pavement affects it, also you end up pushing on the trailer body more to control it.
The dolly with air tires allows for more precise control without touching the trailer and it is less affected by imperfections in the pavement. Also it can be used on dry soil, gravel, or or lawn without much increase in effort. It also stops immediately when the support is set on the ground.
The drawbacks are that you must have room to swing the handle for steering it and the crank post can sometimes be a minor nuisance on sharp turns.
All-in-all I consider mine to be an essential tool at a great price, I got mine on sale for $29 5 years ago.

Floyd,

Would it be difficult to move your Scamp about 100 to 150 feet on a slight slope on dirt drive with this device? Our tongue weight is nearly 200, yours must be up there too.

We have trees in the way and the length of the Odyssey and the Scamp are a bother. It would be nice to be able to just attach this to the Scamp and bring the Scamp down to the house to load and unload instead of dancing around the yard with van and Scamp.

Of course we are older than you so you have more muscle to put into the job.

Nancy

Nancy;
As long as it is dry, I routinely move trailers from behind the privacy fence in the back yard, , around the house,across the front lawn to the garage at the other end of the house. Moving our trailer on concrete is effortless, across the grass, of course, requires a little effort but is not too difficult. (it is certainly EASY with a person on the other end leaning on it, to help) packed or reasonably smooth dirt would be easier even than grass. I also have a hitch on my lawn mower which moves a trailer around pretty well also, but I don't always bother with it.
Regards;Floyd

Kevin,
I've got one if you want to give it a try. Princess Auto also has a 12V model.

The spot I have for my trailer requires precision like yours (belly band almost touching a wall). I've been moving it around on gravel on a slight hill using this dolly for final placement this year. I'm on the smaller end of human size standards. If you can handle a lawn roller, mid sized snow blower or garden tiller you can handle a FG trailer with one of these.

I'd agree with floyd that an extra set of hands would be helpful in certain situations, even then it really does not require putting a lot of force into it. More like the extra set of hands to get a car moving in the snow.

I bought a come-along from a local hardware store to enable me to pull my Trillium into my garage by myself.

http://doitbest.com/Wire+stretchers+and+po...-sku-714495.dib

It works great, but is somewhat over what is required. I bought the smallest model for $22. One disadvantage is it doesn't give much length of pull. However, advantages are it is racheted so it doesn't slip when you stop and pulls slowly so you don't run into things in tight spaces.

I would think that about 100' of ¼" rope and a couple of pulleys would work. Don't get stretchable rope, because if something lets loose, it will whip like a broken rubber band. Don't forget to get some kind of blocks to prevent the trailer from moving when you don't want it to.

Also two or three people can push one of these pretty easily, but then again you have to be careful not to get it moving too fast or in the wrong directon. My driveway has a very slight incline up to the garage doors and it is surprising how heavy a 1700# trailer is. But then I am older and not as strong as I was in my youth.

One tip on pulling by hand: use some rope, about 25', wrap the end aroung your hips and back up pulling the trailer with your legs. You have much more control that way.

If you use a come-along or rope and pully, you can be creative for an anchor point. I made an anchor with three 10' 4x4's. I placed two of them against the cement foundation on either side of the garage door, placed the third one across the top and the cable around the middle to hook the come along to. See picture. Click to view attachment

I hope this helps.

I am impressed with Kevin's photo. That is one tight spot!
Robert and I live in an older neighborhood in Mid-City San Diego. We do not have a driveway, but are on a corner lot with wide streets. The fence has a 16' wide gate and we have a 2' x 10' steel plate we have to use to bridge the curb to access the back yard. Plus we have to coordinate with the neighbors who park in front of the gate. It will cost us $10,000 to have a proper driveway permitted and built, so we're muddling along with our steel plate for now.
When we had the Compact Jr. we found it easy to unhitch in the street and push it into the yard.
The Fiber Stream is too heavy for that, so we back it in with the van. I find that I need the wide street to make the 90^o turn backing up to hit the 10' wide plate without falling off one side.

I can rarely park mine right away - too many cars on the street. Usually, I wait until the morning when everyone has gone on to work to get enough space on the street to back in.

If you don't have a steep driveway, buying a little come-along trailer dolly might be your besst bet.

I also have an increasingly crowded street, with a narrow driveway that is always tough for trailers. The come-along and hand-dolly ideas are encouraging!

I have used a regular hand dolly for maneuvering a heavy Boston Whaler boat/trailer (including gas can, outboard, oars, lines, life vests and always some amount of bilgewater) between trees and into position at our family's mountain cabin, over uneven terrain/substrate. Worked great, and have been meaning to get one to move about my little utility trailers.

I'm just lurking, gathering information...what a great site!

If price is no object and you really want to be able to move your egg easily:

http://www.powermoverinc.net/htmls/pmaccarts.html

OR

http://www.powercaster.com/Products.html