Dolly recommendations

[Bigsky1]

Hi - I would like to get folks recommendations regarding trailer dolly's. I have a 13' Burro. Our driveway is off an alley so basically I am parallel parking the trailer. From the alley I have to go up a slight incline to get the wheels both on the cement pad. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thank you - Todd

[floyd]

This'll do it very well....Harbor Freight has'em

[Rene]

Thats exactly what we used today on our 1700 boler in our gravel parking lot. It always amazes us what we can do with that thing.

[Roger C H]

I have one of the dollys shown from Harbor Frieght.

I like it, however, pushing up an incline is a function of the steepness of the incline and the weight of the trailer. It is much better than the small wheel on my tongue jack.

I keep my trailer next to my garage and there is a slight incline to get into the space. However, the gravel seems to be more of a hinderence than the incline. Of course, the incline is very slight. My wife helps sometimes, and one more person really helps.

I may install an anchor at the end of the space. Maybe a 5 gal bucket filled with cement and an anchor eye. Then I could use a rope and pulley or block and tackle.
If you have something already, you may be able to do the same.

The only problem I have is when the dolly is turned so that the wheel is under the frame, the wheel rubs and jams. Placing a spacer under the ball may help.

[carlkeigley]

I bought one of those at Harbor Freight.
I use it for my Jon boat and utility trailer.
Area is pretty rough so doubt I could pull
my TT with it.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Roger C H

I have one of the dollys shown from Harbor Frieght.

I like it, however, pushing up an incline is a function of the steepness of the incline and the weight of the trailer. It is much better than the small wheel on my tongue jack.

I keep my trailer next to my garage and there is a slight incline to get into the space. However, the gravel seems to be more of a hinderence than the incline. Of course, the incline is very slight. My wife helps sometimes, and one more person really helps.

I may install an anchor at the end of the space. Maybe a 5 gal bucket filled with cement and an anchor eye. Then I could use a rope and pulley or block and tackle.
If you have something already, you may be able to do the same.

The only problem I have is when the dolly is turned so that the wheel is under the frame, the wheel rubs and jams. Placing a spacer under the ball may help.

There's always this...

[David Tilston]

I live on a bit of a hill, and I wanted the brakes on the trailer to come on, should I slip and fall, while moving the trailer. This works on the Harbor Frieght type dolly:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rol-50954.html

[stevebaz]

You might consider mounting a trailer ball in front of your car/truck. This makes difficult manuvering much easier. As is running a small winch off your trailer battery guided under your trailer to an anchor in your parking spot. Hook up the trailer guide by hand and operate the winch to pull it back in. Small winches have gotten cheap some people hook them up onto a manual trailer dolly. This is no big issue if you have the power available in your parking space to recharge your trailer battery.

[Bigsky1]

Originally Posted by floyd

This'll do it very well....Harbor Freight has'em

Thanks a bunch everyone for the advice.

Does the dolly from Harbor Freight come with the Ball? Or do you buy that separately so you get the correct size for the tongue.

Todd

[Steve L.]

It comes with a ball but not with a 2" one, but really, the ball size is not important for this usage. Their site says it's a 1-7/8" ball.

On the other hand, how fast were you planning on pushing this dolly?

[Bigsky1]

Originally Posted by Steve L.

It comes with a ball but not with a 2" one, but really, the ball size is not important for this usage. Their site says it's a 1-7/8" ball.

On the other hand, how fast were you planning on pushing this dolly?

Ok - smarty pants!!

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Bigsky1

Ok - smarty pants!!

And be sure to hook up the safety chains and lights.

[carlkeigley]

My dolly didn't come with safety chains and lights.
Where can I get them?

Can I use the ones on my trailer?

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by carlkeigley

My dolly didn't come with safety chains and lights.
Where can I get them?

Can I use the ones on my trailer?

Sure.

[ThomasE]

I use a very similar dolly to maneuver my trailer around the driveway. It's pretty easy to do on concrete. In fact it's faster for me to pull forwards up my driveway and into the garage, then unhitch and use the dolly to spin the trailer around, than to back the trailer up the driveway. My driveway is slightly uphill, so when I need help I get my son to pull on a strap wrapped around the rear bumper, while I push with the dolly.

[Bob Miller]

Keep in mind that the HF dolly uses tubeless tires of not such great quality. The 6 month old one we have frequently looses air and, on occasion has had a tire pop off the bead when used. In short, ya gotta keep an air pump handy and check the pressure before use on the one we have. It's also a bit on the flimsy side, don't put a lot of "Lift" on the ball when using it or the ball mount can bend before lifting the tongue.

[papa-t]

Lol

[Brian B-P]

My dolly, which is typical of the cheap "600 pound capacity" units, is not adjustable for ball height. It works fine with the Boler, but if I were to put much time or effort into finding or building one of these, I woud want to be able to adjust it to suit the trailer. I see that while Northern Tool has a cheap dolly just like mine, they also have one with height adjustment. I have no experience with Northern Tool products - I just noticed that such designs exist.

Roger mentioned the problem of the dolly tires binding against the trailer tongue, and I have experienced this. A dolly is routinely used at angles one would never attempt with a tow vehicle, such as to spin the trailer in place. Larger diameter tires are easier to roll, but more likely to hit the trailer, so this is a compromise with no single right answer.

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

Keep in mind that the HF dolly uses tubeless tires of not such great quality. The 6 month old one we have frequently looses air and, on occasion has had a tire pop off the bead when used. In short, ya gotta keep an air pump handy and check the pressure before use on the one we have. It's also a bit on the flimsy side, don't put a lot of "Lift" on the ball when using it or the ball mount can bend before lifting the tongue.

I think mine is from Princess Auto - I bought it locally and we don't have Harbor Freight here. While not a shining example of fine workmanship, it hasn't bent in any way, using it with a utility trailer and our 17' Boler.

The tires - which have tubes - do leak down. I have considered getting "flat-free" (foam-filled) tires for it... as well as the wheelbarrow and hand truck, because they all have this problem to some extent. I expect that flat-free tires will cost at least as much as the $50 dolly itself.

I like Floyd's idea of using a lawn or garden tractor to move the trailer, but mine doesn't have that elevated ball mount, and my tractor is smaller so I think my trailer's tongue weight would be too much for it.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

I live on a bit of a hill, and I wanted the brakes on the trailer to come on, should I slip and fall, while moving the trailer. This works on the Harbor Frieght type dolly:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rol-50954.html

I think this is a great idea, but since I don't have any significant slope in my driveway I have not been sufficiently motivated to build a similar setup.

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by floyd

There's always this...

That's how I do it.



I've seen guys on another forum use 12v winch motors to power the dollies. Me, I always figured I would get an old junk rear tine tiller, throw the tiller part away, and have a gas powered trailer dolly.