Camper support cradle with wheels

[Mushhuskies]

Aloha all! Ive been out of touch for quite some time although it looks like WTW is still very active. Great! Im looking for an older post where the poster showed pics and details of a FWC cradle that had wheels on it so that you could wheel your camper around the garage for better storage and access. It was built using lumber. Ive searched all the applicable forums with a variety of search terms and am getting nowhere. Does this ring a bell for anybody? Help is greatly appreciated.

 

[MarkBC]

Did you search on "dollie" (or dolly)? That's what some people call them.

 

[Jon R]

Here are some pictures of mine for a Grandby. The frame is 2x6 and the plywood is 3/4 inch. The casters are 2x6 inch steel wheels with hard polyurethane tires. If I was doing it again I would make it a bit lighter weight. It’s a workout for me to stand it up against the wall for storage.

 

[Jon R]

And a couple more.

 

[Jon R]

There are lots of ways to build one of these, but one of the less than obvious things to consider is that your jacks can only lower the camper so much, and your dolly needs to be tall enough that the jacks can lower the camper onto it. A 2x4 frame with 6 inch casters may be too low.

 

[goinoregon]

i found a heavy duty pallet in a nearby warehouse area. i just needed to add 5" wheels, and it worked great. i actually took some of the crossmembers out, to reduce weight a bit. u dont need to get too fancy. i ended up replacing the 5" wheels, with those car wheel dolly things, that have 4 caster wheels on each one. they were much easier to manuever the camper around in my garage

go

 

[rubberlegs]

This one, made from scrap lumber I had laying around, has thinner plywood and a frame of 2x6s. The mid brace keeps the 2x6s from rolling, but honestly due to the stiffness of the dolly vs. camper, the load really piles up on the corners above the wheels. So far it's shown no flex issues. It's not terribly heavy (but not super light either).

It's kinda like holding up a grand piano on two floor joists, which my 900 lb piano has done to several homes.

The plywood is on the bottom. I didn't want to load the plywood, since it's weak in that direction, but used it as a shear member to keep the frame from going parallelogrammy (that's a new word!). It's handy to put lightweight items in the dolly when the camper is out playing.

I wish the wheels were a little larger. It can be hard to push it over bumps in our driveway and garage. Deb and I are a couple of small weaklings. We just went through that exercise yesterday. We belay it from a good fence post anchor using a climbing rope and prussik knots, so it won't take off on us down the alley!

 

[Vic Harder]

We belay it from a good fence post anchor using a climbing rope and prussik knots, so it won't take off on us down the alley!

oooh, that's an interesting technique, and I laugh at the notion of seeing the camper drag someone down the alley.... thanks for the laugh!

 

[CPT Davenport]

This one, made from scrap lumber I had laying around, has thinner plywood and a frame of 2x6s. The mid brace keeps the 2x6s from rolling, but honestly due to the stiffness of the dolly vs. camper, the load really piles up on the corners above the wheels. So far it's shown no flex issues. It's not terribly heavy (but not super light either).

It's kinda like holding up a grand piano on two floor joists, which my 900 lb piano has done to several homes.

The plywood is on the bottom. I didn't want to load the plywood, since it's weak in that direction, but used it as a shear member to keep the frame from going parallelogrammy (that's a new word!). It's handy to put lightweight items in the dolly when the camper is out playing.

I wish the wheels were a little larger. It can be hard to push it over bumps in our driveway and garage. Deb and I are a couple of small weaklings. We just went through that exercise yesterday. We belay it from a good fence post anchor using a climbing rope and prussik knots, so it won't take off on us down the alley!

IMG_7442.JPG

I like the storage aspect of your design. At one point on here someone posted a version that could store their jacks and tailgate while the camper was on the truck. Great idea!

 

[Mushhuskies]

Thanks for all the pics and suggestions! Plenty to get me started and on my way! Mele Kelikimaka!