Castors for Camper Dolly?

[Wandering Sagebrush]

It’s time to start thinking about building a dolly for the Cougar. Does anyone have a recommendation for solid castors that work well in gravel?

 

[Bosque Bill]

I bought my solid rubber castors from harbor freight. 6", one pair swivel and one pair not. Work great on concrete, I don't know about gravel, I'd guess it depends upon how compact it is.

 

[TacomaAustin]

I built my own out of 2x6 lumber and used 6" steel casters for an ashpalt driveway with lots of embedded pebbles - but for gravel wouldn't a Harbor Freight trailer be a better platform.

 

[Stray Dog]

I did replace a wooden dolly with a Harbor Freight trailer. While my camper sits on concrete I have had the dolly on a 3/4 inch crushed gravel drive a number of times. It is very maneuverable on gravel. I think, as Austin says, much better than a solid wheel castor.

I bought the trailer utilizing a couple of the coupons HF has available and paid about $250.00 for it. In the end, I think I actually saved money over the cost of materials for building a new dolly....

 

[JaSAn]

For any loose, moveable, rough surface: the bigger diameter and wider the footprint the better.

 

[Jon R]

I have 1200 lb rated 6x2 polyurethane casters on my dolly for my 1700 lb Grandby. They work well on the smooth garage floor. They are barely usable on asphalt and every pebble causes a problem. I can’t imagine trying to use this type of caster with this weight on gravel even if it was 8x2, at least for pushing around by one or two people. I would suggest pneumatic tires on gravel.

 

[buckland]

I built my own out of 2x6 lumber and used 6" steel casters for an ashpalt driveway with lots of embedded pebbles - but for gravel wouldn't a Harbor Freight trailer be a better platform.

Same here ...I built mine and then gravel was a pain so I bought a 1800 lb load 4x6 trailer with a fold up hitch wheel. So easy to move around.

 

[LuckyDan]

Pneumatic, (Air Up) casters are available. I would suggest finding the biggest and widest you can and not consider solid wheel casters. That typed, I too have my Grandby sitting on a trailer.

Good luck with your endeavor.

 

[Jon R]

The nice thing about a dolly versus a trailer, if it works for you, is maneuverability. I can get my Grandby into a corner of the garage within 2 inches of the walls, giving me more garage space.

 

[rubberlegs]

We just used our newly built dolly for the first time last week. Our asphalt alley has a slight grade, but the real problem is a lip and a dip just before going into the garage. My wife and I could barely get it in there (we are both pretty small though). 6" solid wheels. The swivel wheels kept swiveling to 90° which made for some interesting language between us as we muscled it into the garage. Methinks we need bigger wheels or more work in the gym.

 

[goinoregon]

as for the dolly portion - my experience was driving through a warehouse/manufacturing area, and i noticed some large pallets in a couple areas. so ended up grabbing a nice 4x 6 or so hardwood pallet. they were getting rid of them. it works great. i even took some of the wood off the pallet.

for wheels i dont deal with gravel. i ended up with some of those 4 wheel casters, and i can get the camper up against the old garage wall - by myself

 

[ckent323]

I stumbled onto CasterCity.com after searching for replacement casters after the casters on my dolly failed.

Greg Howard was very helpful assisting my decision making to select an appropriate caster for my dolly and driveway surface (it is a sloped paver surface). Four years later and a lot of use the casters are still working just fine.

I found their prices to be competitive and the selection is nothing short of vast.

Here is a link:

https://www.castercity.com/

I hope this is helpful.


Craig


I am adding our email exchange in the event it might be useful to someone:

Greg Howard wrote:

"We always recommend that you use the largest wheel possible, but I wouldn't recommend anything smaller than a 6" diameter wheel.



I would not recommend the injection molded Polyurethane Tire on a Plastic Center--you will need to replace the wheels more often than you will want.

Even though the center can rust, the Polyurethane Tires that are chemically bonded(glued) to an iron center will offer much better service than the injection molded style. I am partial to our Slightly Crowned Polyurethane Tire on Heavy Iron Center.

The slight crown on the tire makes it a little easier to maneuver/change direction than a wheel with a flat profile tread face, plus they have Sealed Precision Ball Bearings that require no maintenance.

http://www.castercity.com/cm9.htm
https://shop.castercity.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=9PYC6x2-S
https://shop.castercity.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=9PYC8x2-S

Any of the Polyurethane Tires on METAL Centers would be a good choice and you may want to consider using either the Welded on Hand Operated or Bolt On Foot Operated Swivel Lock for two of the casters.

The swivel lock will give you better control if you have to roll the dolly more than just a couple of feet--when engaged the swivel lock makes the caster function like a rigid caster, but if you need to "jockey" it into the storage position, you can disengage it and you have 4 swivel casters again.

Once you determine which caster you would like to use, contact me and I will be able to save you at least 25% off the prices on the website.

It might be easier to discuss all of the options on the phone, so contact me when you can be near a computer if you would like to discuss your application.

Thanks

Greg Howard
Caster City, Inc.
8635 Bright Angel Way
Las Vegas, Nevada 89149
Phone: (800) 501-3808 ext311
7:30AM to Noon, and 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM, PST
Email to: Sales@CasterCity.com
Fax: (702) 522-1904
Website: www.CasterCity.com




In response to my inquiry:












I need help selecting a set of swivel casters for a dolly I am building for my pickup truck, slide in, pop-up camper.

The dolly is used outdoors on my driveway. The driveway is made of concrete pavers with a textured surface. I previously used a dolly on which I had 4 blue rubber 5” casters from harbor freight that were rated for 350 pounds. The plastic hub of one of the casters failed and the blue material scrubbed off on the pavers when I pushed the dolly around with the camper on it.

The footprint of the dolly is 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. The camper weighs about 1200 pounds. I plan to use 4 swivel casters, one on each corner. I assume each caster should have a capacity of >300 pounds, preferably 350 or 400 pounds or even more.

I would like to use the smallest wheels I can in order to minimize the overall height of the camper on the dolly.

I am would prefer a wheel dia of 6” but I may be able to use a wheel up to 8” dia.

I have looked at Ironton [SIZE=10pt]5" red polyurethane[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt], Durable semi-pneumatic and various Hamilton casters on line. The Ironton and Durable casters seem to be more affordable.[/SIZE]

Please recommend a caster hub material as well as a caster wheel material for my application. Price is a consideration.

Regards,

Craig

 

[philos65]

I built a dolly for my keystone and used 8" pneumatic tires because the driveway is gravel/dirt. I would use a trailer. Even though the casters rotate, the weight of the camper on the casters/tires is just too much. They are rated at 280 lobs. I used four of these.

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-pneumatic-swivel-caster-42485.html

In the end, the harbor freight trailer would have been a little more expensive, but so much more useful.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I built a dolly for my keystone and used 8" pneumatic tires because the driveway is gravel/dirt. I would use a trailer. Even though the casters rotate, the weight of the camper on the casters/tires is just too much. They are rated at 280 lobs. I used four of these.

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-pneumatic-swivel-caster-42485.html
In the end, the harbor freight trailer would have been a little more expensive, but so much more useful.

I used those on a different dolly, with poor results. They didn’t hold air long, and deteriorated. Replaced the pneumatic tires with solid tires from Amazon, with worse results. The solids developed flat spots that make the dolly hard to move.

I hope you have a better experience.

 

[ntsqd]

I'd take a serious look at the HF 4x8 trailer kit. They fold in half when you're not using them. For a trailer that's a dubious feature, but for a camper dolly it would be handy.

Add a jack with a serious caster wheel(s) like one of these: https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Jack/Ark/ORJW350D.html

I'd think that you could simply bolt the trailer together and bolt the jack on. Maybe add some plywood pieces to the trailer frame and you're up and running for ~$750 + shipping. I'd bet that a riding lawn mower could move it around with ease.