how to build a dolly

[1tonpaulie]

Yesterday my wife and i ordered a new grandby from the nicest fwc dealer sean and diana dempsey at go anywhere. They made the purchase so easy. If anyone in the midwest is looking to purchase a new fwc look up go anywhere. my
question is has anyone ever built a dolly for moving a camper around a garage? I can not store the camper out side because my town will ticket me. Some stupied ordiance. Any help would be great.

Thanks Paul

 

[Barko1]

There have been some other posts on this topic. Another option is to get a cheapo Harbor Freight 4x8 trailer. Fits and moves easily plus you have a trailer. Does the town allow youto pick the truck out front with the camper on it? I know Western Springs, IL won't let you have pickups visible, strange world

 

[Chukar Hunter]

The Harbor Frieght trailer works great for me. I have an ATV to move it around but it also is not difficult by hand as it balances very well on that trailer.

 

[rich]

Hi Paulie,

Here is the trolley I built for moving and working on my camper. My garage is short so I built it so that at there fully closed height the jacks clear the floor by 2 inches. This trolley is big and overbuilt because I was doing an extensive re-model of the camper. I replaced both lift panels, all new foam and upholstery, new faucet, new water pump and all new wiring. For this reason I wanted to be able to have two or three people standing in the camper while it was on the trolley without worrying about damaging, breaking or separating the floor pack. If you only want to move the camper and not be in it while on the trolley you can build something much smaller and akin to a standard furniture dolly. The guys at ATC use some of these smaller dolly's in there shop to move campers around.

You'll have to excuse the messy garage. I barely finished the remodel in time to hit the road for our Christmas road trip so the shop has not recovered yet.

I used a 4x4 as the bottom support for it because those 4" rubber casters that you see are $16 a piece and I didn't want to have to buy 2 more to support the middle so the 4x4 allowed me to go the 7' span with no center support. You could probably use smaller casters than 4" but I have a 1 inch concrete lip at the front of my garage that I had to overcome so the 4" casters make it a lot easier to get over the hump. My garage was built in the 50's so it's not tall enough to back the truck in and drop the camper. I have to drop it in the driveway, put it on the dolly and roll it into the garage.

I hope these pictures give you some ideas and again if you don't want to be able to have two people standing in, loading or working on the camper while on the trolley you can build something a lot smaller than this.

Good luck and post some pics of what you end up with!

Rich

 

[rich]

Oh yeah congrats on the Grandby by the way, you are going to love it! To give you a budget, if you build something this big there is about $100 in casters, hardware and lumber in this thing. If you go smaller you could do it a lot cheaper.

 

[buzzman]

Hey 1ton, congrats on your camper purchase! Now tell us what sort of options you got on this new Grandby and when will it arrive?

There several threads here about camper dollies. Here's one:

http://www.wanderthe...page__hl__dolly

 

[Bdold]

Has anyone drilled and bolted castors directly to the jack feet? I don't see why this wouldn't work.

Bryan

 

[rich]

Has anyone drilled and bolted castors directly to the jack feet? I don't see why this wouldn't work.

Bryan


I have a slanted driveway and a one inch lip of concrete to overcome, I'd be afraid of the sideways torque on the jack brackets. If you can drive in and drop your camper directly in the garage I think that would work fine.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Not a good idea.

I wish it would work, because we have always wanted to do it to make things faster.

But you are going to have some twisted jacks and a bent camper frame if the surface is not perfectly flat and smooth.

Almost every camper I have seen with caster wheels bolted to the feet of the jacks had a bent camper frame.

There is just too much twisting.




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Has anyone drilled and bolted castors directly to the jack feet? I don't see why this wouldn't work.

Bryan





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[mtnman]

Stan is correct. You don't want to push the camper around on its jacks. They are like large levers hanging off the side of the camper and will certainly do damage. I built a simple dolly for my Hawk from ideas I got from another post on this forum and it works great. The platform has pretty much the exact dimensions of the base of the camper. I built it just like you’d construct a 2X6 wall, with 2X6 “studs” running the length of the camper on roughly 16” centers. Think of them as floor joists. I used a sheet of ½” OSB as the base which provides the shear, and I put a couple of partial pieces on the underside for added measure (probably not required). Think of this as a subfloor. I then used a 2X8 at both ends that measures a bit wider than the camper base, but is still narrow enough to slide between the camper jacks, to attach the casters to. This provides a slightly wider “wheel base” which makes the dolly extremely stable. I have high enough garage doors that I can drive into the garage with my camper on and remove it. Then I slide the dolly underneath the camper, lower it down, and I am set to move it anywhere I want in my garage. This is definitely the way to go. I agree that you should go with the largest casters you can get. It makes rolling a lot easier. I've attached pics of the dolly posted by the gentleman I got my ideas from (the one with the camper loaded) and a picture of the dolly I constructed (the one with my truck's tail gate on it). Good luck and congrats on the new camper.

 

[buzzman]

Hey mtn, I recognize that camper and dolly. Glad that I was of some help to you. I do the same as you do when the camper is on the truck... the tail gate is on the dolly.

 

[mtnman]

Buzzman,
Your post was so helpful to me and resulted in such a useful tool for storing and moving my camper around the garage, that I felt compelled to pass on the great idea. I load and unload my camper fairly often, and my son and I have it down to a science. I usually only put it on my truck when I have a trip planned, then remove it as soon as I return. I'm using it a lot right now that the duck season is on, so it is staying on the truck for a couple of months. When the season is over, it will be safely back in the garage and out of the elements. Thanks a bunch for the original post.

 

[ski3pin]

Since we moved the camper around and the dolly we built was out from under the camper today thought we would add a few photos. The original design idea came from another thread on dollies. It is 2x6 construction. We used casters with 8" x 2" wheels from Harbor Freight. They are big and roll easily.

 

[ETAV8R]

Reviving this thread. Glad I found it. I was considering doing castors on the base of the jacks or small dollies. Rethinking options now.

 

[singlefin]

Hi
What are the dimensions of your caddy- length, width, depth? Also, what make is your 4" castors and weight of the caddy? Thanks much!
Tom


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[XJINTX]

Sorry but have a question about the Harbor Freight trailer. I only see a 1,090 lb trailer is that stout enough or is there another?

http://www.harborfreight.com/1090-lb-capacity-40-12-in-x-48-in-utility-trailer-62665.html

 

[DYNOBOB]

I have the HF 1800lb non-folding trailer.

 

[68 Siesta]

Sorry but have a question about the Harbor Freight trailer. I only see a 1,090 lb trailer is that stout enough or is there another?

http://www.harborfreight.com/1090-lb-capacity-40-12-in-x-48-in-utility-trailer-62665.html

They have higher capacity trailers. The one I bought is 1700 lbs.


http://t.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/trailer-accessories/1720-lb-capacity-48-in-x-96-in-super-duty-folding-trailer-62671.html

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[XJINTX]

They have higher capacity trailers. The one I bought is 1700 lbs.


http://t.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/trailer-accessories/1720-lb-capacity-48-in-x-96-in-super-duty-folding-trailer-62671.html

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Thanks... I'm going to pick one up

 

[68 Siesta]

Thanks... I'm going to pick one up

Quick pointer - it won't come with a tongue jack for the trailer. Although it says this is a "heavy duty" trailer, the tongue braces are quite flimsy. You won't want to add a trailer jack to the tongue of the trailer for the purpose of holding up the front of the trailer with your camper on it. Stabilize the trailer with the 4 corner jacks of the camper when storing. Learned that the hard way!


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