Any of you ever use a 5th Wheel Dolly like this?

laknox wrote:

gkainz wrote:
as I (continue to) ponder building a mover, the bracing thing keeps coming back to me. I visualize any motorized mover walking out from under the king pin, so I keep thinking braces from the upright to the frame on each side to triangulate, and then that puts all the push/pull on the frame, rather than the upright support. But, the videos above show trailers being moved just fine without that, so maybe I'm overthinking things again.
I learned farm equipment building and repair from my grandfather, who ALWAYS applied the old german engineering logic of "hellferstout" :)

At least one of those power dollies had a tricycle arrangement...

Lyle

I had a power dolly (IIRC it was "Power Mover" but it's been around a long time) when I had a TT. The one with options of dual or single wheels.
I had the dually - found it or sale by the original owner - paid $300.

At the Pomona RV show the son of the original designer/mfgr, who owns the company now - had a booth. He offered me $800 !!.
Didn't sell - as I had good intentions of using it.

Bottom line - The electric motor and gearing was outstanding - you could pull stumps with it - but, I needed to cross about 15 feet of grass from the street to my storage (next to my house) - slight incline.
In spite of 'aggressive' tread on the tires - it couldn't get traction - even on dry grass. Also, even with the dual wheels it would take a 'list' if you weren't careful during a sharp turn (with a 20' TT !!)

Eventually sold it to my neighbor (still has it) - who uses it to move a utility trlr with quads from his back yard to the front - ALL paved.

That mover is available with an attachment for 5th wheels - but back to my original post......no bueno.

Conclusion: Save the grief and effort designing your own - buy a forklift..:W

Had I been paying closer attn to CL, the RV repair shop just down the road from me had their forklift advertised for $2K (bought a newer one) - it was *gone* immediately!..:(


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