Forum Discussion

Nicholsfamily05's avatar
Nicholsfamily05
Explorer
May 29, 2015

Camper Castor Wheels

Good evening,
I have a 40' fifth wheel and when we go to our friends house we can't back up their driveway anymore since we purchased this camper.
I was thinking of installing some castor wheels to help the transition.
As we start to back the trailer up the bumper hits at 1 foot or 2 above the crack in the drive( see pictures ).

I'm not sure if this would work because of the angle as one side hits first before the other and I am unsure if it would cause to much stress on the frame.

Second issue I think I would have is that I can't put the right on the frame because of the way the bumper attaches to camper. ( see picture) The bumper has a price of metal, looks to be same as the frame, attaching it to the camper. I'm unsure if it could handle the stress of the camper.

As for the angle of the drive we aren't even sure if it is to steep once we are on it going up if it would hit my bed rails as well.

We used to go all the way to the top with our old 30' camper as there is not enough room on the road to park our camper for the time we are there.

Thanks in advance for any help.

ok it won't let me add any photos for some reason..... so ill be working on that
  • Nicholsfamily05's avatar
    Nicholsfamily05
    Explorer
    May 31, 2015
    Sorry for the confusion in the original post.

    No the trailer would not be off the axles, just the weight would be transferred more to the castors as the suspension of the trailer would free of most of the weight. Tires would still be on the ground.

    The trailer would not be suspended and all four tires would still be on the ground but the rear two would be relieved of some of the weight if that helps any.
  • fj12ryder's avatar
    fj12ryder
    Explorer III
    May 31, 2015
    Very simply, we are not making assumptions on what we've done, but rather what the OP is planning on doing.

    This is a quote: "after doing some measuring we think it would only need the wheels for about 8 inches and then should be back onto the axles." To me that quote says that for about 8 inches the 5th wheel is going to be off the axles and supported by the caster wheels and the hitch. Now, does this sound like they "do not carry much of the weight of the trailer"? Or have you seen his driveway and can attest to the fact it will work?

    Just because it's worked for you in some instances doesn't mean it will work for everyone in all instances.

    I was offering an opinion, and stated as such. It's also my opinion that you could probably pull a 40' 5th wheel with a half-ton pickup, but I think that's a bad idea too. But I've never done it so I can't swear to it, just offering my opinion.
  • rattleNsmoke's avatar
    rattleNsmoke
    Explorer
    May 31, 2015
    R12RTee wrote:
    Dtank wrote:
    fj12ryder wrote:
    R12RTee wrote:
    The casters are the way to go. I had them on my 42 foot toy hauler and they were a great addition.

    The trailer is NOT suspended by the casters. At most they will take a small amount of weight from the campers tires but they definitely will not lift the tires from the ground. When determining where to mount them I place one end of a string at the rear wheel and the other end to the bumper area that will come in contact with the ground. The caster should be mounted so it is just below the string. This will minimize the weight the caster will have to support.

    Casters for trailers are not "small metal wheels". They are heavy duty metal with a polyurethane coating. An example can be seen at this site: Ultra Fab caster wheel
    How can you say the trailer will not be suspended by the casters? Unless you've seen the road, driveway, and the trailer you're just making assumptions.



    C'mon....it's not *HIS* driveway!!..:S

    However,
    certainly he would e-mail a check or money order for asphalt repair if his advice went bad.....wouldn't he??...:@

    .
    If you don't know what you are talking about it's better to keep your mouth shut.

    I have had casters on a heavy camper and I know they work and do not carry much of the weight of the trailer. The casters take very little weight of the trailer on them when properly installed. No assumptions but facts. I have had them and I have used them on my asphalt driveway with a steep incline and there is no damage done. Have you you two used them or just making assumptions?


    Bingo. I agree with you 100% on them not doing any harm from experience. I have a 38ft 14K fiver that required 6" skid wheels to make my driveway and I'm glad i put them on. I had metal plates welded to the frame approx 2 ft from the rear cap and the wheels were bolted to the plate. There's no way in hell the skid wheels once making contact with my steep driveway are going to unload ALL the weight off the mains. The suspension just has way too much flex.
  • R12RTee's avatar
    R12RTee
    Explorer
    May 31, 2015
    Dtank wrote:
    fj12ryder wrote:
    R12RTee wrote:
    The casters are the way to go. I had them on my 42 foot toy hauler and they were a great addition.

    The trailer is NOT suspended by the casters. At most they will take a small amount of weight from the campers tires but they definitely will not lift the tires from the ground. When determining where to mount them I place one end of a string at the rear wheel and the other end to the bumper area that will come in contact with the ground. The caster should be mounted so it is just below the string. This will minimize the weight the caster will have to support.

    Casters for trailers are not "small metal wheels". They are heavy duty metal with a polyurethane coating. An example can be seen at this site: Ultra Fab caster wheel
    How can you say the trailer will not be suspended by the casters? Unless you've seen the road, driveway, and the trailer you're just making assumptions.



    C'mon....it's not *HIS* driveway!!..:S

    However,
    certainly he would e-mail a check or money order for asphalt repair if his advice went bad.....wouldn't he??...:@

    .
    If you don't know what you are talking about it's better to keep your mouth shut.

    I have had casters on a heavy camper and I know they work and do not carry much of the weight of the trailer. The casters take very little weight of the trailer on them when properly installed. No assumptions but facts. I have had them and I have used them on my asphalt driveway with a steep incline and there is no damage done. Have you you two used them or just making assumptions?
  • Dtank's avatar
    Dtank
    Explorer
    May 30, 2015
    fj12ryder wrote:
    R12RTee wrote:
    The casters are the way to go. I had them on my 42 foot toy hauler and they were a great addition.

    The trailer is NOT suspended by the casters. At most they will take a small amount of weight from the campers tires but they definitely will not lift the tires from the ground. When determining where to mount them I place one end of a string at the rear wheel and the other end to the bumper area that will come in contact with the ground. The caster should be mounted so it is just below the string. This will minimize the weight the caster will have to support.

    Casters for trailers are not "small metal wheels". They are heavy duty metal with a polyurethane coating. An example can be seen at this site: Ultra Fab caster wheel
    How can you say the trailer will not be suspended by the casters? Unless you've seen the road, driveway, and the trailer you're just making assumptions.



    C'mon....it's not *HIS* driveway!!..:S

    However,
    certainly he would e-mail a check or money order for asphalt repair if his advice went bad.....wouldn't he??...:@

    .
  • fj12ryder's avatar
    fj12ryder
    Explorer III
    May 30, 2015
    R12RTee wrote:
    The casters are the way to go. I had them on my 42 foot toy hauler and they were a great addition.

    The trailer is NOT suspended by the casters. At most they will take a small amount of weight from the campers tires but they definitely will not lift the tires from the ground. When determining where to mount them I place one end of a string at the rear wheel and the other end to the bumper area that will come in contact with the ground. The caster should be mounted so it is just below the string. This will minimize the weight the caster will have to support.

    Casters for trailers are not "small metal wheels". They are heavy duty metal with a polyurethane coating. An example can be seen at this site: Ultra Fab caster wheel
    How can you say the trailer will not be suspended by the casters? Unless you've seen the road, driveway, and the trailer you're just making assumptions.
  • Reng8d's avatar
    Reng8d
    Explorer
    May 30, 2015
    I agree with Sport45, shoring would be far better than casters and stressing the frame...
  • Nicholsfamily05's avatar
    Nicholsfamily05
    Explorer
    May 30, 2015
    We were thinking of trying the board idea as well. Just at this point in time we didn't have enough boards to try it. Just scraps laying around.

    Coming from the opposite direction there wasn't enough of a swing area to get up the drive as the other side of the road is a pretty good down hill into the neighbors front yard.

    Wow had them on a 42'. I'll have to look into that. We believe it is only for a few inches that they would have to help us.

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