backing camper into garage with a driveway incline...help!

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Johno02 wrote:
get a winch at Harbor Freight and install in back of garage. Block trailer tires, connect winch cable, Unhook trailer, and pull it in. getting it out, just reverse steps, leave cable attached for control as you push trailer out.

We had similar issue for our fold up Trailmanor (~500# tongue and 3000# dry weight) & our off site covered storage unit...purchased a Dutton-Lainson Worm Gear Hand Winch with Hex Drive - 2,000 lbs (etrailer), 50' steel cable, placed the set up in the 2" rear frame bike rack-receiver (TT), drilled a 1/2" anchor bolt into the concrete (with the same cordless drill and a 1/4", 1/2" masonry bit) and can safely winch it or out without much difficulty with a 18V Makita cordless hammer drill...but getting it inside the covered storage unit it is best having 4 eyeballs.

Once the TT tires are on the level garage surface and once the winch is about 3 feet from the wall, I chock both wheels, remove the winch and place chocks or 2 by 4's behind the trailer tires to keep the rear bumper from hitting the back wall and manually push it the rest of the way in. If you barely make it through the garage opening (height) with tongue jack fully extended you may gain another inch or two by letting some air out of the tires (reinflate while in storage and deflate some before taking it out-or hopefully you won't need to buy smaller diameter wheels just to get it in the unit).

Lastly, if the length is that tight can you have an after market "swing away hitch" installed by others or by a Trailmanor dealer if your frame is compatible (if needed google and image trailmanor swing away hitch).

Bon chance.

My old 12ft pup could not be manhandled. It weighed 3400lbs and had a heavy tongue weight 475lbs. I hope your's is not similar.

doodleduo wrote:
We can back it in with the truck, but the trailer is coming in at an angle because the driveway has a incline and it's not clearing the garage. If it were coming in level it'd be fine. So I'm hoping there's a way to get it level before entering the garage..?? Idk...maybe have to build a ramp to level the driveway? Not sure how to go about that either :/ A little in over my head here.

Easy fix. Get a trailer dolly.

Has ball on end and handles like a hand cart. YOU can then roll it up to garage and push the handle down to the driveway which will level your PU to fit in under the door.

This one has an 'adjustable' height ball so if you need to move it up more to accommodate the angle of the driveway to make your PU more level.
http://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Accessories/Rackem/RA20.html

Trailer Dolly by Rack'em Manufacturing.The trailer dolly will allow you to move your heavy trailer around with ease. Great for helping to manuever your trailer into tight spaces like in the garage.

There are less expensive ones for around 50 bucks but from your description of the steep incline to the driveway you might need the extended ball option that is the Rack'em one.
Here's is one for $50.00. Does 'not' have adjustable ball.
http://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Accessories/MaxxTow/MT70225.html

Call around you might find one to rent at an equipment rental place.

Seems the investment in a dolly is prudent since the HOA is going to be all over you like cheap shirt if you don't! :W

An idea for out of the garage assuming it is too heavy to manhandle, might be to hook a chain to the truck and put the truck in neutral and let the slope of the driveway and the weight of the truck pull it out while using the winch to let out the cable at a controllable speed. I would recommend someone in the truck to put on the brakes if something would go wrong. Once out chalk the trailer and hook up normally.

The winch thing should be the easy fix. And you don't have to winch it all the way to the wall....just winch it to the point that the wheels are on the level floor of the garage and just push it in the rest of the way.
Course pulling the trailer out of the garage is going to present another challenge :)

For the winch being close, While you are at Harbor Freight, get a good pulley and mount it to something SOLID at the back of the Garage. Winch over to the side, cable from winch through pulley to back or axle of trailer.

Not sure I understand the problem either, but if I do...

Use a "drop down" hitch extension (made for tall trucks), but invert it, putting the ball on top of the extension. This will put the trailer hitch high and the tail lower, hopefully enough to get the back end under the garage door top. Of course you can't go high enough to allow the rear end of the trailer to drag. If this will work, you'll probably want to get a front receiver hitch installed on the truck to make visualization and maneuvering easier. You would only want to use this special extension for putting the trailer in the garage, not for towing.

If yours is a small trailer or a pop-up this may work. If it's a larger trailer it would probably be too hard and heavy to hook up and not safe to drive in. You'll just have to figure out the heights to determine the feasibility of this scheme.

If you are still considering the winch idea and think that there isn't enough room for it between the wall and the trailer remember that you could bolt it to the floor and hook the winch line farther under the trailer like closer to the axle and then when the trailer got to the back of the garage the trailer could go over the winch and the winch could still have line left to pull since it would not have bottomed out yet.
The harbor freight winches for the weight you need wouldn't be very expensive and this might be the best idea. You could then raise the "JACK" with the caster wheel as high as you need to get the nose up and the back down so you would be able to clear the garage opening without having to manually pick up on the nose of the trailer, but you may have to crank it back down to level the trailer once in the garage to clear the winch bolted to the ground before you got to the back wall.

doodleduo wrote:
Can't seem to figure out how to post a pic :/

Here is a FAQ for that. http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/15775751.cfm