hooking up a travel trailer from the trailer's rear

Buy a ragged out car for $300 or $400, hook it to the trailer and drive forward into the driveway. Leave the car connected and go have a beer. When you're get ready to leave just reverse the process. Don't even need tags or insurance since the car stays on your property.

calnor wrote:
Hey,

I was wondering if there's any way to add a hookup at a rear of a travel trailer.

The reason I'm asking is that I need to push the trailer into it's parking spot head first, that is, the front of the trailer need to go in first. I can push it in in reverse but then access to trailer doors would be very inconvenient and it would block the side door of my house. If I push it head first there would be enough space to open both doors since they would be opposite of each other.

I've seen a few options for dollys and other solutions but would rather avoid those, since the ones powerful enough are expensive and don't want the extra equipment handing around.

Basically, if it's possible to hookup the rear of the trailer to the hitch/ball on my track, just in order to park it (low speed, minor incline), that would be perfect.

Any one try it? seen it? advice?

Thanks and I very much appreciate any assistance on this.

What is a hookup? A trailer hitch?

There is one of those power dollys on the annapolis craigs list

I guess we do have to ask, what is the trailer we are talking about?

You could get some guys and push a light 20' trailer around. If you are talking about a big 30' trailer, not a chance.

All he needs is a ball on the rear of the trailer and a tow bar on the front of his truck. With a wheel on the jack it should be easy to do what he wants.

GordonThree wrote:
Would a lawn tractor work? The tongue weight could be offset as suggested earlier by using a jack with a wheel on it. 13-15 horsepower of a tractor should be more than enough to drag the trailer, and you can use it to mow your lawn and plow your sidewalks.

that was my thought as an option also.
bumpy

Would a lawn tractor work? The tongue weight could be offset as suggested earlier by using a jack with a wheel on it. 13-15 horsepower of a tractor should be more than enough to drag the trailer, and you can use it to mow your lawn and plow your sidewalks.

We used to do what you are describing using manual labor. Grab a few of the neighbors and have them push from the rear of the TT (corners or bumper only) while I made sure the tongue jack with wheel attached went in the correct direction/spot.

To get the TT out I would have the neighbors push from the front.

It would take four plus me to get it where we needed it.

Beer was their reward...

A power dolly would be a better solution. Look for them on Craigslist. I see them list from time to time

Here's an extreme version https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/for/5169543477.html

I've seen others that are much shorter and in the $300 range.

For the cost of doing it safely, you could buy one of those fancy dollies.

The biggest issue is you have 7-10% of the weight on front hitch. If you just weld a hitch to the back, it's going to constantly be trying to pop off the ball.

To do it safely, it could be done. Custom weld a receiver hitch to the frame (not the rear bumper). Include a large heavy duty rack (suitable for a 1000lbs or more). Make sure it is way over strength and custom weld a hitch (not the ball) to some square stock to fit in the receiver). Add another jack to the rear. When you go to hitch up, you would drop the rear jack just until it touches ground and then lift the front jack. Then you would stack weights on the platform until the rear hitch jack has at least a little weight on it. Then you should be able to safely hitch up and move the trailer (this likely wouldn't be suitable for on road use). All told, this seems like it would be expensive and a hassle.