Forum Discussion

JW2's avatar
JW2
Explorer
Oct 13, 2015

Truck camper dolly thoughts / sanity check.

I have been reviewing my options for a camper dolly. When the camper is off of my truck, the camper and truck sit side by side in a carport on a gravel surface. This surface is somewhat flat, but not perfect, and with a slight slope. My camper weights about 2700 pounds empty but including two batteries, propane, etc. I would not need to move this dolly while the camper would be on it, but I would need to move the dolly when the camper is not on it.

My thoughts: Like most everyone, I do not want to spend a bunch of money on a camper dolly. I did some internet searching and looked at a lot of photos of what other folks are using. Many camper dollies are home built, mostly out of wood and some out of metal, usually having four casters mounted rigidly, one at each corner. These designs would work OK if the surface they are sitting on is perfectly flat, i.e. so that each caster is contacting the surface it is sitting on, such as a concrete floor. However, if the surface is not perfectly flat, as with a gravel surface, the way I see it is with the camper on the dolly, either the camper dolly will flex so that all casters would be in contact with the surface, or if the dolly does not flex, one of the casters will not be in contact and the other three casters will be doing all of the support. Designed for four casters, two supporting the front half of the camper weight and two supporting the rear half of the camper weight, this would mean that if one caster is not touching then the other caster on this end is now supporting ½ of the camper weight by itself.

I like the idea of using a trailer of sorts (a modified boat trailer or something like it). With a trailer having two wheels in the rear located a little aft of the camper center of gravity, and one trailer tongue jack in the front, it would always have these three support points in contact, regardless of how level or flat the surface is, or is not, with the axle carrying most of the weight. The problems I have encountered with finding a trailer is that most of the axles are to wide and I would need to install dually brackets on the camper so that the trailer wheels can fit between the front jacks. I do not want to have to use dually brackets. The few trailers I found that did have a narrower axle width did not have a high enough axle weight rating.

So, in doing all of this I have thought “why not make a wood frame dolly and use 4 Harbor Freight crank up type, 1500 lb each rated, trailer tongue jacks ($30 each) one at each corner.” Using these jacks would allow me to easily adjust for any uneven surface, adjust the height of the camper dolly, and allow the dolly to be rolled out of the way when not being used. Am I crazy? Does this sound reasonable? Anybody else do something like this? Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.
Truck Campers
  • lonegunman's avatar
    lonegunman
    Explorer
    Oct 13, 2015
    I've been thinking about four of those car dollies that sit under the tires on your parked sports car. If you tied them together with 6x6's or something they could work.

    Sliding it into the shop for the winter would be kind of handy.
  • Bedlam's avatar
    Bedlam
    Moderator
    Oct 13, 2015
    I have a 5x8 flat bed trailer with a 3500 lb single axle and 225/70R15 tires. I would not have an issue using it to move 4000 lbs around at low speeds, but would not use it for roadway transport or a permanent support. It would be perfect for positioning a camper and then pulling it clear when done so you can lower the camper to its lowest jack positions. You should be able to find a new trailer like this for under $1500 or less for a used one.
  • Artum_Snowbird's avatar
    Artum_Snowbird
    Explorer
    Oct 13, 2015
    If I was doing it again I would just use two and a half planks on either side. Each set of planks would hold wheels at each end. At each end of the planks would be a slot, where a sideways plank would fit in and could be dowel pinned into the slot, or removed from the slot and stored.

    The beauty of this is, it works just fine once the sideways planks are locked in, but it comes apart in seconds when unloaded, and stores in a minimum of space.

    The size of the wheels, and the height of the wheels will need to be determined, but there is plenty of support in the planks to hold a rig.

    Four strong tall wheels, six planks (2 X 8), and a short piece of dowel.
  • zcookiemonstar's avatar
    zcookiemonstar
    Explorer
    Oct 13, 2015
    I used four of those Harbor Freight jacks to try and move a shed. I made up some brackets with steel tubing flat plates and angle iron. I also cut the bottoms off the jacks and made a taller wider one to be able to use ten inch tall tires (wheel barrow tires). It worked great to lift the shed but it did not move well the tires did not want to follow they just went in every direction. This was on soft uneven dirt/grass. I think it would have worked better on a harder flatter surface and if two of the wheels did not swivel. This was a 8x8x8 wood shed and it was empty.
  • pcoplin's avatar
    pcoplin
    Explorer II
    Oct 13, 2015
    Is this a temporary carport? If so, I would level the ground.
  • Grit_dog's avatar
    Grit_dog
    Navigator
    Oct 13, 2015
    Why have a dolly if you don't need to move the camper on it?
    Use a couple sawhorses and a sheet of plywood and a few boards for leveling up the horses.
  • ryoung's avatar
    ryoung
    Explorer
    Oct 14, 2015
    JW2 wrote:
    I would not need to move this dolly while the camper would be on it, but I would need to move the dolly when the camper is not on it.



    Not quite sure I understand, but if you're not going to move the camper while it's on the dolly, (my way of saying what you said), why do you need a dolly to begin with?

    ryoung

    I no longer own the camper in my signature.
  • Oldtymeflyr's avatar
    Oldtymeflyr
    Explorer
    Oct 14, 2015
    I would skip the jacks, you can level with plywood boards for the purpose.

    As far as moving the camper support, which it is more than a "dolly" in the sense that you are not using the "dolly" to move the camper, but just to support the camper off of the truck, put some 8" to 10" balloon tire casters, on the side of the support and tip the dolly over onto the casters to move it around.

    Ours is steel, welded together. If I made it again, it would be a combination of welded ends with the sides being bolted together, just to make it easier to store when the camper is off the dolly. I may make this modification this winter.

    Good Luck.

    Rick
  • 69_Avion's avatar
    69_Avion
    Explorer
    Oct 14, 2015
    I stored my Avion on a "dolly" that had a solid axle near the rear (no susupension) that was made out of heavy angle iron with a center beam hooked to a 2" hitch coupler. It was fine for moving around the back yard. My Avion was on it for about 30 years with no issues, but I had to block it up so when the tires went flat it wouldn't lean over. If you don't need to move the camper, something like this wouldn't be necessary.

  • mkirsch's avatar
    mkirsch
    Nomad II
    Oct 14, 2015
    A couple years ago I performed a grand experiment, trying to build a camper dolly for my relatively smooth, relatively level gravel barn floor.

    My dolly ended up with 10 large pneumatic casters, my reasoning being the more tire I could put on the ground, the easier it would roll. The intention was to be able to move the camper.

    It did not work well. First time I put the weight of the camper on the dolly, the front tires went right down to the rims. I needed to add two more casters to the front of the dolly to carry the weight of the front of the camper.

    After that problem was solved, I tried to move it. It would not roll because some of the casters were facing the wrong way. The only way I could get it rolling was if I jacked up the dolly and positioned the casters in the direction I wanted to go.

    The next spring, all the tires were FLAT. After I aired them up, the camper would not roll. I ended up wrapping a chain on it and tugging it with a tractor to get it out of the depressions that formed in the gravel over the winter. In dragging the dolly, I managed to bend two of the casters.

    All in all, it was a failure. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it now because it's all nailed together and pulling it apart will destroy it.

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