Yard dolly or trailer mover?

[gkainz]

Anyone here use a yard dolly or trailer mover for their 5th wheel? Yeah, I know I've hinted around or asked before but didn't get much of a response. Before anyone googles it, I've looked at the Powermover, power caster, and other web sites ... I'm looking for actual experiences with these or other units, maybe homebuilt ideas?

5er is 8500# 25' on flat level concrete and I want to move it about 100'. The first part of the area is too narrow to maneuver the trailer into the turn with the truck.

[gkainz]

3 dog nights wrote:
OK... First you weld some heavy crossbeams in your engine compartment, then you drill thru the hood of the truck and put a second set of rails on the hood. Problem solved!! Just back it in as far as you can, unhitch, turn the truck around, switch your hitch from the bed to the hood, rehitch and push it the rest of the way.... Piece of cake.

Let me know if you need any other problems worked on, I'm full of..... ideas!

LOL! 🙂 I think I'm going to buy an old VW bug and put a 5er hitch on the roof for repositioning the trailer. 🙂

[laknox]

3 dog nights wrote:
OK... First you weld some heavy crossbeams in your engine compartment, then you drill thru the hood of the truck and put a second set of rails on the hood. Problem solved!! Just back it in as far as you can, unhitch, turn the truck around, switch your hitch from the bed to the hood, rehitch and push it the rest of the way.... Piece of cake.

Let me know if you need any other problems worked on, I'm full of..... ideas!

LMAO!

Lyle

[laknox]

57 Panhead wrote:

pbar34 wrote:

Hi Steve,

For the benefit of the others, let's talk about this for a minute. What type of tragic accident are you envisioning? I realize scary is in the eye of the beholder and I can see some people not wanting to tow a 5ver down the road because of the potential of a tragic accident but let me describe this set up further and try to minimize your fear.

Let's take the most obvious potential accident and that is the 5ver rolling out of control. With flat ground, this set up moves less than 1 MPH. If anything breaks or stops working (which would require two separate failures - the PowerCastor and the 5ver breaks would have to fail together - the 5ver would slowly move in the direction it started. Chalks can easily be placed under the tires to stop the movement. It is that slow on flat ground. On a slight hill, I'd recommend that two additional spotters walk along the 5ver, with chalks in hand, ready to place the chalks, if anything happened. I would not use this set up on any substantial grade. Again, common sense needs to prevail here, like most places in life.

The other potential accident is that somehow the PowerCastor fails to support the kingpin weight. I'm not quite sure how this could occur but let's pretend the large cup welds break and the kingpin support is no longer provided. For this, I keep the landing legs a few inches off the ground, similar to a pull test with your tow vehicle.

The other type of failure that is being alluded to above is that the two struts stress and break the landing gear legs. For this type of failure to occur and cause danger, both landing gear legs would have to break at the same time. Even if both landing gear did break, the unit moves so slowly that you simply stop pressing the "deadman" switch and everything stops moving.

Like I said above, I realize people have different risk and fear levels but I don't see this system as a tragic accident waiting to happen, any more than I see the risk of tragedy from towing the 5ver down the road.

Phil

Well Phil first of all what one person can do and feel safe may be outside the comfort zone for some one else. For me this kind of activity would be way outside my comfort zone. After a life time of working in an industry that has its share of safety risks I always let one thing guide me. That is..... If it doesn't FEEL safe, don't do it.

If you are comfortable moving your 5er with a motorized dolly more power to you.


Steve

I used to get a little bit of the willies when I helped crew our tractor club's near-100 year old Case traction engine, when I thought too much about walking around/working on a pressure vessel at 150 psi that's nearly a century old. I got over it. 🙂

Lyle

[Flattop]

No.

[3_dog_nights]

OK... First you weld some heavy crossbeams in your engine compartment, then you drill thru the hood of the truck and put a second set of rails on the hood. Problem solved!! Just back it in as far as you can, unhitch, turn the truck around, switch your hitch from the bed to the hood, rehitch and push it the rest of the way.... Piece of cake.

Let me know if you need any other problems worked on, I'm full of..... ideas!

[57_Panhead]

pbar34 wrote:

Hi Steve,

For the benefit of the others, let's talk about this for a minute. What type of tragic accident are you envisioning? I realize scary is in the eye of the beholder and I can see some people not wanting to tow a 5ver down the road because of the potential of a tragic accident but let me describe this set up further and try to minimize your fear.

Let's take the most obvious potential accident and that is the 5ver rolling out of control. With flat ground, this set up moves less than 1 MPH. If anything breaks or stops working (which would require two separate failures - the PowerCastor and the 5ver breaks would have to fail together - the 5ver would slowly move in the direction it started. Chalks can easily be placed under the tires to stop the movement. It is that slow on flat ground. On a slight hill, I'd recommend that two additional spotters walk along the 5ver, with chalks in hand, ready to place the chalks, if anything happened. I would not use this set up on any substantial grade. Again, common sense needs to prevail here, like most places in life.

The other potential accident is that somehow the PowerCastor fails to support the kingpin weight. I'm not quite sure how this could occur but let's pretend the large cup welds break and the kingpin support is no longer provided. For this, I keep the landing legs a few inches off the ground, similar to a pull test with your tow vehicle.

The other type of failure that is being alluded to above is that the two struts stress and break the landing gear legs. For this type of failure to occur and cause danger, both landing gear legs would have to break at the same time. Even if both landing gear did break, the unit moves so slowly that you simply stop pressing the "deadman" switch and everything stops moving.

Like I said above, I realize people have different risk and fear levels but I don't see this system as a tragic accident waiting to happen, any more than I see the risk of tragedy from towing the 5ver down the road.

Phil

Well Phil first of all what one person can do and feel safe may be outside the comfort zone for some one else. For me this kind of activity would be way outside my comfort zone. After a life time of working in an industry that has its share of safety risks I always let one thing guide me. That is..... If it doesn't FEEL safe, don't do it.

If you are comfortable moving your 5er with a motorized dolly more power to you.


Steve

[larry_barnhart]

I have helped my neighbor with his power caster to move his hot rod car hauler. He just sold the hot rod and wants to sell the power caster but it really is for a TT using the ball hitch. It can work the brakes on the trailer for safety.
chevman

[pbar34]

Grady23 wrote:
As a safeguard, rig a pull wire/cord to the breakaway cable. If it starts to get out of control -- Just puland engage the brakes. Just be sure the battery is charged.

Always! The Power Castor also has a switch to engage the brakes but the breakaway cable is always within reach when operating.


Phil

[Grady23]

As a safeguard, rig a pull wire/cord to the breakaway cable. If it starts to get out of control -- Just puland engage the brakes. Just be sure the battery is charged.

[pbar34]

57 Panhead wrote:
The whole idea of moving a 5er with a small dolly is a tragic accident looking for a place to happen IMHO. Just plain scary to me.

Steve

Hi Steve,

For the benefit of the others, let's talk about this for a minute. What type of tragic accident are you envisioning? I realize scary is in the eye of the beholder and I can see some people not wanting to tow a 5ver down the road because of the potential of a tragic accident but let me describe this set up further and try to minimize your fear.

Let's take the most obvious potential accident and that is the 5ver rolling out of control. With flat ground, this set up moves less than 1 MPH. If anything breaks or stops working (which would require two separate failures - the PowerCastor and the 5ver breaks would have to fail together - the 5ver would slowly move in the direction it started. Chalks can easily be placed under the tires to stop the movement. It is that slow on flat ground. On a slight hill, I'd recommend that two additional spotters walk along the 5ver, with chalks in hand, ready to place the chalks, if anything happened. I would not use this set up on any substantial grade. Again, common sense needs to prevail here, like most places in life.

The other potential accident is that somehow the PowerCastor fails to support the kingpin weight. I'm not quite sure how this could occur but let's pretend the large cup welds break and the kingpin support is no longer provided. For this, I keep the landing legs a few inches off the ground, similar to a pull test with your tow vehicle.

The other type of failure that is being alluded to above is that the two struts stress and break the landing gear legs. For this type of failure to occur and cause danger, both landing gear legs would have to break at the same time. Even if both landing gear did break, the unit moves so slowly that you simply stop pressing the "deadman" switch and everything stops moving.

Like I said above, I realize people have different risk and fear levels but I don't see this system as a tragic accident waiting to happen, any more than I see the risk of tragedy from towing the 5ver down the road.



Phil

[ol_Bombero-JC]

gkainz wrote:
Allworth ... "no" what? "No, you do not?" or "No, no one on this site does?" 🙂

He's (obviously) answering applied to his own experiences.

Doubt he can speak for everyone on the forums!.:S..:S

~

Yes.

(However it was with/for a TT)

On flat ground - cement - it should do fine.

Make sure the brand you purchase is rated for the weight of the trailer.

~

[57_Panhead]

The whole idea of moving a 5er with a small dolly is a tragic accident looking for a place to happen IMHO. Just plain scary to me.

Steve

[laknox]

gkainz wrote:
Thanks again for the response, Phil ... I've seen a few videos showing this setup move a 5er around, but I still kind of cringe, envisioning the tug walking out from under the kingpin, with just the vertical pipe, and then think that if it doesn't, it must be applying a lot of push force with the braces to the landing gear. Maybe it's just an over-active imagination on my part.
I envision using a tripod or 4 legged stand that spreads out the load and stabilizes the power tug, but apparently I'm over-analyzing the situation.

I'll look at the Power Caster a little closer.

re: wintersun - which brand unit did you go with?

I do have a spare aircraft tug (12v battery powered) in the hangar that I keep toying with re-purposing, but it's not built to carry any kind of weight load - simply a "push-me pull-you" affair.

The tube is only really to carry the pin, the arms to the landing gear are what pushes/pulls the FW, and what need to be stout enough to do that. You could probably modify the tug or simply pull the tug motor and transmission off it and fab something heavy enough to hold the weight of the pin and install the tug motor on that. Personally, I'd build something with much larger tires both for traction and for floatation if on grass or dirt.

Lyle

[gkainz]

Thanks again for the response, Phil ... I've seen a few videos showing this setup move a 5er around, but I still kind of cringe, envisioning the tug walking out from under the kingpin, with just the vertical pipe, and then think that if it doesn't, it must be applying a lot of push force with the braces to the landing gear. Maybe it's just an over-active imagination on my part.
I envision using a tripod or 4 legged stand that spreads out the load and stabilizes the power tug, but apparently I'm over-analyzing the situation.

I'll look at the Power Caster a little closer.

re: wintersun - which brand unit did you go with?

I do have a spare aircraft tug (12v battery powered) in the hangar that I keep toying with re-purposing, but it's not built to carry any kind of weight load - simply a "push-me pull-you" affair.