Motorized trailer movers

[kountryparson]

I have a very tight place at my home and it is difficult to get my tag along behind my house, so I posted about putting a hitch on front of my dodge truck or I was thinking about one of those motorized rv movers. Anyone tried one of those like the parkit360

[kountryparson]

Thanks to all who gave their input on the motorized rv mover. Still thinking about putting a hitch on front of my truck.

[mkirsch]

One thing I notice about the Power Caster is that it is designed to interface with the jack.

On my heavier trailers, rolling it around on the jack seems pretty sketchy to me, lots of flex, and I'm not even applying the motive force to the jack.

I can't imagine what kind of damage one of those Power Casters would do to the jack.

[Fisherman]

downtheroad wrote:
I have read (but have no direct experience) that they don't do well with heavy tongue weight on wet grass or soft ground....but do very well on black top and concrete.

X2, I had one, it wouldn't even budge the trailer on grass.

[drmopar]

I have the Power Caster. It has forward and reverse. It also comes with a switch for braking. The supplied wire harness taps into your electric brake circuit. Does great with my 20 foot enclosed car trailer loaded. Have not tried with my Toy Hauler yet. One problem I have had, the faceplate for the controls was larger than the box that it is screwed to. The edge of the face plate is as sharp as a razor blade, and when turning the Power Caster, it cut me up pretty good. Left a trail of blood while I moved my Trailer. When I contacted Power Caster company, they just blew me off. Still have the Power Caster, but?

[mkirsch]

If you've got fabrication skills you can build one using a small 12V winch as the motor for way less than the commercial units. Lots of youtube videos showing how to.

[1320Fastback]

There are online plans available for the DIY in all of us like these here http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRAILER-MOVER-PLANS-12V-Electric-Power-Dolly-Caster-/232186763625


Keep a eye out on your local Craigslist also, I have seen commercial built ones for sale there too.

I am going to fab up a small dolly and use my lawn tractor to move the trailer around on my property.
While I've not seen it offered or used before I think a integrated brake controller might be a wise addition to a powered dolly even if just for a emergency stop.

[BobsYourUncle]

I used to have a trailer I converted from a landscaping trailer to a mobile showroom for my solarium business. I ran all over Vancouver island and the coast of BC and the interior doing the homeshow circuit.

The trailer weighed about 3500 pounds. Never weighed the tongue but I'd guess it was around 500.
Had a heckuva time getting into the show venues and parking it in place with a dually.

I bought one of those motorized trailer movers from Princesss Auto in Langley BC.
It had 2 castor wheels, one pneumatic tire and a changeable size trailer ball in the center. An onboard battery about the size of a motorcycle battery. A T handle to steer it with and a spring loaded forward / reverse switch. No brakes. I would lower the trailer down onto the ball.

This thing worked like a champ for manoevering the trailer into very tight places. It had one speed, painfully dead slow due to the gearing to make it strong enough to move a trailer.
I primarily used it on flat either paved or concrete surfaces, where it performed quite well.
I tried it on grass once and it dug it and got stuck. No good there.
I was once pulling it out of a show area and had to take it down a concrete ramp with a shallow grade. No brakes and it nearly got away on me on the incline. Had to holler at a couple people to help hold it back.
One issue was trying to turn it too sharp. I nearly tipped it over quite a number of times. Have to be careful. Having a couple extra pairs of hands on the front of the trailer, one on each side would be a big help. And somebody with a back, not your neighbors grandmother...

So if you have a fairly flat hard surface, this thing could work for you. Of course, it depends on how big your trailer is. Mine was 18' or so.

Seems to me I paid less than 500 bucks for it.

I used to garner a lot of incredulous looks from other people in the shows! The most common question was "where did you get that thing?"

I miss the homeshow circuit days, it was a lot of fun! Met a lot of great people, including one fellow who is a regular on this forum. First name John.

Hope this helps.
🙂

[downtheroad]

I have read (but have no direct experience) that they don't do well with heavy tongue weight on wet grass or soft ground....but do very well on black top and concrete.

[DutchmenSport]

I've seen videos of them on YouTube. They seem work very nice. But, be prepared to fork over a ton of $$$ for one.

[the_bear_II]

http://www.powercaster.com/

I had a booth at the California RV Show for many years located across from the family that developed the Power Caster. I heard many success stories from TT and boat owners regarding the use of the power caster. It seems to work well. I see used ones listed on ebay and Craigslist from time to time.

My dad, my brother and I used to use a 5 foot tall heavy duty two wheel hand truck to lift the tongue of the family 18ft TT. Dad would maneuver the hand truck while my brother and I would push on left & right corners to get the TT into or out of a spot behind the house. It took a lot of muscle but worked.