Storing Pop-Up TC in garage - Sloped driveway

[SeeingStars]

Hi everyone,

I've been away from the forums for a couple of years. I've been busy camping and working and raising teenage girls. Currently I have a 2012 Jayco 23J hybrid travel trailer and I have loved owning it. Since buying it 3.5 years ago it has seen heavy use. But now with girls gone away to college, it's much too large for me and I'm planning to sell it and downsize to a pop-up truck camper.

I want the pop up for a hundred different reasons, but one of the main ones is the ability to store it inside my garage away from the elements without having to pay a storage fee somewhere. The opening I have to fit the camper through is 7' high. This presents the dilemma that the camper has to be unloaded and then moved into the garage. I'm aware of the various dollies that can be used to move the camper easily.

Here's my challenge: My driveway is sloped. It's not unbelievably steep, but it's sloped enough. I know that I'd be unable to push a 1500 to 2000 lb TC on a dolly up the slope myself. Here is an image of the travel trailer that illustrates the slope I'm dealing with.


So I need to find a way to get the TC onto some sort of dolly and then get it up the slope and into the garage. Does anyone have an experience with this or a viable - safe - idea?

I have considered having a small trailer built to mount the TC onto and then backing it into the garage with my truck. Such a trailer would:

• Only be used for transporting the TC from the garage to the cul de sac for loading/unloading
• need a very low deck height - less than 12"
• need to provide a way to tie down the TC for safe transport during it's short trip.

Basically, is there a way to get this done safely? I've not owned a truck camper so I'm not sure if I'm crazy or not with this idea.

Thanks,

Mike

[hedgehopper]

SeeingStars wrote:
I want the pop up for a hundred different reasons, but one of the main ones is the ability to store it inside my garage away from the elements without having to pay a storage fee somewhere. The opening I have to fit the camper through is 7' high. This presents the dilemma that the camper has to be unloaded and then moved into the garage. I'm aware of the various dollies that can be used to move the camper easily.

Though I'm a bit late to the party, have you considered the possibility of backing the truck into the garage with the camper in place? Our previous camper was a Phoenix popup on a Tundra. Though our door opening was only 7 ft, we were able to back the rig into the garage with the camper on the truck. Our sloped driveway was a plus because it provided more clearance above the camper when backing into the garage. I adjusted the garage door for maximum clearance. Also, I deflated the air bags when entering and exiting the garage.

[realter]

Wondering about an update, now that you have a Northstar 850. Did you build or make a dolly?

[realter]

joeshmoe wrote:

realter wrote:
As a former Realtor, my advice is to purchase a rental property with a BIG garage. Let your tenants pay for it.

I decided to browse one last thread before hitting the hay. I should have gone bed. What an odd recommendation.
"Hey guys, I need to get my camper into a sloped driveway. What do you suggest?"
"Take out loan, buy a property specifically with a large garage to fit your camper and become a landlord." "Oh, and the tenants have be okay with you storing it there." :S

Good night.

Our houses are considerably cheaper than those in Southern CA!! I kick myself every month when I pay my storage rental bill, as I have seen many houses go for under $50,000 over the years. Students rent them for $350 a kid, and the landlords always put 1 or 2 more bedrooms in the basement with egress windows. $1400/ month covers your payment and taxes. Then find one with alley access, and build a big garage in the backyard. The only downside is being a landlord.........

[Mote]

RickW wrote:

realter wrote:
As a former Realtor, my advice is to purchase a rental property with a BIG garage. Let your tenants pay for it.

As a former welder, my advice is to fabricate a sturdy metal dolly with welded gusseted corners and reinforced supports for the metal wheels....

As a former carpenter, my advice is to assemble a wooden dolly with dado joints and 3/4 inch plywood using lag bolts and Simpson reinforcing brackets....

As a former inventor, my advice is don't be a copycat and create the first magnetic levitating platform for a TC. :B

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I stand by my post on page 1.

Or a Hovercraft :B

[SeeingStars]

Kayteg1 wrote:
I see 2 problems with that front mounted tow bar.
1. it will take a helper to hitch it without jumping out of the cabin several times and the helper is not going to stand in the safest spot.
2. the coupler is design for pulling, while it has limited strength for pushing, probably good on flat, but curb, gutter and slope are not going to make it easy.
If you have 4 casters, how do you control it from going sideway?
For gutter and curb you will need some ramps no matter what you use, unless you want to put car wheels on the jack.

The plan was to use rigid casters for the back of the dolly and swivel casters on the front to keep it from going all over the place.

A small handful of people have told me that I'll need some sort of ramp even with a shallow gutter...so I'll have to rethink that part of the dolly. If I have to create a small ramp though, that probably lowers the cost of the casters significantly. The pneumatic ones I'm considering as my curb/gutter solution aren't inexpensive.

Thanks for the input. It is helpful. Before I go down this rabbit hole I want to make sure I can put it in the garage - and more importantly - do it safely. 2000 pounds of camper on wheels on a sloped driveway isn't something to be trifled with. 🙂

Mike

[RickW]

Agree with Kayteg1, mostly:

The wheels closest to the hitch should be swivel casters. The wheels on the back need to be fixed straight. You can use more than 2 wheels in the back (I used 4).

You will need a simple makeshift ramp (i.e. 1x2s, 2x4s, plywood) to bridge the gutter and curb. I was able to bridge the curb using hard 8 inch casters.

Once the TC is on the dolly with casters chocked, it should easy to line up and connect the hitch.

Good Luck,

[bcbouy]

so you can't back up a trailer or car with them?

[Kayteg1]

I see 2 problems with that front mounted tow bar.
1. it will take a helper to hitch it without jumping out of the cabin several times and the helper is not going to stand in the safest spot.
2. the coupler is design for pulling, while it has limited strength for pushing, probably good on flat, but curb, gutter and slope are not going to make it easy.
If you have 4 casters, how do you control it from going sideway?
For gutter and curb you will need some ramps no matter what you use, unless you want to put car wheels on the jack.

[SeeingStars]

I'm still mulling over a plan, but I think it's viable. I have a friend who I think would be willing to build me a metal framed dolly to set the camper down onto....this is the closest thing to what I'm thinking...


Instead of a normal axle and wheels, my plan is to spend a little money on some heavy duty pneumatic casters and have them mounted at each of the four corners of the dolly. But instead of mounting them underneath, the bed of the dolly dropped with the casters mounted to each side. They casters will still ride underneath the footprint of the truck camper as a whole. By putting the casters at the corners it should minimize the tendency of things to drag as they go up the slope of the short gutter and the air filled tires should help absorb the bump. 8" Dual tires like shown should have enough load bearing capacity (660 lbs) to handle the truck camper.


Finally, attaching a regular tow bar appropriately to the front of the dolly as was shown earlier in this thread will allow it to be pushed by vehicle into the garage for storage and safe keeping.


Once I acquire the truck camper, it's basic math to figure out how much the dolly bed would need to be "dropped" down below the height of the casters to clear both ground based objects with the jacks and the 7' height of the garage door.

I appreciate all the discussion though. This has given me a lot of additional information to work with - especially from RickW's comments early on about the challenges he faced with his own solution.

Thanks again,

Mike

[RickW]

Kayteg1 wrote:
I think technically the electric pallet mover is the best, but those things cost a fortune and you have to be really lucky to find one cheap.
But standard pallet jacks can be found for less than $100 and they have 5000 lb capacity, so no worry about wheels giving up.
Add electric winch in the garage and you have nice set with lot of other potential uses.

Not to overthink the problem, but the TC will probably be unloaded to a pallet in the street. The pallet mover must then negotiate a gutter, a curb, a level sidewalk, up a sloped driveway and possibly across cement seams with a 1500 pound payload. It would be nice if someone had the clearances for the mover or jack or could demonstrate this on a U tube video.

I tried a two-wheeled hitch jack with the TC in my modified trailer and it was definitely a no-go.

[Kayteg1]

I think technically the electric pallet mover is the best, but those things cost a fortune and you have to be really lucky to find one cheap.
But standard pallet jacks can be found for less than $100 and they have 5000 lb capacity, so no worry about wheels giving up.
Add electric winch in the garage and you have nice set with lot of other potential uses.

[RickW]

realter wrote:
As a former Realtor, my advice is to purchase a rental property with a BIG garage. Let your tenants pay for it.

As a former welder, my advice is to fabricate a sturdy metal dolly with welded gusseted corners and reinforced supports for the metal wheels....

As a former carpenter, my advice is to assemble a wooden dolly with dado joints and 3/4 inch plywood using lag bolts and Simpson reinforcing brackets....

As a former inventor, my advice is don't be a copycat and create the first magnetic levitating platform for a TC. :B

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I stand by my post on page 1.

[MKish]

Like mentioned above, pay attention to where the jacks are--they are what will get in the way. Our dolly turned out too low and we have to toss some boards on it so the feet don't scrape. 🙂

[joeshmoe]

realter wrote:
As a former Realtor, my advice is to purchase a rental property with a BIG garage. Let your tenants pay for it.

I decided to browse one last thread before hitting the hay. I should have gone bed. What an odd recommendation.
"Hey guys, I need to get my camper into a sloped driveway. What do you suggest?"
"Take out loan, buy a property specifically with a large garage to fit your camper and become a landlord." "Oh, and the tenants have be okay with you storing it there." :S

Good night.