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

[sleepywheel]

My driveway is sloped towards the house and the one time I lost control of my popup camper when pushing it into the garage, it took out a chunk of the garage door frame. I now have a Yale electric pallet mover that I picked up for cheap.
Drop the camper onto a big pallet and use the pallet mover to move it to where I want. Unfortunately I don't have a camper right now but I am looking for another one so I don't have any pictures to post.

[SeeingStars]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm glad to know that others have done this and that with some careful planning that this is a feasible operation. I did have some concerns that it's more of a pain than it's worth but it sounds like some of those things can be managed.

My thought for a dolly is probably completely over-engineered. I'm thinking about having a metal framed dolly made with a drop deck to get the TC as low as possible - perhaps 8" to 10" off of the ground. I'm planning 12" casters with air filled tires to manage getting up the slight rise of the gutter. I'll mount the casters at each of the four corners of about a 4' x 8' deck. With a tow bar attached at one end and a drop hitch on the truck it should be a simple matter of pushing it up into the garage and its flat surface. From there, unhook and then push it by hand on the flat surface into storage position. I'll start drawing up a plan before I commit, but I'm feeling better about this every day.

And I've wanted a truck camper ever since I stepped foot in one.

Mike

[realter]

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

[gbw]

As a few other posters mentioned, I would build a dolly from good lumber with caster wheels or rubber wheels. You could then use a hand crank winch or a 12V ATV type electric winch to pull it up the drive. With the caster wheels locked, it shouldn't move much.

I wouldn't worry about securing it to the dolly, it won't move during that short transportation. Once on the flat surface of your garage, I bet it wouldn't take much to roll the camper around and reposition it into an unused corner of the garage.

[RWDIII]

This is what I Do
Built dolly out of plywood and 2x6s
bought dolly wheels and tow bar at harbor freight
I also have a slope and the 7 ft garage door

[JacintoKid]

I bought a 4x8 Harbor Freight flatbed trailer for $ 279 to use as a dolly for my Four Wheel Camper / Fleet model. I also have a sloped driveway. I don't bother tying it down while on the trailer because I'm only moving it about 30 feet in or out of the garage. I just back in or pull it out very slowly. It works very well and I can use the trailer for other things as well. I have a standard 2 car garage with 7' garage height and there is appx 10 to 12" of clearance (no AC on the roof).

[cewillis]

I (now) use a small hand winch, with an eye bold screwed into my house sill plate to move my dolly. Dolly wheels that can lock directionally are very useful. (dolly shown here )
You can also get small 12v winces to make it even easier, and sometimes I even use my truck winch to pull it around.

[NRALIFR]

After you get the dolly figured out, put a hitch on the front of your vehicle to push the camper into the garage. It will be a lot easier to guide it that way than backing it in.

:):)

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

One thing to watch for: my Bronco 1200 (1995) has tripod feet. When cranked to its lowest level, the base is still 17" in the air. And considering how high it gets cranked to load on the truck - I'm not sure I could be without the tripod feet (although I haven't tried. I'm blessed with a 10' high garage door). So make sure that whatever you buy can get lowered to the ground?

[RickW]

I did it, it was a PITA. The HOA did not allow overnight parking.

I took a utility trailer, removed the rear gate, axle and springs and installed 2-8" swivel casters on the front and 4 straight 8" casters on angle iron just behind the axle location. This put the deck at about 12" off the floor. (Note: I could put the springs and axle back on and still use as utility trailer)

After unloading and reloading the TC in the street, I used a SUV to connect the hitch and back it carefully into the garage. A drop hitch ball on the truck would work. It cleared by about 2" on each side and the fan dome by about 2' on top.

One issue was the length of the raised jacks. I had to remove the rear jacks so they would not scrape when elevating the hitch.

I also had to bridge the street gutter to keep from stressing things. Casters are not rubber tires and have little tolerance for uneven surfaces.

Another issue is you cannot raise the TC top in the garage if you have a standard garage door opener.

After a few times, I paid for outside storage until we moved.

Why they won't build garage doors 8' tall......:M.

Others have built custom dollies with casters or 8" tires. There also have been ones on tracks or pulled into the garage with a winch.

Don't unload directly on the sloping driveway-you may see your TC try to walk into the street all by itself :E

Hope this helps. Measure very carefully. Good Luck.