OK - hopefully this does not sound ridiculous...

We rented a pull-thru slot to park our camper. Unfortunately, the slot is very tight (1ft on both sides to spare) and takes a while to get the camper in the slot. The problem is the difficulty in getting the back end of the camper to line up just right when parking the camper. We have other large/long travel trailers next to us, and we don't have much room to maneuver the truck and camper around.

I need some gadget that will lift up the rear-end of the unit (off the wheels) and move it 2-3ft side-to-side. I was thinking of something like a small hydraulic lift with tires on both sides and an electrical motor to move the camper. I have thought about using an electric tongue jack on both sides with wheels mounted on the bottom of the jack. Using this method, I would jack up the camper then push it (or move it with an electric motor) into position. Our camper weighs about 9000lbs when full.

I had something similar with our pop-up camper in our garage. I got a pair of 6000lb wheel skates and jacked the pop-up onto the skates. Then, we could easily move the camper around inside the garage. Since the garage floor is very smooth, it moved around easily.


Any ideas? Or, is this a dumb idea?

 

Driver's Ed? Parallel Parking School?

(Just kidding - I feel your pain!)

 

Could you put on a front hitch? That'd make it easier to see what you're doing.

 

Actually they do make wheels (look like long needle bearings) that we use to move prefabed houses around on. Four of us could move half a house by ourselves.

You could get four of them and drive your trailer up onto them and then manuever it where you need to. I'am assumeing your on smooth concrete.

 

I've never seen anything to move the back of the trailer, but these are on the market...

http://www.powercaster.com/

They are pricy, though.

 

On occasion we have the same problem with our coach at the storage facility. But at our place they keep a forklift on the premises that has had a 5th wheel and a ball coupler affixed to it. So if things ever get to tight I can just drop the coach in the drive aisle and they'll park it for me. That's one of the more useful benefits my $119 per month gets me.

 

How much run-up before your pull-thru space do you have? Enough to mostly have the trailer straight as you pull in, or is it still at an angle?

If it's mostly straight you just want to hug the far side and come over as you pass the halfway point.

If it's still at an angle, you probably just need to pull up and back once to get it straight.

My life would be easier if I had a pull-thru space. My space is back in and there's something 35' in front of it so that I have to back in at an angle. The nice thing is that I get a lot of practice backing up and I'm a lot better now than when I started. I actually look forward to backing up just to see if I can do it with less corrections and pull-ups.

Anywho, the powercaster is nice if you want to move it around by hand.

Tony

 

I bought these from Griot's Garage and LOVE them. I can get 4 cars in my two car garage with them. You just jack them under the wheels and then one person can move an entire car around their garage with one hand! You would probably only need two, but they would definitely work!

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog....3030&SKU=77731

 

Thanks for all the posts and advice. I will look at my options and see what I can do.

Thanks again!

 

Pulling thru with 1' on each side would be a major pain. The biggest obstacle is that when towing, the trailer follows a path dependant on it's length. Getting into tight spots is much easier in reverse, since you can steer the trailer to where you want it. That's why the big trucks back in at truck stops. Just don't be in a hurry, get out and check frequently and don't be afraid of pulling ahead and backing up again. Thats the best advice I can give.

 

You could look into mounting a camera on the back end of the trailer. I put one on my truck to hook up my boat trailer. I normally have to do the myself and works great, see real good day or night. With the camera, backing up is a snap. It might help you also. Thought about putting a second one on trailer but would most likely forget it and submerge it. The place I got it was www.rvcams.com cost was around $300.

 

Anybody tried one of those cheap backup camera system from WalMart for $100. It is a wireless system. Just curious.

 

I picked up some Body shop car dollies to move my boat around in my garage. . I think they make some for heavier axel weights too. . .