Best investment I ever made!

[LittleVintageTrailer]

You guys probably already have one of these dolly's but wow, best thing I ever bought! Paid $43 (20% off coupon) at Harbor Freight today. SOOOOO much better for jockey-ing the Compact into place than lifting and moving it by hand.

Now on the gravel it takes a bit more muscle but if you have a paved surface it's a breeze. The dolly says it's rated for 600lbs. I assume that is the tongue weight? or would it be total weight of the trailer. I moved it on there today no problem.

Attachments:

[Gone Kayaking]

putting it on my shopping list! I assume tongue weight that's less than 300lbs.

[LittleVintageTrailer]

Less than 600lbs I believe. I could probably put it on the Astroflyte. But only on a paved surface for that one. I don't think I could budge that one in gravel like we have but the Compact is do-able on gravel with the dolly.

[mary1960]

Got a ?? ... I see the one at harbor freight online has a 1-7/8 ball. Does that pose a problem since most campers take a 2" ball?

[LittleVintageTrailer]

Mary,

I went out and measured mine and it might indeed be the 1 7/8th. Sure looks close to 2 inches. Anyhoo, I was reading the reviews on these and one guy said:

" I did replace the 1 7/8" ball with a 2" ball just because the 2" ball had the bolt built into the ball while the 1 7/8" had the inside of the ball threaded and I could not get a long enough bolt through the hole due to the second level of support built under the ball mounting rail. After putting all the pull on this dolly that I need, I still rate it a good buy and I would recommend it to others with simular trailers. I had no trouble with the 1 7/8" ball in my 2" hitch because I was not making 50 mph and I hit no real bumps."

I noticed right out of the box that it looked like the ball could be replaced. If you are on a level driveway, I don't think it will make a big difference as far as safety. I don't see the trailer jumping off the dolly or anything once it's resting down on it. Unless you hit a big bump going pretty fast. I don't know about you but even on the dolly you won't catch me going over any speed limits ;D The trailer is still heavy to pull on one of these dolly's. The difference is though is that I can move it myself if I need to with the dolly. Without the dolly to move the Compact by hand and keep the rear from tipping too far and scraping her butt...it's a 2-3 person job. 2 to lift and one to stand at the rear to make sure the other 2 aren't tipping it too far and to also be their guide.

For anyone else, here is that link: www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty-trailer-dolly-37510.html

Description: This trailer dolly has an extra-long handle to give you the leverage you need to manually move small trailers easily. This trailer dolly helps you safely move a lightweight trailer (under 600 lbs.) over short distances, and helps maneuver those trailers in tight spaces. Now there's no reason to strain your back trying to move your utility trailer, or the trailer that holds your boat or snowmobile.

* I saw on one of the reviews that a guy used it on a 2,500 lb trailer. I'm still a bit confused on the 600lbs. If that means the entire weight of the trailer or tongue weight. I learned about these from Lefty Originals who did the Compact restoration. He moves the trailers around the lot with one of these.

[mindy]

This is what they used to move my 64 compact at the collision center when they were keeping it for me till I figured out what to do with it. It looked pretty easy to hook up and move around.

[Ramona's 59 Airflyte]

Wow. That's a very cool accessory. Thanks for posting the pic and link!! Great investment to save my back, I think.

[deanfamily]

1 7/8 shuld be fine unless you are pulling it over a mile in excess or 30mph for jockeying about the yard these are awesome.

[offspringin]

i accidentally towed our compact on the wrong hitch one weekend trip. Ours take the 2" but my ball was 1-7/8. We were about 30 miles into the trip and i thought it was towing weird and then it hit me that i didn't recall seeing the drop hitch on the truck, it also dawned on me the last thing i had towed was our little 4x6 utility trailer which takes the 1-7/8. Pulled over to check the hitch and what i feared was what had happened.....used the wrong hitch.

I don't know what it takes for the trailer to come off and i didn't want to find out. Lucky nothing happened as we were traveling most that trip on the interstate.

Super lucky for us is there was a Kmart at the next exit.... even more SUPER lucky (for me, not them) they were going out of business. I went ahead and bought the wrench, a new 2" ball and my 5" drop hitch ( i think out the door for like 35 bucks)

Don't have to kick this mule twice, lesson learned.... check your hitch.

Ironically i had the 4x6 utility trailer come off its hitch about 10 years ago. Appeared that overtime the nut on the underside had just worked loose enough that it didn't want to grab the ball anymore. Dropped to the ground and started to swerve on its chains. No damage to trailer, no damage to the tow car.

Long story short. If i towed my camper at highway speeds then I'm sure the tow dolly with a 1-7/8 ball will be fine for a dolly in the driveway.

[offspringin]

On another note my dad recently bought one of these for moving his trailer around his yard. He cannot move his 28ft TT with it but he can move his little utility trailers. He loves it.

[hellonwheels]

I think I'm gonna get one, for the rare occasion when we pull Deuce home and have to take the tow vehicle somewhere for a short time, then some idiot feels the need to park right in-front of him before we roll out later that day or the next. Did I ever mention how much I love my HOA and neighbors - NOT!!!

[soup]

Apr 23, 2011 13:06:29 GMT -5 LittleVintageTrailer said:

You guys probably already have one of these dolly's but wow, best thing I ever bought! Paid $43 (20% off coupon) at Harbor Freight today. SOOOOO much better for jockey-ing the Compact into place than lifting and moving it by hand.

Now on the gravel it takes a bit more muscle but if you have a paved surface it's a breeze. The dolly says it's rated for 600lbs. I assume that is the tongue weight? or would it be total weight of the trailer. I moved it on there today no problem.

Has already been on my radar. Once I get mine, I'll cut that lower stand and fab it so it will flip up and latch either way. That way I can lower the handle down and hook it to my riding mower!
LOL

[bricklayer]

I want to purchase one of these and modify the handle so it can be broken down for transport. I want to be able to take it on trips to jockey our trailer into just the right position at campsites.


Ben

[vikx]

Ours comes apart already, just a few bolts...

[cowcharge]

Description: This trailer dolly has an extra-long handle to give you the leverage you need to manually move small trailers easily. This trailer dolly helps you safely move a lightweight trailer (under 600 lbs.) over short distances, and helps maneuver those trailers in tight spaces. Now there's no reason to strain your back trying to move your utility trailer, or the trailer that holds your boat or snowmobile.

* I saw on one of the reviews that a guy used it on a 2,500 lb trailer. I'm still a bit confused on the 600lbs. If that means the entire weight of the trailer or tongue weight. [/quote]

The way I read the description, they mean total weight, probably not because of the dolly's capacity to hold that much weight, but because most people wouldn't be able to move anything much heavier with a dolly.