Camper Dolly Rails for Steep Garage Ramp

Jon R

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2020
Messages
1,093
Location
Puget Sound Region, Washington State
I thought I’d show my project for today.

My detached garage has an 8 foot high door opening, but my Grandby on the 3500hd is about 8 feet 2 inches at the fan. When time comes to garage the camper for the winter, I’ve been transferring it to my 93 K2500, which has a bed height several inches lower, pulling that rig into the garage, and then putting the camper on the dolly. It’s a lot of jack cranking, twice as many careful loadings into the bed of a truck, and tailgate removal and reinstallation on the old truck.

I had tried a few years ago loading onto the dolly in the driveway and using a come-along to pull it up the ramp into the garage, but I didn’t like how hard i was having to pull, and I didn’t want the camper rolling down the slope and hitting something if anything let go.

So i decided to build some wood rails to extend the garage floor out 12 feet for the camper dolly. I used some 2x10 i had in my barn from an old building, put strips of 5/8 plywood discarded by a friend on the face to make a channel for the casters, and made connecting pieces to hold the two channels square and the correct distance apart. All the wood was free - I just had to buy some carriage bolts.

I measured and made marks to place the assembly in the correct location every time and marked the height of the support blocks needed to make it level. I marked the center line for placing the truck when preparing to unload.

To unload I’ll put the truck in the rough location, jack the camper, drive away, build the rail system, roll the dolly onto it, flip the front casters for backing into the garage, lower the camper onto the dolly, and push it into the garage. I’ll then jack the camper a little to adjust it on the dolly if needed.

To load, I’ll build the rail system, push the camper on the dolly out onto the rails, jack the camper, push back the dolly, remove the rail system, and back the truck under the camper.

Now that I have it built and locations marked, it comes apart by removing carriage bolts with wingnuts that hold the crosspieces to the ralls, and I stick it all in the lumber stall in my barn. It will come apart and put away in about 10 minutes, and will probably take 20-30 minutes to assemble it, place it carefully, and place the support blocks.

I think it’s going to save me a bunch of time relative to the truck transfer thing, and reduce my risk of damaging the camper with all the extra loading and backing the old truck with camper into the garage.

Here are the pictures of the rail system I built today. I’ll post more in a few weeks when I unload the camper.
 

Attachments

  • 33F26DFD-9090-4DA4-B509-ADB4CE8E6AE0.jpeg
    33F26DFD-9090-4DA4-B509-ADB4CE8E6AE0.jpeg
    171.2 KB · Views: 51
  • 789A67BC-9721-43DF-B3E3-FCFD21043A09.jpeg
    789A67BC-9721-43DF-B3E3-FCFD21043A09.jpeg
    212.1 KB · Views: 45
  • E60F09A5-0AD2-43F0-BCF1-7EF506B239B8.jpeg
    E60F09A5-0AD2-43F0-BCF1-7EF506B239B8.jpeg
    206.2 KB · Views: 48
wow. a bit of ingenuity here. from my perspective it would appear that the most difficult step would be unloading the camper in the right spot.
since its a detached garage - what would it take to move the garage door height up a few inches?? i am sure it would take some work - but you seem to have the skills to take things on !
 
I have a concrete joint in the garage apron ramp that I centered the rail system on, and a measured spot in the barn door 50 feet away on the extended center line. I can center the back of the truck with the backup camera, and I can eyeball the front or even stretch a rope for a centerline guide. That will easily get me within two inches laterally. The dolly is oversized at 54 inches wide. I just have to be in the ballpark. Once it’s in the garage, I can jack it up an inch and center the dolly.

I built the garage 12 years ago when I had no idea we’d be buying a camper. It has a massive load bearing glue-lam beam as a header over the 18 foot wide door. I don’t see myself raising that beam and replacing that expensive door.

I am able to store the truck with the camper on it in the barn center aisle behind a locked door. I could leave the camper on year round but while I’m still working (one more year!) I don’t use the camper in the winter. The truck needs to be driven, and I hate getting the camper all dirty in the Seattle rain and road spray for 5 months when I’m not using it. Plus, my 3500hd is kind of a giant hot rod with the camper off, so I like having the chance to drive it that way for a few months. By April I’m usually ready to have the softer ride that comes with 1800 lbs of camper in the back.
 
If you have an air compressor it might be easier to let air out of your tires to get it into the garage. then reinflate your tires after you pull out from under the camper.
 
If you have an air compressor it might be easier to let air out of your tires to get it into the garage. then reinflate your tires after you pull out from under the camper.
Thanks for the suggestion. That was the first thing I tried in 2021 when I first bought it. It was only dropping the height about half the distance i needed at 20 psi and I didn’t want to drop the pressure much lower.

Also, trying to back under the camper as the front wheels of the truck are coming up the ramps is kind if dicey anyway. It worked with the old truck because the tailgate opening is larger and I didn’t need precise placement because i was just moving the camper outside. It would only be worse doing it with the new truck because the wheelbase is longer.

I’ll report back when I unload the camper using the rails. Hopefully it will all go quickly.
 
ok, i am with you.... i am in the pdx area, and also did not like the camper being out in the elements in the winter, when i was not using it.
how about - cutting 2 channels in the floor? - the 2 inches are frustrating me. u could fill in later if u move on.
i still think u could move the door up, and just fill in the moving doors on the bottom to fill in the gap. and one way or another, maybe rent a lift truck to lift the glu-lam up a bit....
 
I don’t think I’d store the truck with camper in that garage even if it did fit in the door. The barn is dry and mouse-proof, and I have other cars right now that I use more often that fit better in the garage. The new truck fits in the garage with only 4 inches to spare in length, so i have to open the big door or climb over it to get to my store room on the far side from the walk through entry door. So we’re just talking about winter unloading and spring loading.
 

Attachments

  • 39F88BB5-2B96-497A-9795-5286E5356BE6.jpeg
    39F88BB5-2B96-497A-9795-5286E5356BE6.jpeg
    155.2 KB · Views: 26
  • 9A9D0E3B-5787-42F2-87A9-86A77D71C91F.jpeg
    9A9D0E3B-5787-42F2-87A9-86A77D71C91F.jpeg
    168.6 KB · Views: 24
Jon R, very nice! I wish I had known about the Wander The West forum a few years back. I don’t believe I had ever seen a Grandby around our parts, in fact truck campers aren’t near as popular around me.

I definitely wasn’t going to load and unload after every trip. My pole barn has a 9’ high door opening as there’s a full upstairs level, so the Grandby would have been an option. You have a very nice set up. Glenn

IMG_2180.jpeg
 
I took the camper off today and used the dolly tracks. They worked really smoothly and easily - way faster and lower stress than transferring the camper to the old truck and backing the truck into just the right spot in the garage. 15 minutes to assemble the tracks under the camper. 15 minutes to lower the camper onto the dolly. By slightly shifting the dolly in the tracks the camper was centered perfectly on the dolly and I didn’t have to raise it again to shift it in the garage. It pushed right into the garage easily.

Here are some photos.
 

Attachments

  • 17400C64-A3FB-43A3-8398-CB02A6B97FBC.jpeg
    17400C64-A3FB-43A3-8398-CB02A6B97FBC.jpeg
    182.1 KB · Views: 16
  • 3299E4B2-096B-462E-BF51-AF3F71A07E55.jpeg
    3299E4B2-096B-462E-BF51-AF3F71A07E55.jpeg
    171.8 KB · Views: 17
  • 7E3E80F3-1DD5-44EB-BCAB-51576A98E709.jpeg
    7E3E80F3-1DD5-44EB-BCAB-51576A98E709.jpeg
    188.5 KB · Views: 17
  • 0082FCD2-A4A7-4E8B-B6A8-3690DA63BCD3.jpeg
    0082FCD2-A4A7-4E8B-B6A8-3690DA63BCD3.jpeg
    203.2 KB · Views: 17
  • A7BDAF0C-2076-40BC-9F4D-A1B905552889.jpeg
    A7BDAF0C-2076-40BC-9F4D-A1B905552889.jpeg
    190.8 KB · Views: 16
  • CCE4F572-336F-41F4-A6FE-504C82E8F0CD.jpeg
    CCE4F572-336F-41F4-A6FE-504C82E8F0CD.jpeg
    134.6 KB · Views: 19
Back
Top Bottom