Casters to move Camper

[Regulator23]

Hi. I have a 2018 Grandby and I need to store it in my garage (homeowner’s association rules). It’s way too tall to back in on my truck. Has anyone either made some sort of rolling platform for their camper or how about attaching single casters to each of the ‘round feet’? My camper weighs 1600lbs so they would have to be pretty beefy. Newbie looking for ideas. Thank you.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

There are a number of threads on building supports on casters to move and store a camper. With respect to casters on the jacks, most builders recommend not doing that, as a sudden stop can damage the jack and camper frame.

Try “site: wanderthewest.com “camper dolly”” as a Google search.


Another option would be a small Harbor Freight trailer.

 

[rubberlegs]

I built my own,and wish I’d used wheels larger than 5”.ours is lighter than yours too.

 

[ckent323]

Call or email Caster City.

Greg Howard the guy who helped me figure out which caster to use in 2018 (after my first set of Home Depot casters fell apart). He was was very helpful. VERY helpful!

Lots of casters are not up to the job. These folks understand what will work best for the weight and size of your dolly on the surface you are using the casters on.

I got good prices when I made my purchase. Tell them you found their info from a satisfied customer who posted it on this site. Might get you some consideration.
Greg Howard
Caster City, Inc.
8635 Bright Angel Way
Las Vegas, Nevada 89149
Phone: (800) 501-3808 ext311
7:30AM to Noon, and 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM, PST
Email to: Sales@CasterCity.com
Fax: (702) 522-1904
Website: www.CasterCity.com

 

[RAK4]

I bought a Harbor Freight trailer in 2014 for my then new FWC Fleet. For 9 years now I’ve been using it to store the camper in the garage primarily in winter. It’s turned out to be a great investment although I see the trailer price is so much higher than it was almost a decade ago. If you can afford it, I highly recommend one.

 

[Jon R]

If you build a dolly, avoid the temptation to overkill on the structure, which makes it overly heavy. I stand mine up against the wall (the tall way) when it’s not in use and it’s quite the workout to lift it. I suspect I could easily have made it at 2/3 the current weight and still had it strong enough.

 

[Regulator23]

If you build a dolly, avoid the temptation to overkill on the structure, which makes it overly heavy. I stand mine up against the wall (the tall way) when it’s not in use and it’s quite the workout to lift it. I suspect I could easily have made it at 2/3 the current weight and still had it strong enough.

What about using either 2 or 4 furniture dollys? Harbor freight makes a 30”x19” that is rated for 1,000 lbs. I’m not certain the manual jacks would let me lower it that’s low, but if so, might work.

 

[57Pan]

I have done the harbor freight furniture dolly trick once. had to stack extra boards on top to get the heights needed to lower camper down on them, also the wheels are a little small so they don’t roll as well as you would like.
I built a dolly using 2x6 lumber using harbor freight 5” casters. It supports the camper well and is easy to moving around or lean up against a wall if need be, I use it when my camper is on the truck to store my tail gate and canopy. I would just recommend not skimping on the casters and the bigger the better. The 5” casters from harbor freight are probably a little to small.

 

[Regulator23]

I have done the harbor freight furniture dolly trick once. had to stack extra boards on top to get the heights needed to lower camper down on them, also the wheels are a little small so they don’t roll as well as you would like.
I built a dolly using 2x6 lumber using harbor freight 5” casters. It supports the camper well and is easy to moving around or lean up against a wall if need be, I use it when my camper is on the truck to store my tail gate and canopy. I would just recommend not skimping on the casters and the bigger the better. The 5” casters from harbor freight are probably a little to small.

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any cross bracing inside of the 4x8 frame? Can’t tell from the picture.

 

[Jon R]

I basically have 2x6 floor joists on 16 inch centers running front to rear under plywood on my Grandby dolly. I ran the joists that way to be perpendicular to the camper floor support strips so they are consistently supported. I wanted the floor adequately supported so I could enter the camper on the dolly with no floor support concerns.

I do not advocate building your dolly quite as heavily as I built mine. It’s heavier than it needed to be and I can only barely lift one end to stand it up for storage. However, supporting the camper floor well is important if you plan to enter the camper when it’s on the dolly, so consider that in your build.

 

[Jon R]

This is mine standing against the wall, which allows you to see most of the frame.

 

[57Pan]

Mine has cross bracing on 2 ft. centers running side to side. Nothing done the center. I’m sure either way is fine.

 

[rubberlegs]

Mine is a 2x8 frame, with 3/8" plywood on the bottom to keep the frame from warping into a parallelogram, and one brace side-to-side to keep the long 2x8s from rolling. I figured the stiffness of the camper with it's deep frame was more than the stiffness of the dolly, so most of the weight ends up on the corners or on the short sides.

Thus the floor is only supported on the four sides of the camper, and in the middle lengthwise the sides are partially supported. I've not calculated the deflections though. I spent quite a bit of time this winter inside it, wiring in the lithium battery components.

 

[goinoregon]

i live near some warehouse/light industry , and driving around i found a nice 'large' pallet, that is longer than the std pallet size. i actually removed some of the cross boards as it was more than needed. i went from 4 or 5" casters, down to 4 of those 4 wheeled casters that are concave and used to move cars around on a flat floor. these work better in my garage to push the camper as far up along a wall as possible.

 

[Jsoboti]

I would avoid putting casters on all 4 corners. When rolling mine in and out of the garage she tends to want to get all sorts of sideways. Makes it difficult to move with one person. I wish I had done fixed wheels on one side and casters on the other, like a shopping cart.

 

[Jon R]

I would avoid putting casters on all 4 corners. When rolling mine in and out of the garage she tends to want to get all sorts of sideways. Makes it difficult to move with one person. I wish I had done fixed wheels on one side and casters on the other, like a shopping cart.

Seconded. Also. I recommend the fixed wheels go on the rear of the camper end. Otherwise the bed overhang gets in the way of maneuvering it. I would not be able to get my camper tight into a corner if they were the other way.

 

[ckent323]

I have swivel casters on all four corners of my dolly. However, at the suggestion of Greg Howard at Caster City I put locking casters on one end of the dolly that allow them to be used like non-swivel casters when needed.

Perfect!

 

[UmkaAndHawk]

Here's mine. Fun simple project with low risk! I used 8 inch casters available on Amazon, to ensure I could roll over big cracks in my older home's driveway.