Maneuvering a 2720 in my garage?

[cire]

I have a 3 car attached garage with one double door and one single door that are interconnected on the inside. The garage is 83"H (lowest point) x 19'D. I plan on maneuvering the trailer through the double door and into position behind the single door. That is what I did with the 19' boat I had and recently sold. This previously allowed me to park our two cars in the garage along with the boat.

Last time I taped the floor to create a track to ensure the wheels were exactly where needed prior to pushing it back and then rotating it.

Will I still be able to pull this stunt off with a 2619 or 2720 with a swing hitch? I am sure I could with the 2518 and 2417.

Last time I taped the floor to create a track to ensure it went where I needed it to each time prior to rotating it in place

I bought a different tow vehicle today, an 08 Ford Explorer V8 with tow package, so the only limitation now is the size of the garage. Thanks!

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

I think it would help to know how deep your garage is. You can invest in a trailermover, which you may have already for your boat. The swing hitch should bring you down to 19 feet overall, but depending on the type of mover you have you may not be able to swing the hitch back while moving.

We have an 08 explorer as well and love it. Just watch the heater y pipe that snakes down by the exhaust manifold. Also check the hose clamps for the rear heater hoses under the rear of the truck. They tend to rust off.

 

[cire]

I think it would help to know how deep your garage is. You can invest in a trailermover, which you may have already for your boat. The swing hitch should bring you down to 19 feet overall, but depending on the type of mover you have you may not be able to swing the hitch back while moving.

We have an 08 explorer as well and love it. Just watch the heater y pipe that snakes down by the exhaust manifold. Also check the hose clamps for the rear heater hoses under the rear of the truck. They tend to rust off.

Thanks for the advice on the heater y pipe and hope clamps. The usable garage depth is exactly 19' deep in the single car area where the trailer would be. I thought the swing hitch brought the 2720 down to about 18'.

I do have my harbor freight trailermover. The tires suck but as long as I refill them before I use it each time it works.

 

[cjminear]

My 2619 is about 16 ft 8 in Long with the Hitch folded it seems like you would have to go in at an angle but with the trailer hauler you need to have the hitch out to swing the trailer so that might be tight to clear the pillar between the two garage doors. I also use the harbor freight trailer mover. If there was a way to swing it with the hitch folded then it wouldn't be an issue.

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

I don't have a swing hitch, so I was guessing. It sounds like you'd have 18' to work with.

Don't forget that the trailer is a good 8' wide which will affect your ability to swing into the single car spot.

A crazy idea, but what about putting it on car dollies and pushing it sideways with the explorer? Is your mover powered? (I don't see how you could move the trailer without power anyway )

 

[cire]

I don't have a swing hitch, so I was guessing. It sounds like you'd have 18' to work with.

Don't forget that the trailer is a good 8' wide which will affect your ability to swing into the single car spot.

A crazy idea, but what about putting it on car dollies and pushing it sideways with the explorer? Is your mover powered? (I don't see how you could move the trailer without power anyway )

The mover is not powered but my wife and I should be able to move it. I used to move the boat on the trailer by myself and maneuver it into the garage. I will most likely invest in a powered mover if I can find a used one at a decent price.

Funny you mentioned the dollies. I previously researched that and the consensus from everything I read on different trailer forums is that the dollies don't really work well, as in they don't roll in the direction you expect them to with the castering wheels. It also requires jacking up the trailer on both sides. It would be awesome to be able to push it sideways. If anyone as successfully done this without the dollies breaking please give me some advice.

Now that I have an adequate TV i'd like to get the biggest TM I can fit in the garage. If I go too big and it has to take up two spots in the garage because I miscalculated, I will never heard the end of it from DW. :new_argue

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

Renovate the garage! Sell the idea by bringing home a 3326. :Up_to_som

 

[cire]

Renovate the garage! Sell the idea by bringing home a 3326. :Up_to_som

Ha...my HOA would have me for lunch...

I think I will give these a try from HF. The reviews are surprisingly good.

 

[Bill]

Be real careful here. I'm not sure these will carry the weight. The ad says "5200 pounds" right up front, but the owner's manual seems to say 1300 pounds each, for a total of 5200 pounds when used 4 at a time under the four wheels of a car (it is a car dolly, after all). Then you go back, and find that the ad says "5200 pounds max vehicle weight". Of course, 5200 pounds per dolly would be great - 1300 pounds per dolly, not so much.

Just as a reminder, all these dollies have small wheels, and may be difficult-to-impossible to roll over any irregularity, such as a seam in a concrete floor. You can get past this by filling the seam with a bit of concrete. But it sounds to me like you really need a trailer mover. For moving around on a level floor, there are less-expensive movers that you power with a hefty drill, rather than an on-board motor.

Let us know how it works out. I have the same 2-and-1 garage arrangement that you do.

Bill

 

[Shane826]

I don’t see this working with a 2720 and even a 2619 will be tight... The garage is 19ft deep. Won’t you have to get the trailer in place with the swing tongue in the towing position, then drop the front jacks, then swing the tongue around? I’m not sure you can move the TM so well with the swing tongue swung around.

 

[Bill]

Good point, Shane. It is important not to use the hitch coupler to support any weight when the swing tongue is open. Way back when the Forum was new, one of the owners did it, and the welds cracked. The swing tongue will carry weight only when it is closed and latched.

Even if you plan to use a trailer mover, with the tongue open you would need to somehow attach the A-frame, behind the tongue, to the mover.

Bill

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

Something like this will work with the swing hitch swung aside because it can mount directly to the box frame:

http://flylifemagazine.com/monday-gear-review-trailer-valet/

 

[cire]

Good points....What if I put a separate heavy duty trailer jack wheel on the frame, behind the swing tongue? It would be the kind that rotates 90 degrees for storage when not in use. That would allow me to back the trailer in at the 45 degree angle using the powered dolly, then switch to the separate jack wheel and open the swing tongue. I could then push the front sideways into position. With the single garage door open I would be able to continue maneuvering it once the front was past the pillar between the two garages.

As far as the swing tongue on the trailer, aren't loads already being exerted on it when a trailer is being stored with the swing tongue open?

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

I can't answer the swing tongue question, but I'm concerned that with the width of the Trailmanor, you won't have room to swing the trailer past the post between the doors. Being 8' wide, and with the swing hitch swung aside, the diagonal distance to what is now an 18' trailer is 19'9" which is longer than your garage. You might think that the box of the trailer is less than 18', but don't forget the swing hitch will occupy that corner. All I can say is that it looks too close for comfort.

I assume you are unable to park it directly through the single door of your garage.

 

[cire]

Something like this will work with the swing hitch swung aside because it can mount directly to the box frame:

http://flylifemagazine.com/monday-gear-review-trailer-valet/

Thanks


I just got off the phone with Trailmanor and they suggested I do what we mentioned, add a separate trailer jack behind the swing tongue, then remove the swing tongue entirely before maneuvering in the garage. This would take me down to 18ft. Once I am passed the pillar between the two garage doors I would be home free to adjust as needed since the single car garage door would be open. I greatly appreciate the knowledge and out of the box thinking.

I would be much happier with a 2720 with its bathroom sink and oven, compared to the 2418 without, especially since they are virtually the same price. Trailmanor also confirmed that the 2720 is 3 inches lower than the 2418, which gives me a nice buffer vertically.

I greatly appreciate the knowledge and out of the box thinking. If you can think of any other obstacles to my plan, please let me know. Thanks..

 

[Bill]

As far as the swing tongue on the trailer, aren't loads already being exerted on it when a trailer is being stored with the swing tongue open?

As well as I can recall (it has been about 15 years), THIS IS A NO-NO! You do whatever you can do / must do with the swing tongue closed. Then, when the trailer is positioned where you want it, you lower the stabilizer jacks until they take the weight. Then you raise the tongue jack. Only now can you open the swing tongue. You store the trailer with the weight on the front stabilizers, not on the open tongue.

The original RockyMountainRay did it the way you suggest, and apparently got away with it a few times before his welds cracked. But that is a big price to pay, just to save the little bit of effort required to drop the jacks.

The Owner's Manual does not address the swing tongue, but unless you can get the factory to certify that it is OK, I wouldn't stress those welds in a direction they were not designed to accept.

Bill

 

[cire]

As well as I can recall (it has been about 15 years), THIS IS A NO-NO! You do whatever you can do / must do with the swing tongue closed. Then, when the trailer is positioned where you want it, you lower the stabilizer jacks until they take the weight. Then you raise the tongue jack. Only now can you open the swing tongue. You store the trailer with the weight on the front stabilizers, not on the open tongue.

The original RockyMountainRay did it the way you suggest, and apparently got away with it a few times before his welds cracked. But that is a big price to pay, just to save the little bit of effort required to drop the jacks.

The Owner's Manual does not address the swing tongue, but unless you can get the factory to certify that it is OK, I wouldn't stress those welds in a direction they were not designed to accept.

Bill

Makes sense. Thank you.

 

[cjminear]

I just put two jack stands one on each side behind the swing hitch to take the weight.

 

[Bill]

Cire74 -

Since the dollies don't look like a solution, there is one other possibility for moving the trailer. I used this one a long time ago to maneuver a Model A Ford into the back corner of a garage for winter storage each year. I bought a pair of inexpensive garage-style floor jacks (currently $30 at HF). Finding a couple strong points, I jacked the car up, so all four wheels were just barely off the floor, and it was quick and easy to swing the car around and push it over to the needed spot.

It sounds like you have another potential solution, so you can keep this one in your back pocket.

Bill

 

[wbmiller3]

We have a similar setup, a 2 bay door and a 1 bay door. A 2619, no swing hitch. The garage door misses the tip of the hitch by less than an inch. (Our trailer is old so it has the spare on the back. My backup plan was to remove the spare if it didn't fit).

We fit 2 pickups and the TM in the garage. The TM takes the center position. The brackets where the wheels end up are spray-painted on the floor.

I have to remove the other pickup when I am backing the TM in. To add extra excitement, our garage is aligned with the driveway so the "straight shot" in lines up with the small door And the DW has a bed full of priceless plants along one side of the driveway. Fortunately the other side has grass to give me some wiggle room.

I have to go in at an angle to get behind the pillar between the large and small doors. DW spots and tells me as soon as the end of the front shell is clear of the pillar so I can start to straighten out.

Years of experience has gotten me to the point that with the DW spotting I can back in to the point that the tongue wheel will set down past the "hump" up into the garage floor. I unhitch at that point and we push it the last foot or so.