Trailer needs to be more mobile.

I have a 1850 Crestliner Bass Hawk with 150 Merc 4S. It sits on a ShoreLand’r trailer. It’s a beast to push around the driveway. I don’t have room to back it into the garage with my truck. I end up pushing it into the garage by hand. It’s up a small incline. One day they might find the boat in the woods with tire tracks across my chest laying in the driveway. My previous boat had a ShoreLand’r trailer, too, with same issues. The wheel on the trailer jack skids across the driveway many times instead of rotating. I’ve greased the trailer jack with limited success. I’ve thought about changing the wheel. Replacing the trailer jack is tough as you have to take the trailer apart to get at the mounting hardware. I’ve seen some trailer dollies online. I’m not sure if they would help or not. A 4 wheeler would really help. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks,Sam

I am interested in this also. Some things i have done. Make sure the trailer tires are at the correct pressure. Lowering my tongue jack after i unhook it from the vehicle makes mine much easier to maneuver. I bought a double wheel tongue jack, could not tell much difference from that. I tried a dolly and it didnt work very well, maybe it was poor quality.

Try lowering the jack way down. I had the same problem; I even replaced the wheel on the jack. Lowering the jack fixed that.

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No way to back it in with the truck? Or difficult? Riding lawn mower?

Try this

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These worked slick at the boat dealership, plus it a tongue for pinning to a mower or 4-wheeler.

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Thanks for the ideas. I’ll keep plugging Away.

There are many motorized trailer dolly’s they can be bought from many online retailers. Google search will show you many options.

Hate to say it, but if you can move it in by hand, you should be able to get it with the truck. Just takes practice and you have to be able to back in with mirrors.

I’ve got a very tight fit for mine. I know the angle I have to start at and make sure I can just see daylight between the door jam and the fender. I don’t even need to see the other side which is where the wife’s car is. Once the jack is on the apron in front of the door, the back the boat is a foot or two off the side wall.
Unhook, swing the front over and push straight back the last 5 feet. It’s a recipe that I had to create, but have been doing for 15+ years.

Have someone spot for you until you get your recipe figured out. It will pay off all the other places you are maneuvering your trailer to. With practice, you can thread a needle with a nice long trailer like a boat.

Ive got these goofy retaining walls that limit my turning radius. But, I’ll use my imagination a bit more. Maybe there is a way. Ive lived here 20 yrs and haven’t been able to figure it out.

supercat wrote:

There are many motorized trailer dolly’s they can be bought from many online retailers. Google search will show you many options.

Hard to find for under $800.
DT

Sylvanboat wrote:

Try lowering the jack way down. I had the same problem; I even replaced the wheel on the jack. Lowering the jack fixed that.

Glad sylvan boat found the same thing i did, lowering the jack makes a big difference. Someday i will get a better dolly, but for now i can do it by hand.

I like the snowblower idea.

travelNFish wrote:

These worked slick at the boat dealership, plus it a tongue for pinning to a mower or 4-wheeler.

I gave one of these to Mr. Beads. Pretty inexpensive and worth a shot. Worked for me trying to do the same thing you are.

What about mounting a receiver on the front of your truck? Our storage guy has one on the front of his truck, and it works slick for maneuvering boats around in tight quarters.

The jack wheel is typically a plastic wheel on a a steel axle with no bearings. I took mine off, set it up in my drill press and bored the hole out larger with a Forstner bit to fit oilite bearings. It helped, as does lowering the jack. Still would be tough going up much of a slope though.

I saw something like this on an Lund group.

Again, thanks for the ideas. Ive got options.

Google trailer valet xl.

The videos on YouTube are impressive. I bought it for moving my mx1825 around. It kind of works as long as you don’t have much of an incline or driveway lip for garage.

If you live or drive through central wi – you can try mine out. I resorted to storing the boat in a place that I really don’t need it anymore. Would consider selling if it worked for you.

Sylvanboat wrote:

Try lowering the jack way down. I had the same problem; I even replaced the wheel on the jack. Lowering the jack fixed that.

This.Plus have a wedge block handy to put under jack wheel,unless you are built like the Hulk.Just in case if you should happen to lose momentum and will prevent a runaway.

I had an extremely tight fit to my garage and found if I laid down stripes on the driveway to guide me in.
Keep them as close to the width of your trailer. As long as you can keep your tires inside the lines the trailer ends up where it needs to go.
Also a trailer jack with two wheels roles much easier

https://rmn.craigslist.org/tro/d/lansing-briggs-trailer-mover/7107810815.html

That’s what you need

I use the dolly that travelNFish posted but was still very difficult to move because my trailer is tandem axle. I found that using the dolly with the jack wheel also down made it much easier to push and pull.

With a heavy boat it really doesn’t matter what trailer jack you have, I have a Skeeter MX1825 with a Fulton F2 with the single wide wheel (I think most would agree this is one of the best trailer jacks you can get) and it won’t spin a lick even on smooth concrete floor (I have to tap the wheel with a rubber mallet to get it to adjust left or right at all) it’s all due to the heavy tongue weight the bigger boat has. It you don’t have a heavy boat and it’s still tough, then i’m guessing there’s a problem somewhere else on the trailer. I’ve seen the Fulton F2’sfor around $170 online…

I too have looked into the electric dolly solution, but the price point and need to then find a spot to store it hold me back from making a purchase. The Trailer Valet looks interesting, but some of the reviews i’ve read haven’t been good, and it’s pretty huge for a bolt on solution.

Trailer valet has a niche. Combination of flat surface, enough tongue weight for traction of the wheels is needed. My application was not a flat enough surface and a tight turn. Thus it had minimal use for my issue. Flat area and heavy boat that can’t be pushed or backed in with truck – golden.

One of the models Has a ball and goes in the tongue of trailer – need to have a tongue like the videos or it does not work – the thing does not get a tight fit. The other bolts on like a jack but is removable.

I had a similar issue. Sometimes it is simply impossible to back a trailer into a garage. For my particular issue, I was able to mount an electric winch to the floor of the garage. The winch pulls the trailer in and I only have to steer with the tongue. The line speed on the winch is a little slow, but all it really needs to do is get the trailer on to level ground then everything can be done by hand.

The winch that I used.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

With a heavy boat it really doesn’t matter what trailer jack you have, I have a Skeeter MX1825 with a Fulton F2 with the single wide wheel (I think most would agree this is one of the best trailer jacks you can get) and it won’t spin a lick even on smooth concrete floor (I have to tap the wheel with a rubber mallet to get it to adjust left or right at all) it’s all due to the heavy tongue weight the bigger boat has. It you don’t have a heavy boat and it’s still tough, then i’m guessing there’s a problem somewhere else on the trailer. I’ve seen the Fulton F2’sfor around $170 online…

I too have looked into the electric dolly solution, but the price point and need to then find a spot to store it hold me back from making a purchase. The Trailer Valet looks interesting, but some of the reviews i’ve read haven’t been good, and it’s pretty huge for a bolt on solution.

I watched my neighbor do this exact thing (gently tapping with the small mallet), and the hard plastic wheel instantly snapped under the load and kicked to the side, right on top of his toe. My wife is an ER nurse and drove him in. They saved the toe, but he actually ended up having surgery to do so. His was an 18′ aluminum Lund I believe with an upgraded jack that had an extremely wide plastic wheel. If there’s such force that it won’t spin I’d highly advise against tapping the wheel with any kind of mallet, hammer, or kicking it.

ptc wrote:

I had a similar issue. Sometimes it is simply impossible to back a trailer into a garage. For my particular issue, I was able to mount an electric winch to the floor of the garage. The winch pulls the trailer in and I only have to steer with the tongue. The line speed on the winch is a little slow, but all it really needs to do is get the trailer on to level ground then everything can be done by hand.

The winch that I used.

Ptc – that is an awesome idea. I might might invest in one of those soon.

There’s little trailer dolleys that run off of cordless drills. I’ve see them move small airplanes into and out of hangars. No clue what they’re called, but they work pretty slick!

I use a Trailer Valet 5X for my Ranger. I have about an inch between the door frame and the fenders. It works great. I found it used on craigslist for $150 a few yrs ago and I have seen them pop up on CL every now and then.