Motorized trailer dolly DIY

[Augieol65]

Good evening everyone!

Had kinda an ah ha moment when looking at trailer Dolly’s today online and on the forum. I could utilize the 2 stage Ariens snow thrower and detach the front business end, use the wheel base and motor to assemble a motorized dolly. So I built a frame that secures onto the snow thrower with the same mount location as the thrower head. It has a 2” ball mounted to it. Photos and test video to follow but figured I would share early in case others have thought of the same. All in the steel, 2” ball and bolts (welding after mock up) was about 22$

 

[ThatJeepGuy]

Can't wait to see it!

 

[Ilmmct]

Subscribed

 

[Bluewater272]

I'm intrigued.

 

[tim h]

We're waiting....

uh HELLO.... pics ??

 

[Ronnie]

Just curious, what does the snowblower cost? I am just wondering if it would be significantly cheaper to build such a dolly than buy one pre-made. There was a member of YJB once that built his own motoized dolly from a kit, when all was said and done I believe it cost him almost as much cash as a preassembled one but took a lot of time to build in part because like me he could not weld. Which leads to the next question, is any welding involved in the conversion or is all bolt on / off? Finally is the conversion permanent?

 

[GoVols01]

These powered trailer dollies aren't your answer to all problems. I bought a used off craigslist a while back thinking all my problems would be solved getting the boat into my garage. Doing this, I must turn my boat 90 degrees in the driveway to get it into the garage. Problem is, the powered dollies don't have the heft/traction to do this with a tandem axle trailer. On a single axle, it would be no problem. In the end, the dolly can only push the boat forward and backward and turn the trailer very gradually on my driveway. Once the trailer's wheels are inside the garage on the smooth cement, the dolly is able to turn the trailer very sharply, but it's not necessary at that point because it's already lined up with its parking spot in the garage. Also, the dolly isn't able to push the boat over the 1.5" lip in the pavement going from the aggregate driveway up to the cement slab for the garage. I have to lay down plywood as a stepping stone of sorts to get the trailer wheels to climb up to the cement slab. With the plywood, the dolly's wheels just spin in-place.

I've since learned to back the boat into the garage completely using the car. Sometimes I do a better job than others, but eventually I get it in there.

 

[Ronnie]

@GoVols01 , a front hitch for your tow vehicle may do the trick for you if not they make some heavy duty trailer dollys for your situation but they are expensive ($2k plus new).

 

[GoVols01]

The one I have is pretty darn good, but to turn a tandem axle trailer, you need a lot of weight on the dolly's wheels to get better traction. Mine has 3 large powered pneumatic wheels on the drive axle to push the boat trailer, but they're simply no match for the road tires on the trailer.

I'm hoping to buy an ATV sometime soon that has a trailer hitch. I can always get the trailer 90 degrees to the garage. The PITA part of it is laying down the plywood on the aggregate driveway to get the trailer tires up the 1.5" lip to the cement slab in the garage. I can have a good rolling start at that lip, but as soon as the trailer's tires hit it, you'd think I just hit a wall!

 

[biglar155]

I'm very interested to see what you've come up with.

A used snowthrower can be had relatively cheaply. Usually there's some simple thing wrong with them and people don't want to spend the money at a shop to fix them so they go buy a new one.

 

[Augieol65]

Well I already have the snow blower and it just sits unused during the summer so this will actually be better for the engine running it. Right now I have it complexly bolted as a mock up. If it works well I might have one of my buddies at the firehouse weld it. I’ll have photos for you shortly. Don’t worry baby birds I’ll feed ya

 

[Augieol65]

Sorry tried multiple times to upload. Tried to upload to media and right to here but no luck

 

[swatski]

Not to hijack the thread! But I do wonder whatever happened with @Keith Hebert's trailer mule...
https://jetboaters.net/threads/intro-trailer-mule.15589/#post-268194

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[Augieol65]

That thing is beyond awesome I need to get working on that!

 

[biglar155]

Not to hijack the thread! But I do wonder whatever happened with @Keith Hebert's trailer mule...
https://jetboaters.net/threads/intro-trailer-mule.15589/#post-268194

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Well, his profile says he was last seen yesterday so it's unlikely he was involved in some sort of horrible robotic trailer accident....

 

[Ronnie]

Sorry tried multiple times to upload. Tried to upload to media and right to here but no luck

You should be able upload pics easily but have to upload video to another site like you tube and post a link to it here.