5th Wheel Trailer Mover

   / 5th Wheel Trailer Mover #1  

wvpolekat

Platinum Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
737
Location
Buckhannon, WV
Tractor
1947 Ford 2N and 2003 Kubota B7500
I am debating if this is even feasible and/or safe. I am not able to find one for sale anywhere, so it will be a fab job either way.

Just to clarify, I am referring to a 5th wheel, NOT a gooseneck. So, the trailer mover gizmos you see all over the place do not apply here. Completely different animal.

I have a 27ish foot 5th wheel that weighs in at 10,000 lbs gross. Typical weight for us is around 8,500 lbs. I do not know the exact pin weight, but my guess is around 1,500 lbs.

To move it requires getting the truck out, getting it hooked up and all that jazz. Which is OK if we are going somewhere, but to just mow around it or similar things, it's a royal pain. And if I need to go off pavement/gravel, my 2wd truck quickly becomes helpless.

Am I nuts to think that I could fab something up to let me move it with the 3pt and move it around the yard with my 2N?

Brakes are my big concern, but it would be easy enough to hook up the electric trailer brakes. Maybe even use a cheapo brake controller.

I also wonder if putting that much weight on the 3pt will just have me doing wheelies everywhere.
 
   / 5th Wheel Trailer Mover #3  
I don't have a picture of it but I made one for a 3 point hitch. I took a 10" long piec of 4" box tube and inserted a piec of 3" ID pipe in from one side all the way through so it could be welded at both ends. This box will let the king pin enter the pipe and the king pin plate will rest on the side of the square tube. The weight of the trailer is all that holds it in the hole.

In my case they wanted to use a tractor in the 125 horse range with a catagory II hitch. I mounted the box on arms that were supported by a hydraulic cylinder so the box could be kept flat while raising the hitch. I also made an adapter that can drop in to the 3" hole with a 2 5/16 ball for moving goose neck trailers

I have attached a very crude drawing. It looks like there is a lot of room between the tractor and the camper but there isn't. My drawing is just screwed up. Keep everything as close to the tractor as you can so you don't have a lot of over hung weight and a light front end

This is used at the Midwest Old Threshers camp ground in Mt. Pleasant Ia. If it rains during the reunion this hitch on a front wheel assist tractor (With a loader) is the only thing that will get the campers in and out.
 
   / 5th Wheel Trailer Mover #4  
I built this up for moving my 5th wheel around on the flat.
The trailer gross is < 6000 lb. pin weight less than 1000.
my tractor can handle this for the detailed parking i use it for.
Since there is no trailer brakes hooked up I use chocks blocks, and helpers to keep things under control

Load up the FEL with a couple hundred pounds to keep from doing wheelies
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/118963-diy-combo-hitch.html
 
   / 5th Wheel Trailer Mover #5  
id consider fabbing up something that i could bolt/pin to the back of a box blade.

you didnt say what tractor you had so but lifting 1500lbs with a FEL is ClassIII or better territory. which means your left hooking it to your 3pt.

but you'd want to keep it away from the back of your tractor so your rops etc would clear it. (or if you had one of those oversize riding lawnmower SCUT :p ones it might just fit completely under it IDK)
 
   / 5th Wheel Trailer Mover #6  
Schmism, he did mention he had a 2N. This is an older Ford tractor and I'm not sure of the lift capacity of those. I once had a '58 model Ford 641 workmaster and it would handle around 1200lbs if I'm not mistaken.
WVpolekat, I'd check to see if your tractor will lift the weight you need before I went to the trouble of building an attachment. Another thought, and it might seem a little extreme, but how about a fifth wheel dollie like the big freight haulers use when they pull doubles and triples? Those consist of a set of axles, tongue, fifth wheel and springs.

detail.aspx
 
   / 5th Wheel Trailer Mover
  • Thread Starter
#7  
After further research, the 2N will do wheelies at about 800 lbs, with the max lift capacity at 1000. Even with my stout 300 lbs in the seat, it's probably a no-go.

I thought about a wheeled dolly of sorts where the tractor only has to move it. Probably wouldn't be that hard to build. Very similar to what J_J posted.

I don't know that I liked the ones that jacked under the front of the frame, I would rather go to the hitch. I probably wouldn't put brakes and springs on it. For what I am doing, it won't need that, I don't think.

Time to make some drawings.
 
   / 5th Wheel Trailer Mover #8  
WVPolekat, I was afraid your lift was a little under what you needed. Also, I got to thinking the other day that our idea of the dolly may not be too feasable either due to backing it would be a nightmare-too many pivoting points. Where there's a will there's a way!

Jay
 
   / 5th Wheel Trailer Mover #9  
WVPolekat, I was afraid your lift was a little under what you needed. Also, I got to thinking the other day that our idea of the dolly may not be too feasable either due to backing it would be a nightmare-too many pivoting points. Where there's a will there's a way!

Jay

It would be like backing a haywagon, not that hard.
 
   / 5th Wheel Trailer Mover #10  
Most 5th wheel trailers have about 25% of their weight on the hitch, so you may be looking at 2500 lbs. If you do this you will need a dolly preferably with brakes.

If it were me I would put the time and effort in a parking pad instead that would negate the need for moving it at all.


Steve
 
 
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