[VAL] Dolly wheels/casters

["Al G." <waymark1@xxxxxxxx>]

Even a hand cranked gear and chain drive trailer dolly such as my Fulton
is absolutely not to be used on anything but virtually level ground. I
have used mine only to shift my 6,500+ lbs trailer on a concrete
driveway, moving the wheel chocks a foot or so at a time as even though
the driveway looked level it might not have been quite level.
I found that the dolly's tires barely had enough grip to turn the trailer
as it had two axles, requiring the main tires to be scrubbed sideways on
the concrete to turn the trailer. I ended up jacking each axle up as
appropriate to allow it to slip sideways.
The trailer dolly has only the tongue weight on it, so its tires cannot
grip but about 10% as much as the main brakes.
There was an advertisement in an English caravanning (RV) magazine
showing some sort of electric motor driven arrangement that powered the
main wheels, the tongue being supported by a jack column caster wheel. If
I understood the ad correctly the electric brakes were controllable as
the connector plug was plugged into a socket on the control unit,
supplying it with power and making electricity available to the trailer
brakes.
My opinion is that such a dolly is suitable only for use with a trailer
in a (level) concrete floored garage or shop. Like Dr. J emphasized, if
even a fairly small trailer got away it would be a disaster, much less
our 6,500+ and 8,000+ lbs. trailers.
Al