Just received a power caster....
Geoff Sherwood
bad, but I don't think I can push 2500 lbs up it....) and I have only a few
inches of clearance on each side of the trailer through the garage door. So
I bit the bullet and bought a powercaster ($695 + $105 shipping (3 day air
from California + trucked to my door)+ $40 for trailer adapter + $20 for
electric brake controller. $860 all told. You can go to the website
(www.powercaster.com to see it -- that's where I bought it from). If you
have a jack with a removable wheel you don't need the adapter (the body of
the jack fits in a hole on top of the unit) but then you have to lift the
tongue by hand to get it on the unit. For $40, I don't think so.
I don't think there has been much discussion of this thing here, so I'll
describe it a little. It has a moderately large pneumatic tire attached to
an electric motor via a chain. The adapter socket sits on top of the unit,
and there is a handle coming up to waist height with a box with a switch on
it centered between two hand grips. The optional brake controller attaches
to the switch and sits just in front of the other electrical box. There are
two small wheels to the rear of the unit to make it easier to roll around
when it isn't connected (they are up in the air when the trailer is on).
The whole unit looks hand-made (but made *well*) and very solidly
constructed. My only complaint is that the handle doesn't fold which would
make it a lot more portable. It weighs about 55 lbs or so (I forget
exactly). The brake controller connects to the break-away device on the
trailer (I'm taking their word for it) and has a switch with three
positions -- center is off, one side is momentary, the other full on. The
momentary side allows you to apply the trailer brakes while you are
maneuvering, the full-on side leaves them on while you chock the wheels. I
don't know how useful in the real world, but it sounded neat and was a
really cheap addition. They do say don't leave the brakes on for more than
5 min or you risk damaging them.
You attach the adapter to the trailer just aft of the hitch coupler with 3
big bolts (the lower two through the frame of the trailer). The bottom of
the adapter fits into the adapter socket, you plug in an extension cord
(110V), crank up the jack, and you are ready to roll. The motor runs both
forward and backward to pull or push as desired. It is very slow moving --
I timed it at about 20 feet per minute. So it will take about 3 minutes to
get the trailer from the street to parked postion in the garage. It would
take me a lot longer than that to back it in -- and sooner or later I'd miss
(crunch!). A little more speed (like twice as fast) would be nicer, but
just not that big a deal.
The handle looks like it should make it very easy to steer with the trailer
attached. It is rated for up to 5000 lbs, so it would handle any pop-up
with ease, and there are two larger models (this is the smallest they make).
Since I don't have my Nevada yet I don't know how it will handle under
real-world use but from the look of things it should be great. I doubt I'd
have bought it if I didn't have to go uphill, but it is a lot cheaper than
moving to a house without an uphill driveway!! As long as I'm using the
pickup as the tow vehicle I'll probably just toss it in the back to make
maneuvering around the site easier. I *can* back a trailer -- I just don't
like to....
Geoff Sherwood
PS besides, as my wife will readily attest, I like toys....
Gerry Pierce
<ge...@sherwoodforest.net> writes:
>PS besides, as my wife will readily attest, I like toys..
isn't this genetic for all of us males? congrats on the new toy!
Gerry & Robyn
99 Mesa
96 Ford Conversion Van
"GO NAVY"
http://hometown.aol.com/gpierce123/myhomepage/gerry.html
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O
Nancy
about 2 ft
between the trailer and brick wall on each side.
Thanks for the description. 860 US$ is about 1200 Cdn $, but I'll keep it in
mind.
Thanks
Nancy
Geoff Sherwood wrote:
> PS besides, as my wife will readily attest, I like toys....
Popuptimes
Dave