Trailer Valet 5x

dmerzbac

I'm considering the purchase of this product. Has anyone used the Trailer Valet before? If so, what is your experience with this product?  Thanks, Dave

Homebodyatheart

I'm watching this for answers as we may need one, too. I've seen one in use on a youtube video for another teardrop, and it looked handy!

dmerzbac

I'll be soloing it when my T@b arrives in a couple of weeks, so I definitely am looking for something to help with maneuvering the camper around at home or at camp. Anyone have other ideas or a different product that you use that you really like?

ericnliz

Homebodyatheart, Before you jump at that one, I'd personally try moving your trailer with the provided wheel first. Liz can move ours all by herself in the driveway [including spinning it all the way around]. I also own a trailer dolly that can be purchased at Harbor Freight for around $65.00-$70.00. The only time we have had difficulty moving the trailer with the wheel was on really loose gravel, and loose dirt. Just looks pretty spendy to me.

dmerzbac

ericnliz said:

Homebodyatheart, Before you jump at that one, I'd personally try moving your trailer with the provided wheel first. Liz can move ours all by herself in the driveway [including spinning it all the way around]. I also own a trailer dolly that can be purchased at Harbor Freight for around $65.00-$70.00. The only time we have had difficulty moving the trailer with the wheel was on really loose gravel, and loose dirt. Just looks pretty spendy to me.

ericnliz, thanks for the advice. It is indeed pricey which is why I will more than likely wait until my T@b comes in and see how I do with maneuvering by myself. The only hitch might be pushing it through my carport and through the gate into the backyard.

TabberJohn

If you are on flat pavement you can definitely roll a T@B around on its own. Where it gets dicey is on any type of long incline or dip.
I wish someone made a handheld brake controller you could plug in and use for an emergency stop.  Or a jack wheel with a lock-the-wheel function.

Homebodyatheart

Tabberjohn, how much of an incline? My contractor is almost ready to pour cement for the pad in front of the new T@B home and we've been discussing a slight incline towards the alley for drainage. If there's two of us it should be OK, but if just me I want to be able to control it.

Ericnliz, thanks!

Verna

@Homebodyatheart, I have a 2.5" thick piece of wood on my driveway for leveling the T@B and I keep a heavy rubber chock on the rear of the wood. That prevents me from going too far. Since you probably won't need the wood for leveling, if you get heavy rubber chocks from Harbor Freight, and keep them in place, they will stop you so you won't go too far back. The heavy rubber chocks do not move with the tire pushing against them. 

Verna

The two on the left seem identical to what I have. I do have 4 of them, one for in front of each tire and the others for behind each tire. 

Homebodyatheart

Verna, thanks for this info. I think they are a good idea! My concern is that we will be backing the T@B in at an angle to the garage, unhooking, and turning it a bit so that it will roll straight in to the T@B home. Let's see if I can paint a pic with words here. The main driveway goes straight from the street to the two car garage(about two car lengths plus a bit). Barely two feet to the south of that garage is the original one car garage (just grass and dirt in front) so we are pouring an extension arm of cement from the main driveway over to the front of the old garage. I don't have a good pic now to add, but hope this makes sense. From the street directly to the old garage are two apple trees that we hope to save, but have pruned one back heavily to make good clearance. All this edges the alley with a 30' concord grape vine and some rhubarb tossed in for good measure. My concern with turning and rolling it in by hand is to not have it take off the wrong way and me with it! It wouldn't go far, though. I may ask Ericnliz to come by with their rig once the pad is poured, and the snow melts to see if this works. Hope this makes it clearer, and thanks again!

Verna

@Homebodyatheart, it makes perfect sense. My driveway is 75' and straight, but it is not square to the house.....I've owned the house for 25 years and the house is 55 years old, so I don't know how that happenedd. It's only a pain at night making sure I don't drop off at the 2' to 3' ditch at the street.

But anyway, buy them so you can stop at the end!    You will be amazed at how well you' ll be able to maneuver the T@B while it is still hitched. Practice in an empty parking lot (hard to find during this shopping season) before you try the real arc. 

Carolyn

I own the trailer valet and feel that it operates as advertised. We must maneuver our T@b around in the driveway to place it in a carport off the side of the house. This means turning it at a sharp angle but it is quite easy to do with two people not using the valet. We have used the trailer valet on inclines and to turn the T@b around on grassy surfaces. You can easily move it up an incline and it does have a brake to stop runaways. Note that it is very well built and this translates to heavy. There used to be some very good videos on youtube demonstrating its use.

ericnliz

Homebodyatheart, Would be glad to help out , first of all. Second, a slight incline should not be any trouble moving the T@B. My situation is a long driveway, and a gravel parking pad next to a two car garage. The turn I have to make is quite sharp beside the garage, and slightly uphill until you get past the garage so you can straighten back out. I have done it myself with the trailer dolly. I tried to do it with the wheel furnished with the T@B, but it is so narrow, it dug into the gravel and was quite difficult to get un-stuck. The tires on my trailer dolly are pneumatic, which is why I chose it for the ease of pushing/pulling it with a trailer attached. This being said, I also believe this to be another shin killing T@B table discussion, in as much as what will work for one person, might not for another. All I can do is give input per personal experience, and allow folks to make their own decisions based on their needs.

Dalehelman

TabberJohn said:

If you are on flat pavement you can definitely roll a T@B around on its own. Where it gets dicey is on any type of long incline or dip.
I wish someone made a handheld brake controller you could plug in and use for an emergency stop.  Or a jack wheel with a lock-the-wheel function.

You can use your emergency breakaway  lanyard to stop your trailer if it were to get away from you.

TabberJohn

Dalehelman said:

You can use your emergency breakaway  lanyard to stop your trailer if it were to get away from you.

Can you pull on that cable as much as you want without having to reset something?

Dalehelman

TabberJohn said:

Dalehelman said:

You can use your emergency breakaway  lanyard to stop your trailer if it were to get away from you.

Can you pull on that cable as much as you want without having to reset something?

No you would have to reinsert the pin. My quote was if it gets away from you.

Nomad

Out of curiosity, how hard is it to reinsert the pin?

Dalehelman

It go in about as easy as it comes out. Try it. It should be tested regularly 

Sharon_is_SAM

Dale, don't you need to test it by jacking up the wheel?

Dalehelman

I do it while it's hooked to the tow vehicle. Pull the pin then try to move it. 

Dalehelman

Back to the OP question. I do not own this product, but after watching the video. If I were not able to move our trailer manually. I would seriously consider getting one. Considering what it can do although not cheap it is responsibly priced. IMHO

GibW

The Trailer Valet looks interesting. We store our T@B in an old single car garage with only a few inches of clearance on either side. Tried using a trailer dolly but the incline into the garage made this impossible unless there were two or more strong helpers. Backing in with the Subaru Outback worked but still needed two spotters to help monitor progress. Since I'd like to be able to move the T@B in and out of storage myself the Trailer Valet could be a good solution. I'll look into it next Spring and will see if other owners post positive reviews. 

TabberJohn

Here a video of the Trailer Valet in use with a T@B:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6XAui1-K8o
Found it in this post: http://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/discussion/903/winching-into-garage/p1

dmerzbac

Thanks for the video! That may help me make up my mind. Now to begin saving the money for the purchase.