Trailer Valet Essentials Trailer Dolly - 1-7/8" Hitch Ball - 800 lb Tongue Weight

Video Transcript for A Closer Look at the Trailer Valet Essentials Trailer Dolly

Hi, I'm Matt with etrailer, and today we're gonna be talking about the Trailer Valet manual wheel dolly. So we'll just be talking about how it's gonna work, function, naturally, show it in use too. So let's check it out. This is gonna be perfect for anyone who has those smaller trailers that are hauling either your jet skis, a side-by-side or ATVs, anything along those lines, this is gonna help you out, especially with those smaller trailers. 'Cause, when you try to get into those tight spots in your parking lot or your garage, what can happen is, those smaller trailers can be a little bit squealy, and it's gonna be kind of hard to keep an eye on what's happening back there. With this, it's just gonna help you out and just be really easy to use and hook up to.

Now, if you already have this and you're pretty experienced with it, we'd love to hear what you have to say about it and what you really use it for on a day-to-day basis. But if you don't own this and you wanna learn a little bit more about it, we'll actually you start using this now. Now, one thing I want to point out before we actually get going is, I actually have a different ball on here currently, I'm using a 2" ball. And this is gonna come with an 1 7/8" ball. Reasoning is, is 'cause we don't have any couplers that are gonna fit that size, and if you're in a similar situation, then you can actually find a different ball size by Trailer Valet on our website.

It's just gonna be more compatible. Yes, there are gonna be other different types of balls out there, but you just need to make sure the threading is gonna be the same. And we tried pulling another ball from CURT, or just other brands in general, and those balls, the threading on them didn't match what we had on this. So more than likely, you're gonna have to use a Trailer Valet ball. Now, something else to think about is, you're probably wondering, well, if this doesn't have the ball that's gonna match my couple, why would I go with this rather than another type of dolly out there Where I think this one really exceeds that is, it has three wheels on it, and really, this goes a long way, it gives it more stability and just makes it easier to use and move around.

As you can see, right here, with nothing on it, the mobility from this, when I've used other type of dollies out there, it's just a lot smoother. Now, when it actually comes to hooking up, it's very simple too. So when we hook up, we just need to line up that ball to a coupler. And in some situations, your ball might be too tall. Typically, you just have to pull this pin here, this clip too, and you could actually load this down further if need be.

We'll actually talk about the max height of this later on, but I'll put that back in here. But in some situations, it's still just slightly a little bit too low. What I'll do for that situation is just come over here and bring the dolly in like that. And there we have it. And even if it's a little bit lower than that, you can still do that, you just need to make sure that your trailer is shocked so it doesn't roll away on you. And then just make sure you secure everything down and then lower down your jack. And so let's see how it does. So I'm just gonna pull on it. Right now, I am going up a little bit of an incline and really I'm not having too much resistance here now, all I have on here right now is that side-by-side, but at the end of the day you're typically not gonna have anything too heavy. And what the goal I have right now is, we have a really tight spot right next to our other side-by-side. And what I'm gonna try to do is get it on the other side of that side-by-side, and then get this into place. So far I'm getting a lot better visuals of this than if I was gonna just back up regularly. And soon here when I have to make that really tight turn, we can really see where this is gonna shine. And right now I'm pushing on it, and I think this is definitely better than pulling on it. Earlier, when I was pulling on it, my wheels we inchesre coming up a little bit or at least that third smaller wheel at the very front of it, that was coming up a little bit. But pushing on it, I'm not having that issue at all. And this is working pretty nicely for me right now. Now, I will say there are no built-in shocks on the dolly when I'm moving it around, so you just need to make sure you have a good hold on this the entire time when you move it. But yeah, there we have it. That really didn't take any time at all. We have it in a nice spot too. If I need to adjust it at all, I can do that real quick. And once you're done, you just need to shock this into place. Now, if you're on a little bit of an incline, I just recommend maybe having a friend with you, or just having your shock in your hand so you can come over here and at least shock the dolly, so this is inside around on you. And when we're ready, we can disconnect and take it off. Again, since how this is sitting on, just lift it up like that, and you can use your jack to adjust the height of how it sits on here. Now, we do have this other trailer right next to me, and that one is sitting a little bit higher. And this is the perfect chance for me to really talk about how this can adjust for different heights. So right now, it's in that minimum position. This is also pretty light, so it's easy to maneuver around and line everything up. So at 20 inches, we're really not making contact here. So what I can do is adjust this, pull this pin, pull up on this some, and this is gonna have a max height of 24 inches. And if I put that pin back through here, we can secure that down. And now as you can see, this would work with our trailer, and I have to just come over here, put it at an angle like this. Only issue here is, this coupler is for a 2 5/16" ball. So what you'd have to do is just make sure you invest in another ball to work with those trailers. But if you only have the one trailer, then this shouldn't be an issue with really swapping your balls around. And one other thing I wanted to bring up again is, earlier, when this wheel was coming off the ground just a little bit, that is something to keep in mind. I'd actually recommend trying to keep that on the ground as much as possible. If it comes off a couple inches, that's fine every now and then. But the reason why is, if I come over here, let's say this trailer is super low to the ground, I need to hook up to it real quick, I can do that, and if the trailer's light enough, I can still lift this up. Which is pretty nice and all, but, the issue there is, if I didn't hook this up completely and latch that coupler down, or even if I did, if you're not careful, that wheel might come up too much and you might get disconnected, and something could get damaged. So definitely try to keep this wheel on the ground as much as possible when you are pulling your trailers. When it comes to storing this, there's gonna be a couple things to think about. And the first thing is, how often are you using this If you're not using this a ton, you could try putting it in your garage. If you do that, there's a couple things to think about. So right here, I noticed this is gonna be the way it's gonna save you the most amount of space, but it won't wanna stand. So you could try shocking it somehow, putting something behind the wheel so it doesn't fall down on you. Or you could try de-assembling just the back wheel section. Really, there's just two bolts holding it into place, so it doesn't take that long, but it is something to think about. Now, if you're someone who's using this a lot more often, maybe either on a weekly basis or something along those lines, I actually recommend keeping it on your trailer if you have the space for it. So if you can find a way to lock it there, I think it's gonna be a lot more handy, it's gonna be out of your way and you won't have to go as far when you do need it. This is gonna have a capacity of 1500 pounds for towing, and 800 pounds for your tongue weight. In most cases you're probably not gonna come across anything for 800 pounds. Your tongue weight, that's gonna also be below 1500 pounds. Really what the difference is, your tongue weight is gonna be the downward force being applied to this, and your tongue weight is gonna be what's being pulled behind it. Now, there are a few things to think about, 'cause if your load is shifted on your trailer, then you might encounter some situations like that, if most of your load is on the front of your trailer. Something else to think about is gonna be the ball. So like I said, you can get this ball changed out. Changing out that ball won't change your weight capacity, it's all gonna be the same no matter if you're using that inch and seven eighths, two inch or two and five sixteenths. Something else to think about though, is how you're gonna change it. Really, it is pretty quick and easy, all you have to do is, probably grab an adjustable wrench and just loosen this up, you'll be able to unscrew it and then put the new one on and tighten it back into place. It really doesn't take too long, you just need something that's gonna fit around this base here. In my opinion, I think this is a solid choice if you're looking for something that's a little bit more affordable than the high end options for moving your trailers, especially if you have those smaller ones where you're just moving an ATV or a side-by-side, this is going to do you just fine. And really how it moves and operates is just very smooth compared to a lot of other type of wheel dollies of this design. Now, if you're looking for something that's a little bit more heavy duty, because maybe 800 pounds for your tongue weight, or 1500 pounds for your tongue weight, just isn't gonna cut it. If you have a smaller camper, then I'd actually recommend some of those by Trailer Valet, and that's gonna be their XL Trailer Dolly. Now with that, that's just gonna have a crank system to it so you can move it around like that, or you can use a drill attachment to move around, so it's gonna be a lot less of a hassle for you. Compared to something like that, that's gonna go a long way. And there's even an MV PRO one if your trailer is a little bit larger. Now, if you want something completely hands-free, and maybe bending down this much it's a little bit hard for your back, that's definitely fine. But again, that was just a look at the Trailer Valet Essentials Trailer Dolly. I'm Matt, thanks for watching.