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Old 12-18-2015, 11:51 PM   #1
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Skid Wheels?

Has anyone installed skid wheels to prevent dragging the rear of the frame on steep drives or extra rough roads or fords? I'm considering something like these on the rear bumper. Thoughts?Click image for larger version

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Old 12-18-2015, 11:58 PM   #2
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You're confident that the wheel will turn when it hits an obstruction? What if you back into something that isn't sloped, but sticks up enough to contact the centre of the wheel?
I'd save my money. I've never come close to scraping my trailer bumper.
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Old 12-19-2015, 12:06 AM   #3
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Never a scrape on my 21 either.
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Old 12-19-2015, 05:38 AM   #4
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There is good clearance with Escape trailers, and it was rare that I was even close to hitting, though if a drive truly was that steep, they could possibly be handy.

That looks like a good mounting solution, but I would put them on the frame, not the bumper. That way you could slide them forward so that they allowed move clearance, and position them so that they would hit something just before the bumper. Plus, I would be inclined to use a stationary wheel, not a swivelling one, as most times you are going pretty straight backwards.
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Old 12-19-2015, 07:30 AM   #5
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I have a very steep drive. My Casita dragged. The 21' does not even with the 1Up bike rack. I was thrilled!
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Old 12-19-2015, 12:05 PM   #6
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On my former trailer, a 1968 Aristocrat that was built low, I scraped the back getting into my driveway. I had skid wheels welded to the back of the frame. We first tried swiveling ones and they didn't swivel as needed so we went to fixed wheels.
https://www.etrailer.com/Skid-Wheels...48-979022.html

Edit: Don't need them with the Escape 19 but I was glad I had them on the Aristocrat for my driveway and getting into gas stations.
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Old 12-19-2015, 02:47 PM   #7
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I wouldn't bother with the swiveling feature, as it seems more likely to fail than to be useful. It also forces the wheel to be small in diameter, so it won't roll well.

If the same point on the trailer (rear bumper?) always hits first, then well-placed wheels (or just skids) seem like a good idea to me. My motorhome (which has the same long-overhang issue as a trailer) doesn't have any, but a neighbor's motorhome with a much lower-mounted hitch on the back does have skids at the hitch mounting points - each unit has what suits it.

A larger wheel makes more sense to me. Rather than the swiveling wheel or the mini-rollers below the frame, I would rather run a bolt horizontally through the frame as an axle for a much larger wheel positioned right beside the frame (and of course projecting down a suitable amount). For instance a hand truck wheel (with a solid rubber "tire") could go onto the frame just ahead of bumper, protruding above the top of the 3" tall frame and further below it.

Regardless of the wheel or skid design, I think anything like this should hang down only barely below the clearance line of the trailer, so it doesn't cause more problems than it solves. That would normally mean mounting it well ahead of the rear face of the bumper, if it hangs down from the frame significantly.
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Old 12-19-2015, 02:54 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
That would normally mean mounting it well ahead of the rear face of the bumper, if it hangs down from the frame significantly.
Kinda like the wheels that are already on the trailer?
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