8 ft w by 10 ft h garage door

[escapeDan]

Looking to see if anyone has successfully backed escape 19 through an 8 ft wide bt 10ft high garage door? Or is it just too tight?

[Iowa Dave]

Pretty tight on the 8 foot wide
10 feet high on our 2013 21 with air and antenna is good.
You would need to be pretty much square on the door with only a few inches per side clearance when you backed the trailer in and unless you had a rear of the garage service door a human spotter would not be feasible. If you had double overhead doors, one on each end of the garage for a “pull through” that could work. But 8 feet is tight.
Iowa Dave

[Bobbie54]

I back a 17b through an 8 foot door. it's tight. Maybe without a manual awning? The awning poles end up being the thing I worry about. I can access the garage from the inside to see how I'm doing, and I do get out and check 2-3 times (about 10 the first time) to make sure. As Dave says, you have to line up very straight- I have tire marks on the driveway to help with that.

Sorry, can't get it to be straight. But the side you see is the one I try to get away from more so that I can get into the door inside the garage. PS, this is a 9 foot high garage.

edit: fixed pic

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

I back a 17b through an 8 foot door. it's tight. Maybe without a manual awning? The awning poles end up being the thing I worry about. I can access the garage from the inside to see how I'm doing, and I do get out and check 2-3 times (about 10 the first time) to make sure. As Dave says, you have to line up very straight- I have tire marks on the driveway to help with that.

Sorry, can't get it to be straight. But the side you see is the one I try to get away from more so that I can get into the door inside the garage. PS, this is a 9 foot high garage.

edit: fixed pic

I don’t think I’d have the patience and probably not the skill to do that. My hat is off to you
A lady who worked for me lived in a very small town growing up. The garage was quite narrow. Probably first built for a Model T. Her dad was a hoarder like me. He loaded the passenger side of the garage so tight that his wife had to get out of the car and then he’d pull in. Eventually he did the same on the drivers side. He cut a hole in the side of the garage and put a 30 inch service door adjacent to where his car door opened. Then he could get out of the car, close that door from the outside and walk around and close the overhead door.
Then he died. My friend Kristie spent several weekends emptying out the old garage. She heated her house for a whole winter with the lumber he had stored in the garage.
Iowa Dave

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

I don’t think I’d have the patience and probably not the skill to do that. My hat is off to you

It's easier than it looks- the hardest part is getting straight in the driveway but I have a long driveway. I have 8" of clearance on either side, supposedly. (Doesn't look it.) A 19 would have 6" on each side. Not sure if that includes the awning poles or not since the power awning doesn't have them. (I might have picked a power awning if I'd thought about that- the 15 didn't have awning poles. But technically it could be done. I'm not tempted- yet. (That 9' with AC going through a 9' door is too tight, in my case, but if someday they have a heat pump that isn't on top I might be tempted.)

[Upfisk]

We have a high lift axle and it is around 10'5".

[escapeDan]

I really appreciate everyone's input. Thank you so much!

[Mark B1]

This does not help with the width, but here are the other measurements from Escapes web page.

[brroberts]

Narrow entrances can be nerve racking until you have done it a few time. I have a 105” door I have put a 103” trailer in, but I have room to get square and can go patiently slow. On the plus side, I now have a 118” wide door and that works much better. I cant’t do it without good lighting and mirrors.

[Bobbie54]

I was thinking about it, and I'd ask if the width listed includes the awning arms. If so, I think you'd be fine with the power awning (no arms), provided you have room to get square (go straight back) before entering the garage..

[Mark B1]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

I was thinking about it, and I'd ask if the width listed includes the awning arms. If so, I think you'd be fine with the power awning (no arms), provided you have room to get square (go straight back) before entering the garage..

Part of the reason we chose the power awning is we park our 19 beside the house and need a walkway between the house and the trailer. Arms from the manual awning would reduce the width of the walkway. The same would apply backing into a garage.

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by Mark B1

Part of the reason we chose the power awning is we park our 19 beside the house and need a walkway between the house and the trailer. Arms from the manual awning would reduce the width of the walkway. The same would apply backing into a garage.

I might have picked one if I'd thought about it. The arms definitely give me more of a worry backing in.


So if I can get in with a 17b with the arms; a 19 without the arms would only be slightly wider. The 19 is only 4" wider. The arms must stick out at least 3". The power awning itself seems to be recessed compared to the manual one.

[kstock11]

My dad had something he used to say about backing the car into the garage - “get it as close to the drivers side as possible, if you still hit, then it wouldn’t fit anyway!”��

[brroberts]

Drives my wife crazy, but I always stay close to the drivers side pulling or backing in. I don’t see well, and it keeps me out of trouble. As far as backing the trailer, I’d like for her to learn how, but she absolutely refuses. She drives from campground to campground and then gets out and I back in.

[Iowa Dave]

My dad was an outgoing guy with liberal views and the nature to help anyone he could. He serviced customer’s cars from their first tank of gas and oil change until sometimes they could not drive any longer. He announced one night that he had bought one of those cars from two spinster ladies who lived on the edge on a small town nearby. The car was in very fine mechanical condition he assured. He was proud of it. We all went outside to look at it. The first thing I noticed was that all four fenders were crumpled in so they were flat for about a foot instead of the bulging rounded factory pressing of a 1941 Plymouth sedan. My mom did not say much but I had to ask what happened to the fenders. Dad said “The old girl who had this car would get pretty much lined up on the door of the garage and then straight ahead until the tires hit a log they had laid across the dirt floor to keep her from going through the back wall. Get in we’re going for a ride.” We were slightly conscious of the body damage but the Plymouth had a working radio, and the 87 horsepower flathead 6 purred along like a kitten on skinny tires. We had that Plymouth for several years before Ethel Broulik sold him her Black 1950 Buick Special with straight fenders, Dynaflow drive and straight 8 engine. It was later that I learned the term “Form follows function.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT9HmGhGa0Y

Iowa Dave

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Mark B1

This does not help with the width, but here are the other measurements from Escapes web page.

Attachment 52784

Those are accurate.

My Sprinter is 9' tall without the Maxxair fan. We use 10' as our safe clearance on the van. Our Escape 19 with high lift is definitely shorter than the the van.

[Centex]

In 1973 when I was away in the Army my Grandmother (Mother's side) was still driving the 4-door 1949 DeSoto Fluid Drive my Grandfather bought shortly before he died. For decades she'd only driven it to church on Wednesday night and Sunday morning, it was beautiful dark green on tan 'camel-hair' interior, the all metal dashboard and interior trim was faux woodgrain, IIRC it had a clock in the glovebox door, the deep visor over the windshield sticks in my memory too. A ritual of my youth was riding in it with Dad to get it serviced when visiting her. Dad loved the car, referred to the engine as a 'syrup-bucket-six', it was always in pristine condition, had very few miles on it.

Though a massive vehicle 'Nanny' had no problem getting it safely in and out of the wide 'carriage house' where the DeSoto was kept. But, one Sunday afternoon my folks got a call from the Kilgore (TX) police department saying there was a problem at Mrs. Freeman's house, someone needed to come up and check it out...

While she had no problem with the garage, it seems that particular Sunday morning she had forgotten to open the four-foot tall cyclone fence gate when heading to church. When she got home and saw the fence laid-flat with the substantial and deeply cemented gate posts popped out of the ground she called the police. She had apparently backed-out over the gate and didn't even know it - the DeSoto had a few minor scratches on its massive rear bumper, no real damage at all.

The fence was repaired, after conference with her and the police there was no question but that Nanny and her DeSoto would be allowed to continue their twice-weekly 4-block church drives for the time-being, and in fact that continued, uneventfully, for 4 more years till she passed in her sleep.

They don't make 'em like they used to (DeSotos or 'Nannys'). RIP Nanny Freeman.

The still almost pristine DeSoto? It was 'liquidated' along with the rest of the estate by an uncle .... I've often wondered about its fate, I can still conjure the slightly musty smell of that lovely interior.

Iowa Dave's great anecdote prompted the recall of those fond memories .... back to topic

[azjack]

Dave, Nancy loves the tune but it makes her miss her 50 Buick fast back with 3 speed and her 63 Riviera with the newer dynaflo.
AZjack

[Iowa Dave]

Don’t know if who has a Napa auto parts store nearby but they usually put out a Christmas special flyer with some bargains or a loss leader or two. I usually stop in and get a couple cans of carburetor cleaner or a three pack of Armor all etc. Then I casually ask if they have any calendars this year. The young counter guys give them out gleefully, the older guys in my area are a little stingy. At any rate, they have a very nice classic cars calendar and a vintage tractor calendar. I get the tractors first and if I’m in Iowa City like I was yesterday, get a classic cars.

When I was in the parks I made acquaintance with a calendar photographer and allowed him to park classic cars and hot rods on the grass all over one of the nicer city parks. I’d provide him with a letter so the PD would understand if he got questioned. About the 15th of October I’d get a big box of calendars from him. I’d make sure the commissioners all got one and then the rest went to the park guys and foremen. The seasonals from Jones Park would come in about this time of the year and get what was left.
It built pride, let the commissioners know their parks were calendar quality, and further solidified the Esprit
de Corps that I promoted every day. Citizens were the eventual beneficiaries.
Iowa Dave