"Trailer Walker" Helps Move Heavy Loads By Hand

"Trailer Walker" Helps Move Heavy Loads By Hand WAGONS/TRAILERS Miscellaneous 30-1-11 A New Zealand fencing contractor has come up with a new way to safely maneuver heavy trailers by hand. Ross Hart says his "trailer walker" can be fitted and removed in seconds. It works by progressively chocking the trailer wheels as the drawbar is levered from side to side, which makes it easy to push or pull the trailer even if it's heavily loaded. With his new device, wheeled loads up to three times heavier than normal can be inched uphill or downhill - safely. "As long as you can get some leverage on the drawbar, the trailer walkers will deliver pushing or pulling movement to the trailer," he says. "It's really surprising how even short movements, one wheel after the other, will result in progress in complete safety to the operator." The trailer walker is designed to fit most modern round or box-section axles. The chocks are positioned either in front of, or behind, both wheels. If you want to move the trailer away from you, you place the chocks in front of the wheels. If you want to move the trailer toward you, you place the chocks in back. The chocks are made from heavy rubber and are hexagonal in shape so they're free to rotate to follow uneven ground. As the drawbar leverage moves the trailer wheel or wheels on one side, the device and its chocks follow into position to lock that side against any runaway weight and/or the leverage exerted next on the other side of the trailer. This crabbing movement gently moves the trailer in the desired direction. He got the idea after being injured while trying to maneuver a trailer by hand on a steep slope. He says the same idea could also be used to move boats, caravans, and other kinds of trailers. An added chain and padlock can be used to extend the trailer walker into a security device. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ross Hart, 36 Bassett Rd., RD6, Tauranga, Bay of Plety, NZ (ph 64 7480153).

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