Parkit 360 Motorized Dolly

[kittmaster]

I scrapped the parkit360 and returned it.

IMO, it is just not meant to move around an AS. Not sure why, or even why they said it could.....everyone's outcome seems to be different.

I went with an Airtug electric 15k like Lewster did.

It is worth every penny......100% confidence in moving my trailer around.

I would never recommend a parkit360 to anyone going forward with knowing what I know now.

[UncleBad]

We have decided to return our Parkit 360. I feel the same. It isn’t safe with our 27FB. I will go back and edit other thread where I mention it as well.

We are looking at the Airtug and revisiting the Purple Line mover.

[kittmaster]

Parkit charged me 20% restocking fee and $250 for shipping to return it to them....

They said it was because I waited to long to return the unit....

I bought it 5 months (Sale, free shipping mumbo jumbo) before the AS was even built and they knew that......let this be a warning to others about them.

Buy elsewhere.

[NWRVR]

Sorry that your experience with the ParkIt 360 did not turn out as expected. I have the same dolly purchased in 2015 to maneuver my 2014 25’ Serenity into a tight garage and now my Classic 30, both using the coupler mount. When I had problems with the dolly ParkIt sent me the components to upgrade to the latest electronics and walked me through the conversion. Good people to deal with and a the dolly performs as advertised for me.

[Silvertwinkie]

All:


I have had my Parkit360xl for about 5 years now.


Last week when moving the trailer back into place, the ENTIRE coupling assembly tore off the base of the power dolly. How I didn't lose the trailer is beyond me. Just luck I guess. The legacy 360xl model was rated for 12k lbs and assuming 10% hitch weight, 1200lb hitch weight.


My 25er is only about 900lbs of hitch weight and at most 7k GVWR.


Support was great, but honestly to ship this back for repair is not cost effective. I am going to take it to a welding and fabrications shop to not only fix the damage, but also beef it up. The steel holding the coupler to the frame, and the frame itself is extremely thin for a 12000/1200lb application IMHO.


I've included some pics for folks to review and draw their own conclusions....

[UncleBad]

Originally Posted by NWRVR

Sorry that your experience with the ParkIt 360 did not turn out as expected. I have the same dolly purchased in 2015 to maneuver my 2014 25’ Serenity into a tight garage and now my Classic 30, both using the coupler mount. When I had problems with the dolly ParkIt sent me the components to upgrade to the latest electronics and walked me through the conversion. Good people to deal with and a the dolly performs as advertised for me.

NWRVR - glad to hear you have had a good experience. I did as well the first 2 times I used mine. Then it tried to remove a couple of my limbs, which I am very attached to.

Would love to know what your doing different than I was, if anything?

Do you have pictures of your coupling mount?

Has it ever rotated under your Airstream at all?

I have an email from them someplace where they admit it should probably not be used on an AS as “big” as mine.

[NWRVR]

Originally Posted by UncleBad

NWRVR - glad to hear you have had a good experience. I did as well the first 2 times I used mine. Then it tried to remove a couple of my limbs, which I am very attached to.

Would love to know what your doing different than I was, if anything?

Do you have pictures of your coupling mount?

Has it ever rotated under your Airstream at all?

I have an email from them someplace where they admit it should probably not be used on an AS as “big” as mine.

I use the standard ball mount supplied with the dolly. The key is to make sure it is as tight as you can get it with the bar. I have never had it attempt to rotate under the A-frame except one time when I did not take all the weight off the ball when tightening. Also, be sure the weld nipples on the ball are lined up correctly. The ball mount will not work on my boat trailer because when tightening the collar it will pull the ball out of the coupler due to a poor design of the trailer coupler mechanism so I mounted a pipe on the side of the A-frame which works fine. So far I have used the dolly 8 time for the Airstreams in and out with about an hour of jockeying each time and 4 times for the boat (5,000 lbs).

[waninae39]

had mine for two years

no issues

i remove the foot off the electric post lift and place it in the parkit360 hole.

it works very well for us on a as22FB

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by waninae39

had mine for two years

no issues

i remove the foot off the electric post lift and place it in the parkit360 hole.

it works very well for us on a as22FB

The jackpost method as described by parkit.......and my understanding is not recommended.....but if it works....

The videos show the ball mount use method.......what isn't shown is when the thing starts rocking back and forth as it moves and if you are on any type of slight incline how the torque of the thing causes the machine to come forward and start to slip out of the latch mechanism. That is a lot of what happened in my use case.......and they went so far as to accept the return of the unit.

While it may work for some, there are cases where it doesn't work for others.....I may also note that when it "popped" out one time, it did me the service of damaging the latch in the process........which had to be replaced.

If anyone is interested in the whole story, message me privately and we can have a voice call and I'll be happy to explain what happened on my end.

All I can say is, I'm glad I don't have to deal with the mess anymore.

[UncleBad]

Parkit has now agreed to accept the return of my unit, minus $250 for shipping and 20% restocking fee.

I am happy for those who have had good luck with the Parkit. I used the exact same process as described above but it failed in such a way that I will not use it again. Jack pole method won’t work for me due to weight of 27FB and a frame mount does not allow the turns I need.

Same offer as Kittmaster, PM me if you want or need more details.

[NWRVR]

Originally Posted by UncleBad

NWRVR - snip....

I have an email from them someplace where they admit it should probably not be used on an AS as “big” as mine.

That is interesting. I don't understand how the size of the AS makes a difference if the weight is less than the rated weight for the dolly which is 10K. The tongue weight on my Classic 30 is less than what my 25' Serenity was and they both move about the same with the dolly. What makes the AS any different than a similar weighted SOB?

[kittmaster]

I sent out information for those that requested it privately. Please check your emails or PM's for the information.

Regards,
Chris

[Silvertwinkie]

So, after a few days of thinking about my situation, I went the the electric 15k AirTug.


I didn't come to this conclusion lightly as spending a bit over $4k was not in my short or long term budget radar.



Parkit360 was willing to work with me and I appreciated that fact, however, getting another 360, I felt would most likely put me in the same place I am now in 5 or fewer years.



My control switch was wearing out and was discontinued, the welder wanted about $300 to fix and beef up my unit, but as has been pointed out, even moving with the hitch jack instead of the ball was no picnic with the 360 with a proboble future premature (IMHO) failure.



I also considered the trax dolly, and though their model 6000 looked good for my current application, and the company did say they "upgraded" the controller and motors to handle upward of 8k lbs, none of it was documented other than via an email which given my recent exp left me a bit uneasy.


When the Parkit structurally failed, not to be dramatic, I started to ask myself is my life or well being worth $4k? What if it happened again, and I outright lost control of the trailer at grade and my kid was injured or killed. On a less dramatic note, just the property damage could easily exceed $10k on the Airstream alone depending on where it came to a stop against.

What if I later upgrade to a larger trailer and it's a 10k lbs trailer? That 8k trax dolly might not cut it, and clearly the Parkit couldn't and I had no indication that the frame was really any different on the newer 360s than I already had, with the suggested replacement having a 2k loss in capacity (which I am not really sure is accurately engineered for that capacity in the first place).


Bottom line the AirTug electric 15k unit will be delivered next week.


Shout out of thanks to Kittmaster for all his help answering all my questions about his AirTug to get me to this point today.


I don't have anything bad to say about any of the three companies, and will let you all draw your own conclusions....perhaps they may be similar to mine, perhaps not, but at the very least you have some info to go by that may help you make a decision. Everybody's needs are different, and of course you mileage and exp can and will vary.


If any of you have a Parkit360, let me know if you are interested in any parts off my machine. The 1.5hp motor, sprockets, chain, tires, handle are all in great shape and per Parkit360, will bolt right into their current model lineup, should you choose to continue to use the 360 as your trailer dolly.

[UncleBad]

We will also be ordering our Airtug next week.

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

Shout out of thanks to Kittmaster for all his help answering all my questions about his AirTug to get me to this point today.

Any time my friend, I agree with your entire post, everyone's experience and needs are different, you have to do what is best for you.

I think you will be very happy with the AirTug, I know we are and will sing praise to the heavens for finding the information on this forum. It saved our sanity, trailer and peace of mind.

Be sure to start a new thread on your experience once you receive it, assemble it, and usage....

Best Chris

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by UncleBad

We will also be ordering our Airtug next week.

Excellent, as I mentioned above to Silvertwinkie, it will be leaps and bounds....let us know how it goes!



Best,
Chris

[Silvertwinkie]

So my 15k AirTug arrived. It's AMAZING! It's super quiet, it's amazingly built, and by that I mean the amount of steel is just unparalleled. These things were orig built to move Airplanes, so I don't expect ANY issues with this. I absolutely LOVE the hydrostatic drive. It is smooth as butter. It also turns on a dime with virtually zero effort. In closing I'd like to thank Lewster for turning folks onto it and Kittmaster for walking me through the whole process and answering all my questions.



I'll leave you with this final pic....a pic is worth a thousand words....guess which unit is rated at 15k. Answer both, the one on the right lasted 5 years moving no more than 7,000lbs before it structurally failed. You think I'll have the same problem with the one on the left? Bet not!

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

In closing I'd like to thank Lewster for turning folks onto it and Kittmaster for walking me through the whole process and answering all my questions.

Any time my friend.....any time......also shout out to @lewster, his thread showing his 15k electric Airtug is what got me to do some research on it and ultimately take the chance....and I'm glad I did!

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

Guess which unit is rated at 15k. Answer both, the one on the right lasted 5 years moving no more than 7,000lbs before it structurally failed. You think I'll have the same problem with the one on the left? Bet not!

Some added dialog based on Silvertwinkies experience: I know those that own a Trax or Parkit360 may be happy with their purchase.....that is good if it works for them....for those that are on the fence......yes, this is a major purchase and many can say "learn to back it up"....yep....understood.....but for those that have this type of need to be able to maneuver where a TV can't or won't go....this is the top of the pyramid .......and IMO, worth every penny for peace of mind and stability/security found in the Airtug. I'm an Airtug cheerleader as they have proven (to me at least) they are worthy in every way.

Hope this helps others, if you are on the fence or have questions, PM me if you need pictures or more info.

Greetz,
Chris

[UncleBad]

We are on our final leg home and plan to order our Airtug 15k when we get home. It will also replace a Parkit 360. We would have ordered the Airtug sooner but the company is on summer break. Good for them!

Our need for a mover is that our RV garage does not allow room for a TV to do the “moving”. So we believe it will pay for itself in a few years of storage fees.

[Julianblo]

Originally Posted by BillfromWI

I bought a Power Mover (see Tom T, above) because I didn't want to maintain one more battery. Mine is an AC-10 with four tires and optional trailer brake interface. This is overkill for my 25' but I wanted to just drop the coupler on the Mover ball and go. The AC-10 is what the guy at Power Mover recommended/insisted on for this use. Power Mover offers a lot of choices. I you become interested in them review their Web site and then call to discuss your application.

My driveway is pretty level and I don't bother to hook up the brake.

I'm very happy with the Power Mover and I still prefer to deal with the cord rather than maintain a battery.

Is Power Mover company out of business?