Tripod Wheels and Dollies

More Information Price $573.00 Warranty 1 year

   Tip-to-Tip Distance

This JMI Large Universal Wheeley Bar with 10" wheel and pull handle upgrade gives you an easy way to roll your very heavy tripod- or pier-mounted and assembled 10" through 14" telescope from garage to patio or driveway, even over rough, soft, or uneven ground. You don’t have to take the telescope out in a number of heavy individual pieces and struggle to lift and assemble it in the dark. Simply roll your fully assembled telescope from indoors to outside. It also lets you travel to dark sky observing sites, assemble your scope conveniently near where your car is parked, then move the assembled scope to the actual observing site away from the car.

The 10" wheels are an improvement in maneuverability over the 2-3/8" wheels (or even the upgraded 5" wheels) that normally come with the JMI Medium and Large Universal Wheeley Bar tripod transports if you have to move your scope over rough terrain. The standard 2-3/8" hard rubber wheels are fine for moving on smooth surfaces such as patios and driveways. The larger 5" polyurethane wheel upgrade makes it easier to move your scope across soft grass, dirt, and gravel, or uneven hard surfaces such as flagstone paving, as well as smooth surfaces. However, if you regularly must move your scope over very rough and uneven surfaces, or if you often travel to new dark sky sites where you’re unfamiliar with the type of terrain you might encounter, the larger wheel diameter and footprint of this six wheel set provide a margin of maneuvering ease and safety that you’ll readily appreciate.

This Wheeley Bar is designed to work primarily with the following telescopes:

ATS Portable Pier mount (depending on weight of telescope and configuration of pier legs);

Celestron C14, CI-700 mount, all CGE scopes and mount;

Meade LX200 12" and 14" (Ritchey-Chrétien, GPS and non-GPS) with giant field tripod, LXD700 and 750 mounts, RCX400 10" through 14";

Mountain Instruments MI-8P mount; and

Particle Wave Technologies Monolith Pier mount.

The tips of your telescope tripod’s legs fit into 2.75" diameter receptacles at the ends of the three arms of the Wheeley Bar’s sturdy painted steel tripod base. The Wheeley Bar adjusts to fit a tripod leg tip-to-tip distance of 48" to 56", so even telescope tripods not listed above that adjust to those dimensions can also be used. For more details, click on the “tip-to-tip distance" icon above. Even with the large 10" wheels, the Wheeley Bar design only raises your telescope about 4" above ground level. Nevertheless, the Wheeley Bar is designed to be used with the telescope tripod legs fully retracted to keep the center of gravity low and to allow the telescope to be moved through doorways more easily. Locking wheels and leveling screws on the Wheeley Bar allow you to move, lock, and level the complete telescope assembly with ease. Due to the extra weight of the telescopes typically used with this Large Wheeley Bar, extra bracing is added between the three legs of the Wheeley Bar to add strength and rigidity to the assembly. This adds stability to the scope by keeping the legs from twisting if one wheel hangs up temporarily on an uneven surface.

The front wheel pull handle and six large 10" diameter pneumatic wheels on this Wheeley Bar let you maneuver with ease over rough but soft surfaces such as grass, dirt, and gravel, as well as on uneven hard surfaces such as flagstone paving. The wheels are set up with two to each Wheeley Bar leg to distribute the weight of the scope evenly over three large tire footprints in soft terrain. A dual inboard wheel design on the rear wheels maintains a narrow profile to make it easy to maneuver through doorways. The pull handle locks the dual front wheels when not in use. The photo above shows the Wheeley Bar with an optional battery pack and battery pack holder (#BPTRAY). The 10" wheels and pull handle are also available separately (#WB10) to upgrade those existing standard Wheeley Bars that use bolt-on 2-3/8" diameter hard rubber wheels.

A word of warning. Care should be used when moving the complete system, even on smooth surfaces. Be certain the tripod legs are fully and firmly inserted into the Wheeley Bar’s leg receptacles. Move the system using the pull handle. If extra help is needed in soft or particularly rough terrain, the assistant should pull or push the system only by gripping the telescope tripod below the center of gravity, particularly with a heavy scope mounted on the Wheeley Bar. Do not push the top of the scope to get it moving, particularly on soft or uneven surfaces. Astronomics and JMI are not responsible for incorrect loading or operation.