Prob getting long c'van on drive when wheels in rain gutter.

[c_lee]

I'd welcome any suggestions regarding this as it is something I have only done 3 times so far and have had difficulty each time.

My caravan has a body length of 5 metres and is single axle, 1100 KG max.
The road that my drive meets is, I assume, standard width for a small road on an estate allowing 2 cars to pass easily - but not if there is a car parked on the road.

I have a dropped pavement entry to my drive which is a bit higher than the road.

When the caravan approaches the drive at 90 degrees to the kerb and the wheels are at their lowest point in the roads rain gutter there is not a lot of space, front and back, between the corner steadies and the road/drive surface - it's very tight even when the caravan is not attached to the towball on the car.

Being that my drive is higher than the road, getting the van actually on the drive is an ( possibly - 1100KG ) uphill push, and hard work for just 2 people. It can be made to clear front and back by adjustment of the jockey wheel to a point where the towhitch is quite low and near to the road surface.

Ideally I would like to reverse the caravan onto the drive using the car but the low position needed of the towhitch to give clearance for the steadies front and back makes this virtually impossible due to the height of the towball on the car. The towball height is right for normal use.
It might be possible to pull the caravan onto the drive but the clearance situation, front and back, wouldn't be much better. The car would also then be trapped on the drive by the caravan.

There are 3 fixed points that will remain the same when considering getting the caravan on the drive unhitched. They allow just enough clearance of the corner steadies with fine adjustment of the jockey wheel.

Assumed here to be backing the caravan onto the drive.
They are 1) the raised height of the road surface at a distance equal to the distance between the axle when in the gutter and the front steadies due to road camber 2) the depth of the rain gutter 3) the height of the drive surface at a distance equal to the distance between the axle when in gutter and the rear steadies ( in 3 it is not just the drive surface it is also the edging stones[??] of the tarmac pavement which are not ours to move ).

It's difficult to describe but I hope that describes it adequately.

And, I really want to use the car to get the van on the drive otherwise my back will ( already is ) suffer(ing).

How do you do it?
Plank in the rain gutter - supported runners made from floorboards.
Not tried those yet.

Any ideas more than welcome.

Colin

[popuptoaster]

Not done it with caravans, but have had plenty of lowered cars, bits of wood is probably the best low tech solution, you make them up to fit your needs so that they cant slip and wont bend and just store them away somewhere for when you need them.

[60041]

The plank of wood trick is the easy option, but have you considered a motor mover? There are always plenty of second hand ones for sale in the caravan magazines. It would be a dead easy job then, just lower the jockey wheel until the rear steadies are clear of the grounding point and reverse away.

[mikealder]

Find out what the cost of dropping the pavement and replacing with tarmac between your drive and the road, quite a few have been treated this way around Blackpool by the council - Mike

[c_lee]

Originally Posted by mikealder

Find out what the cost of dropping the pavement and replacing with tarmac between your drive and the road, quite a few have been treated this way around Blackpool by the council - Mike

Hi Mike,

The dropped part of the pavement actually is tarmac, it is the edging stones between the tarmac and the drive that form the high point, only about 1/2 inch higher so a plank in the gutter may be the solution.
The stones are about 2 inches wide.

I have scrape marks from the corner steadies nearby on the drive too.

Colin

[Clifford Pope]

Fit a drop plate so that you can temporarilly move the tow ball to a higher or lower position?

[Nig]

maybe a stupid answer but i will pitch it anyway just incase it helps, could you use an electric or manual winch to pull the van up your drive
something like this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ELECTRIC-WINCH...item255f508e53

you might be able to make a cable attachment to the rear chassis, say a metal cable attached at both sides with a point in the centre for connecting if you want the van reversed in

the other problem with the kerb if i understand it right , how about some lengths of scaffold plank with chamfered ends and some different thicknes blocks screwed underneath to take up any gaps and stop the planks bending,
hope this helps

[c_lee]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Following some checks on the A frame my caravan was left with the rear of the van at the road end of my drive. I'd spun it round on the drive.

We went for our first trial outing in the caravan on the 6th of June returning yesterday and I was able to get the van off the drive without it grounding as the front of the A frame and jockey wheel were not then rising on the road camber.
On our return I pulled the caravan up the dropped pavement slope with the car and stopped once the road wheels had just got past the highest point where the drive meets the pavement.
The car was then trapped in by the caravan as it is a one car width drive.
I chocked the caravans wheels to stop any possibility of it running down the slope back onto the road and then swivelled the caravan to open up the gap between the body/A frame and the house after decoupling it from the car. I was able to open a gap big enough to reverse the car through onto our front lawn so it looks like the problem is now solved much to the relief of my back.
We will be having our drive widened to double width on the area on the lawn that I had to drive the car over.

Colin

[clam]

Originally Posted by c_lee

We will be having our drive widened to double width on the area on the lawn that I had to drive the car over.

Colin

Glad to hear you solved your issues, but you are at the same point in decision making that I reached with a similar dilema. The question you now need to ask is how much is widening the drive going to cost and I suspect you will find that you can get a motor mover for that price, if you can I think it's a no brainer personaly, time for a mover :-)

[c_lee]

Originally Posted by clam

Glad to hear you solved your issues, but you are at the same point in decision making that I reached with a similar dilema. The question you now need to ask is how much is widening the drive going to cost and I suspect you will find that you can get a motor mover for that price, if you can I think it's a no brainer personaly, time for a mover :-)

Yes, I see the point you make clam it would be cheaper, but the fact is that the drive will need to be widened in any case because the caravan now lives on the existing drive where we used to park one of the cars when both were at home.
With one of the 240's and the caravan on the existing drive and leaving room to get in our door ( which is at the side of the house ) I overhang the pavement by a few inches and I'd have no space front and rear when working on the car.
Adding a drive side extension of about 8 x 22 feet would solve that problem as there is already 2 feet of drive showing with the caravan parked so I'd have easy side and front/rear access.

I'll have to sort it soon as the two cars parked bumper to bumper on the road at the front of the house intrudes into my neighbours parking space on one side, or drive access on the other side, and my wife isn't the best parker.

We have to park one of the cars on the lawn till the job is done - probably in August, and it is already really compressing some of the ground that will have to be dug away. Oh well!

Colin