I know movers have been discussed before (I've read some by doing a forum search) but I need some advice here. I'm very good at reversing but we live at the end of a cul de sac with a driveway on an uphill slope. Depending on where neighbours are parked (specially if arrive back late) it's really hard to get in and if I can't get it in there's nowhere else it can be left..! So we reckon we really need a mover.
Does anyone use one of the cheaper jockey wheel type ones - will it push up a bit of a slope? (It's only a 850kg old van and slope isn't mega steep, but a definite slope that makes pushing it up impossible.) I know they don't grip well on grass etc but I'm happy to reverse on site, it's only for our tarmac road and monoblock drive.
I've seen bigfoot, eurotech and purpleline on ebay. Anyone got any of these? Some look electric and some mechanical. Anyone got a mechanical one, they any good?
I know you'll all want to recommend normal quality ones but cost of a 'proper' one is out the question. (We just can't afford it and besides it's only a £650 van!)
dont bother with the purpleline one.got mine with my caravan which is only 650kg but no good on a slope.sold it on ebay for £100 and put it towards a powertouch mover which cost me £720 fitted and you can pay the balance over 6months intrest free
great, that's kinda what i guessed. thanks for advice.
been doing some more thinking on my problem and think I've got another solution though (might also help others like me...)
I'm gonna try a 12v winch and mount it on the axle. I'll also drill an anchor point into the top of my driveway to hook the cable on to pull it up. Reckon for someone who only needs to move it up a drive this is a cheap solution..
Hi andy1020, I had the bigfoot mover jockey wheel type, my drive sound same as yours, it did struggle at times when wet,overcame this by lowering the caravan weight onto the nose, Have fitted mover now, and big foot mover is spare,bought it 4 years ago and was £50 less than your van, IF your location is near my location,could arrange for you to test it on your van, to see if that is the type that of mover for you.hope this helps
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great, that's kinda what i guessed. thanks for advice.
been doing some more thinking on my problem and think I've got another solution though (might also help others like me...)
I'm gonna try a 12v winch and mount it on the axle. I'll also drill an anchor point into the top of my driveway to hook the cable on to pull it up. Reckon for someone who only needs to move it up a drive this is a cheap solution..
thanks again folks,
Andy.
Hi Andy, seem to remember a post on here a few months ago, with that very same thought, there were a kinds of implications as regards to the chassis, and it only deing designed to be pulled in the forward direction, there was also a mention of pulling on the axles, and spare wheel carriers,? but cant remember it all, maybe post new topic on winching caravan, and see what advice and info. given.
------------- If everything runs smoothly then I must have done something wrong
If in Doubt Check it Out.
I recently bought a Mr Shifta off ebay. It works very well on my little caravan, 650kg max weight. I only have to use it to get off the road, up the dropped kerb and onto the drive - reversing the caravan in. Not hard once you get used to it and certainly takes all the push and shove out of it.
I also have problems with others parking as I live near a school, so I have to time my journey home to be outside of school hours, or stop and wait somewhere for the road to clear before I even try to get in. Cars park right up to the edge of the dropped kerb where it drops to street level, which would be ok if I had a teardrop caravan and a smart car!
Purpleline enduro works great, I did think about getting a hitch mover but, No good on site, too bulky yo carry.
And the main drawback is they can slip if not enough traction on the tyres. Not a situation you want to be in.
Fixed movers are so much better, Worth the money.
I even tried a winch, But the cheaper ones are not good enough, Rated at 2000kg rolling load, Any sort of slope and they slow to a crawl or actually stall out.
thanks again folks, still looking at winch idea. didn't find much doing a forum search though..
yea, don't fancy attaching it to the chassis as it's only designed to be pulled from the front but I reckon maybe fixing it to the middle of the axle between the wheels would do the job.
Cheapest decent one that might do i saw was this one:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/t2000-12v-dc-winch-907kg-pull Pull of over 900kg. (not rolling load weight but max direct pull) My van is about 850kg, maths for a 20 degree incline is 850 x sin20 and it comes out at under 300kg of direct pull add a bit for bumping up the kerb and still plenty pull.
Anyone used a winch?? (will start another thread for the winch i think..)
John - what would you want for your bigfoot mover? (might still be over budget to be honest based on what you paid new..)
brianconwy- yes it needs to be in line, but i can push the van on the level by hand to turn it and get it in line (and can't use the car to do it cos don't always have turning clearance for car and caravan) just can't push it up the drive (and still no room to then hitch up again, it's really tight)
Hi
We have a big foot,just use it at home so we can put van round the back of our house we just could'ent do it with car.we have to pull ours so far up our drive before we can hitch it on to car.The van is 900kg i put a 5 gallon drum of water in front locker to get some weight onto jockey. Sometimes the wife helps with a bit of a push if its wet but not much and i think our drive sounds steeper than yours.It would better for you has bigfoot likes to push rather than pull (more wieght on jockey)
I would'ent be with out it .Must admit if we could spare the cash i would have a remote control one fitted but at least the big foot does its job and we got it free with the van.
Hope you get it sorted without haveing to spend a load of cash.
Hi andy1020, was not actually going to sell it,was going to let you try it out to see if that was a solution for you without you going to expense of buying one, and then finding out its no good for you, if had to sell would get no where near the price paid, be lucky to get £200 now,( may think about it now as just sitting there), If you are still interested to try it out ,and you are near my location (Lanarkshire) would be happy to get something arranged, I think you would need to request my email address from webmaster,or he would send your email address to me,(privacy and security thing),with your consent, though I am not sure how to go about it, anyway let me know if interested.
------------- If everything runs smoothly then I must have done something wrong
If in Doubt Check it Out.
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Topic: cheap motor mover advice
