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I've only gone and done it !!!

I have officially graduated to the ranks of Caravaner!

Sold the trailer tent and and bought myself a 5 berth 94 Swift Alouette with a Reich (I think that's how you spell it) motor mover already attached.  Absolute bargain too.

Plucked up enough courage to hitch it, tow it and use it for the weeknd - just me and the kids!  How brave was I???  

All was going real well until.... I was driving into the camping field and didn't swing quite wide enough.  I had to drag the van up a curb - not a problem with the Freelander, however the mover that is attached in front of the tyres was shunted along the chasis and basically cut a new tread in the tyre within about 20ft!  It has a little sort of pointy metal guard that just jammed itself into the rubber!  I ended up spending a couple of hours under the van (when I should have been congratulating myself on a job well done!) trying to release the mover from the tyre.  The next day, my fella came down and helped me change the wheel - I now need a new tyre!

Anyway - the point is - can I get the mover moved to behind the tyres???  I can see that if I hit a high speed bump I'm gonna have the same problem again as there is very little ground clearance between the mover and the ground!

they should be ok to go over speed bumps, we were told by the fitter that did ours that there was about an inch extra that protrudes past the chassis, which is not going to be enough to be anywhere near a speed bump.  It should be possible to move it to the back but consider that there may be reasons why it put at the front.  Ours was put at the front because of pipes at the back. Well done on getting the van, no going back now 

Oh dear!   I think you could move it.  If you have an underslung spare wheel carrier that may also need to be moved.  Reich are notorious for having poor ground clearance.

They are usually mounted in front to reduce the road dirt thrown up on them by the wheels.

But if it is behind the wheels, will that not leave you the same problem coming off a high speed bump or a kerb?   I'm trying to picture the geometry of that.

Quote: Originally posted by tykey on 25/6/2008

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The only downside is that it is sprayed by mud and water from the tyres

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Well done you. Hope you get the prob solved re the mover/tyre.

You done really well for the first time towing now you know where you went wrong I'm sure you will take corners a bit wider and slower in future.

You're right there Cath.  I was so intent on finding somewhere to put the van, that I sort of forgot I had it on the back!  It won't happen again tho and the fact that the worst that happened was a requirement for a new tyre I count myself quite lucky.  And after getting over the initial disapointment of not managing without a hitch (excuse the pun!), I was really quite proud of myself....

I suppose what I need to do is find somewhere that deals with Reich movers and ask their advice with regards to moving the mover....  Maybe it's there for a reason.  I should know if there are any pipes and the like in the way behind the tyres, the amount of time I spent under the thing, but I don't.  I'll pop out in a minute and have a look.  I know the (now unusable) spare is in the front box.

Thanks for all the advice guys...