Message Forums

Hi everyone!

We have 1990 Swift Allouette and need a mover fitting as it is parked in a neighbour's drive in an awkward area, and my husbands back is his weak point..

He took the van today for it's first 'outing' to have a mover fitted but the engineer said he couldn't do it as the chassis was too low and kerbs would be an issue. It was a Truma mover, which I have since googled and found does have a low chassis kit available for chassis less than 140mm, which ours isn't (my husband measured it and said it's higher than that).

I'm gutted as the mover would make life so much easier. It was gonig to cost £525 fitted, which seems reasonable for a mover althuogh is quite a large outgoing for us at the mo.

I guess I'm wondering if:

Anyone else has had the same issue with an older caravan?

Anyone has experience of the low chassis kits?

Whether we should look at a different mover and which may be more suitable for our van?

Anyone can recommend a good fitter in the (hopefully West) Yorkshire region please?

We're hoping to go away this Friday and this would have been a Godsend, as we have 2 toddlers and need all the help we can get to make life easier, loL!

Many thanks for any advice anyone can offer.

Best wishes

Lucy x

ps sorry for typos - I'm rushing as it's kids bathtime!

Thanks so much for taking the time to get that for us Jennifer!

Husband is settling child no 2 and I'm about to take child no 1 up but will get the tape measure out when we're hands free, lol.

Luce x

The chassis on my van is an Alko special, and very low so the caravan will go in a garage. It has 13" wheels and the suspension has dampers, an added complication. Powrtouch fitted a mover to ours with a special low chassis kit. No problem at all, been on and off ferries and the channel tunnel.

Just checked mine, chassis depth is just 70mm and chassis/ ground clearance is 220mm.

Ooooooh that explains it then ! We have a Reich Mover and cannot get the yellow levelling ramp in front of the wheels as the mover is so low. This means we always have to reverse up the ramps. Which means the caravan reverse brake thingummyjig comes into play ... but I guess it can't roll up the ramp ! We put chocks on both sides of the other wheel too !  Hmmmm....

Does anyone else have this situation or are we just being dimwits ? 

cant you just put the levelling ramp behind the wheels and use the mover to push it up? that way the brake should not come on.

i have reich movers fitted to my van and they are fitted higher than many other makes that i have seen fitted to other vans on sites

John

I may be wrong ... but I thought the brake gizmo disengaged the brakes when you reverse the caravan whether you use the motor mover or the car to reverse it up the ramp. Hence it's better to pull the caravan up the ramps, which we can't do as the motor mover is too low and in front of the wheels. Obviously this is only a problem when the caravan is leaning to one side hence the need for levelling !! When the caravan is level there is lots of room for a ramp..... !

Thinking about it, this is probably a universal problem if the movers are located at the front and are a bit low, not just a Reich problem. But if they are fixed behind the wheels then I presume the jacking points and spare wheel carrier are compromised !

Sorry I seem to have hijacked this thread.

Yeah I guess so. We reverse up using the car so it doesn't slip on the ramps at all. I've forgotten where I was going with this now........  Something about having no brakes at the end of the levelling process I guess.... ??!! But the caravan would roll forwards down the ramp so it should be ok as long as chocks are all round ! 

Thanks anyway and sorry again for hijacking your thread lucyeff !

Shirley

Quote: Originally posted by shirl250 on 18/8/2009

---

I may be wrong ... but I thought the brake gizmo disengaged the brakes when you reverse the caravan whether you use the motor mover or the car to reverse it up the ramp. Hence it's better to pull the caravan up the ramps, which we can't do as the motor mover is too low and in front of the wheels. Obviously this is only a problem when the caravan is leaning to one side hence the need for levelling !! When the caravan is level there is lots of room for a ramp..... !

Thinking about it, this is probably a universal problem if the movers are located at the front and are a bit low, not just a Reich problem. But if they are fixed behind the wheels then I presume the jacking points and spare wheel carrier are compromised !

Sorry I seem to have hijacked this thread.

 

 

Post last edited on 18/08/2009 11:34:35

---

If you use the car to reverse the van, the brakes will come on if going up a hill as the hitch compresses and pulls the brakes on, then override will click them off again.

If you use a motor mover, the brakes are not applied and the van will reverse up the ramp.

Its not a universal problem because our mover is located in front of the wheels and ours will romp up the leveller. I use one that comes with a wheel chock that locks into the leveller.