I've worked out that the best option to get my caravan into the drive is using a manual winch (not possible to reverse in, bit of an incline, can't afford a proper mover, don't want to rely on battery power and have to do it on my own). I've not used winches before and I'd be really grateful for some advice.
I'm looking at the Fulton T3205 hand winch which has enough pulling power. (http://www.trailertek.com/acatalog/Hand_Winches.html#aWIN3200)
1st question - presumably I need to mount the winch on something solid ? Or can the cable be hooked into a post and the winch just held up by the cable?? I was thinking of sinking a scaffold pole into concrete to attach to? I can't find much on the web.
2nd question - I need to attach the cable to the caravan tow-hitch - whats the best way to do this? I can't find a product on line anywhere - see there's there are suitable things that come with some of the kits but not separately. Any ideas?
The winch really needs to be securely anchored. You won't be able to turn the handle very well at all on a loose fit.
Get a spare towball and bolt a plate underneath to "pinch" the cable to the ball.
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Firstly that winch is only rated to 408kg
""Dutton Lainson DL900A winch 900lb./408kg.""
and I suspect your van weighs a bit more than that!
Secondly, the old way of doing it was to mount the winch on a plate with a ball on it, so that it went into the hitch on the van, and the cable went to something solid elsewhere. In your situation, say an eyelet mounted securely to a wall, or into the ground.
If you can't reverse your van ito your drive, am I right in thinking you intend to winch it into the drive forwards? IF this is the case, how are you going to get the van back out of your drive backwards under full control?
The reason I ask this is, if you're able to turn the van around in your drive, is it possible for you to drive up into the drive hitched to the car then unhith the van and move it over enough to allow the car to pass in order to get the car back off the drive again. I'm able to do this as long as my neighbours are'nt parked in the way.
As far as anchoring your winch is concerned, concreting a scaffold tube or, better still, a piece of RSJ into the ground & anchoring the winch to this would be far better than anchoring it to a wall, you'd need a serious wall to withstand the dead pull of winching a caravan up a slope & slowly allowing it to go back down the slope again when you're ready to use the van. The thought of a wall failing & relessing the cravan to gravity isn't nice.
I've got a 4'6" length of RSJ concreted 3'0" into my flower border & my caravan sits hitch to a towball bolted to this RSJ with the nuts & bolts welded as an extra security measure, perhaps it's work for you as well as a winch anchor.
The winch I'm looking at is the Fulton T3205 (its lower down the page on the link I posted) rated at 1451KG - over-spec for my current 1000KG but there is the slope to contend with.
Basilbrush - my situation is similar - I've worked out that I can drive in, chock the caravan and drive to the side leaving space to winch the caravan in. To get it out - its going to be a bit of a faff but I am hoping that I can winch it down the drive into the road then chock one wheel to turn it. The winch I'm looking at is forward and reverse with a brake. None of this is ideal but I need to do it on my own and the main thing is that I have control on the caravan. (On flat ground I can move it by hand so the sloping drive and road at my new place are a bit of a pain)
The plate on the hitch makes a lot of sense - Towsure do a plate that looks like the right thing - would this do the job????...http://www.towsure.com/product/Winch_Mounting_Plate. Although I wonder if the 10" handle of the winch might not be clear of the A-frame??
I made up a plate with ball and hand winch similar to the Towsure item, did the job untill I got a mover, I had a piece of scaffold with cross plate welded to it and sunk that into the ground in my garden with just about 8 inches above ground and a "U" bolt fitted to the top. I could get my van into it`s place on my own. I still have it in reserve.
I would be inclined to have a look at front mounted towbars. You can fit drop plates on them to get the hitch low enough to reverse up the driveway without grounding the rear of the caravan and you can turn very tight corners whilst keeping the caravan under control. See Watling Engineers
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Hi Redorb,you should look at the adds on this site, or eBay you may find a big foot mover that attaches to the jockey wheel, you should be able to pick one up for £100-£200.
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Birder - I looked at these - looks interesting although the claim that you can see where you are going isn't entirely true : ) The issue I would have is that my car may only have a year of life left in it so it wouldn't make financial sense (especially as they seem to be different for different vehicles). It is something that I would consider in the future though but I'd try one out first.
John - I've been looking at various movers - some of the jockey wheel versions have mixed reviews on slopes (esp. in the wet). The bigfoot seems better than others but prices I've found have been 200-300+. I think i prefer the winch to avoid having to worry about batteries.
Vetracto - thanks, I think I'm now happy that this should work.
Thanks all for the great input - I'll place my orders later today and I'll post back once I'm set up to let ou know how I got on : )
I used to do this a few years ago. My front garden is paved all over. I drilled about 4 holes in various places, leading to where I wanted the caravan to finish and into those holes I put coach bolts.
Attached the winch to each coach bolt in turn until the van was in position.
Not as easy as the mover I now have, but it did the job
Quote: Originally posted by Redorb on 26/5/2012
Thanks for your replies.
The winch I'm looking at is the Fulton T3205 (its lower down the page on the link I posted) rated at 1451KG - over-spec for my current 1000KG but there is the slope to contend with.
I think that with this winch far from being "over-spec" as you say you are way under-specified, especially when you consider that you have a slope to deal with. My trailer tent is half the weight of your caravan and it is easy to move on a smooth, level surface. However as soon as you throw in a bit of gradient it very quickly becomes completely unmanageable.
I would say you need a 3000kg winch minimum.
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Those who talk don't know.
Those who know don't talk.
You're not looking for a winch to dangle the 'van in the air. If you were you would need a winch rated to the weight of the 'van (and with a suitable safety margin if you intended to stand underneath!!)..
If you're just wanting to drag it up a slope and hold it there you need to know the steepest angle of slope (rather than the average angle), and some simple maths to resovle the maximum tension in the system. It can be treated as an (almost frictionless) inclined plane assuming the winch strap or cable is pulling parallel to that angle.
Here my memory fades... I'm sure someone will jump in with the right equation. You need the angle of slope, the mass of the van and a SINE equation I think.
Be careful if you intend using the winch to lower the van downhill on most the ratchet only works in the pulling mode and it is very difficult let out cable under control.
Equipment
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The advice I had on winch capacity was varied - some said it had to be rated over the weight of the caravan - others said it could be less as the van is on wheels and you are not lifting it. In the end I went with the former which Towsure gave.
I bought a Fulton T3205 from Trailertek with a 18m cable.
+ a winch mounting plate from Towsure (http://www.towsure.com/product/Winch_Mounting_Plate)
The cable is rated at 4T which is more than I needed but its the only one Trailertek do at that length.
I used a 6 foot metal post which I sledged in until it had 2 ft or so poking out - dug down a bit and concreted around the top - that shouldn't go anywhere : )
The caravan is slightly lighter than I thought at 900KG.
Method
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I parked the caravan at the bottom of the drive (just onto the edge of the pavement) - side on - chocked the wheels, unhitched it and attached the mounting plate/winch and cable (the latter looped around the post at the top of the drive).
As I wound, the winch took the weight and pulled the A-frame round to point up the drive. The back end nearly grounded on the pavement at the start but with the winch taking the strain I could easily lower the jockey wheel. I found that I had some control of the caravan by leaning on the A-frame as I wound it in. This winch has 2 gears but the quickest one was too tough to wind but I wasn't unhappy with the time it took on the other other gear.
Issues
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* The winch is much heavier than I expected and it is a bit awkward as it pulls the plate down but as you start winding the cable in, the caravan moves with ease. It would be much easier without this problem as half the battle was grappling with winch rather than the work of winding the handle - I am thinking of perhaps using a strap to hold the winch up with - perhaps even putting it round my shoulders.
It was quite hard work but you can go at your own pace and take a breather as you need it and the van moved with relative ease (although for lazy people or those whose health restricts their exertion it may not be the best solution). I am not sure I would want a less powerful winch.
The cable I bought fills the drum almost completely - I couldn't get it to roll in evenly and I had to chock the van twice and roll the cable out a bit to re-organise it on the drum. There may be a knack to this which I will get but in retrospect I should have gone elsewhere for a thinner cable which would mean that this issue wouldn't arise.
I would have liked to have got the arse end another couple of feet towards the wall but I think I could have adjusted my starting position for that.
Conclusion
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For a first attempt I am well pleased - I can now confidently can get the van in on my own - which was what I needed.
The next test will be getting the thing out again...in theory it should be easy enough but it'll be a couple of weeks before I get to test it : )
Redorb, when i used to have a winch I used it the otherway around. The winch was fitted to the ground post and the connection to the caravan was via an old 50mm towball shackled to the cable. By mounting the winch on the post with a pulley close to the ground through which the cable passed the point of effort on the post was very close to the ground and therefore the force on the post was minimised. Having the winch in a fixed position I found that the cable wound on to the drum fairly well but occasionally it still pulled itself into the previous winding layer. I'm not sure about your circumstances but I found it easier to see what was happening by being away from the caravan. As per Tango's comment above the reverse movement was more tricky and needed a judicious use of the caravan brake plus another person to 'lean' heavily on the caravan to get it to turn when required. The other problem is the nature of the brakes design that means they don't work to good if there is tension on the hitch head and the caravan is travelling backwards.
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