Quick question, i need a motor mover fitted to our caravan & this is my dilemma - the caravan is 18 months old, how many of you would risk a DIY installation while still inside the warranty? Fitting the mover itself is not a issue as i'm a motor vehicle technician & looks a fairly straight forward task.
I've fitted a motor mover to all 3 of the caravans we have owned, 2 of which were new vans. A couple of hours careful work and discomfort while connecting the motors while in a cramped position under the van and then wire in. I could not believe the company we purchased one of the vans from wanted £150.00 to swap the motor over.
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Fitted the mover is easy and doesn't require much in the way to void your warranty.
The brackets clamp to the chassis and not drilled etc. You need to find a wire feed point that runs with a loom thats already in place, so no need to drill holes.
Measure between the inside edges of your tyres.
Assemble the mover assembly away from the caravan and set to suit the above measurement.
Using the jockey wheel lift the front of caravan as high as possible.
Wind down the steadies for your safety
Pass the mover under the caravan and lift into place, a scissor jack will help hold it in place
Fit the clamps and slightly tighten
set the mover central and correct distance from tyres then tighten all bolts
pass the wires through a hole in caravan floor and connect to control box
Agree with the above, no issues fitting yourself, you generally need to drill a few extra holes through the floor of the van (not through the body shell) which are no more onerous that the many holes already in the floor for distributing cables, pipework etc. Mover itself simply clamps to the chassis and can be easily removed if really necessary.
Likewise I did mine with no issues. I can't see how it would invalidate any warranty cover by drilling sensibly through the floor, (don't under any reason make a hole in the side-wall), I utilised a handy vent cover close bye instead.
Tip:- Try to keep the power supply leads from the controller board to each motor the same length as it helps keep both motors running at the same speed and therefore straight line movement is better.
Dave
------------- Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.
Thanks also for the input regarding the actual fitting, done a bit of research already & as i'm an vehicle technician the fitting bit holds no issues at all, as i've said it was just the warranty issue i was more concerned about. Now i just have to decide whether i go for new or used! Probably going down the new route i think, better in the long run.