Can anyone please advise?

[angela999]

Our caravan sits in our driveway which is up a hill so pushing it back up the driveway is back breaking. So was looking at the manual hitch movers, can anyone please tell me if this is helpful?

It's reduced on the internet to £160.00 good or bad.?

Thanks Angela

 

[JTS]

Hi Angela.

A lot depends on how much of a hill you have, the surface of your drive, if its smooth you have less grip, what size(weight) your caravan is, and which hitch mover you have.

We have a slight slope to our drive so I know what you mean. Years ago we bought the top of the range hitch mover which just about coped except if it was wet and then there was no grip. We upgraded to a full mover and that works great. I would not advise anyone to buy a hitch mover unless there are no kerbs and only a very very slight gradient. Good luck.JTS

 

[mick3]

Hi Angela, an electric winch anchored at the top of the drive would be easier. Manual movers can be hard work. Loads of winches on ebay.

Cheers Mick

 

[Lutz]

You don't say why you can't push the caravan up the driveway by car, but the are are such things as removable towballs which you can attach to the anchorage point in or under the front bumper. Because they enable you to look forwards while reversing the caravan with the car, they are just about the cheapest alternative, certainly cheaper than any mover, even a manual one.

 

[angela999]

You don't say why you can't push the caravan up the driveway by car, but the are are such things as removable towballs which you can attach to the anchorage point in or under the front bumper. Because they enable you to look forwards while reversing the caravan with the car, they are just about the cheapest alternative, certainly cheaper than any mover, even a manual one.

Thanks for your comments, last time my other half tried to reverse the caravan there was a horrible smell i think from the clutch.

When we reverse the caravan the brakes engage, it is an old 1989 Adria Tourer, and we can't find a release lever, i think this is what is called.Don't think it has one !

Angela

 

[Lutz]

You don't say why you can't push the caravan up the driveway by car, but the are are such things as removable towballs which you can attach to the anchorage point in or under the front bumper. Because they enable you to look forwards while reversing the caravan with the car, they are just about the cheapest alternative, certainly cheaper than any mover, even a manual one.

A 1989 caravan must already have automatic brake release when reversing. A separate brake release lever went out in the early 70's. I'd therefore have the brakes checked if they aren't releasing properly. Don't forget that you may have to pull the caravan forwards a foot or so first in order to allow the release to work.

 

[colin(bridgend)]

If the brakes are binding in reverse could this be the reason why it is so heavy to push up the drive? I would certainly follow Lutz advice and have the brakes checked before you do untold expensive damage to the car and also irrepairable back damage to your better half. I have just had an annual service on my van for

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Angela,

The hitch mounted movers are only really safe and effective on flat smooth ground. If the surface is poor like gravel or greasy, they will loose grip. On the flat that is not much a of a safety problem, but if you are dealing with even just a modest slope, if the mover looses grip, the caravan is out of control.

I have used both systems, and on flat factory yard the hitch movers are fine, but for real caravanning, both at home and away, the main axle movers offer far more flexibility and security I terms of grip and control.

There have been some users of hitch mounted varieties that have reported incidents where the mover has lost control, and damage or injury has resulted. In most cases they go on to report that they have sold the hitch mover and moved u to the main axle variety - that is why so many are up for sale at what appears to be great savings.

 

[angela999]

Hello Angela,

The hitch mounted movers are only really safe and effective on flat smooth ground. If the surface is poor like gravel or greasy, they will loose grip. On the flat that is not much a of a safety problem, but if you are dealing with even just a modest slope, if the mover looses grip, the caravan is out of control.

I have used both systems, and on flat factory yard the hitch movers are fine, but for real caravanning, both at home and away, the main axle movers offer far more flexibility and security I terms of grip and control.

There have been some users of hitch mounted varieties that have reported incidents where the mover has lost control, and damage or injury has resulted. In most cases they go on to report that they have sold the hitch mover and moved u to the main axle variety - that is why so many are up for sale at what appears to be great savings.

Thanks again to you all, we now think it's best we don't bother and i build on my muscle power !

Angela

 

[EmmanuelMuldoon]

What about a 12V electric winch? www.bullnet.co.uk have them for around

 

[montymontfort]

Chris, how do you use the winch- where do you connect it to the van etc? We store our caravan on a field, very muddy and had to cancel Easter Weekend away because we couldn't get it off. Your idea might work for us.

Ian

 

[Lutz]

It's relatively easy to find a suitable spot to connect a winch to the front drawbar of the caravan. However, if you want to pull the caravan out backwards, you can loop a tow rope or tow strap through holes in the left and right hand chassis longitudinals and connect both ends to the winch cable. Be sure to use a tow rope or strap which is relatively long, though, so that the angle between the left and right arms is as small as possible. Otherwise, if the going is really tough, you may damage the chassis frame by pulling the longitudinals together while you are extricating the caravan.

 

[Arthur_374325272]

My brother had the same problem. If you have enough room and can swing the caravan from side to side with chocks under the wheels and move each chock in turn you will find it will move up the slope easily