Difficult manouvere

[whitetop]

I have recently moved to a house in a narrow street and I had a terrible job getting the van into the driveway, the angle was very tight. I have about 8" either side. Added to that there is a slight gradient to get up and a kerb.

I was thinking about something like a Mr Shifta to make it easier.

Do you think it would do the job. I will have a helper to push so I only really need the mover for the manouvering.

Do these things work on gradients.

Anyone in Ayr that could give me a demo

Thanks....

 

[rayc]

David, I can only speak personally of using a Shifta 2 on my sloping concrere drive. There was sufficient grunt to move the van frontwards up the slope and to reverse it back down when it was dry. The problem came in the wet when there was a real possibility of the van pulling me and the Shifta down the drive with the Shifta wheels just sliding across the surface. Ray

 

[whitetop]

Thanks Ray.

The drive is flat, its just the entry / exit that has the gradient and that is about 12" long and rises about 6".

Its a bit like a speed hump.

From your answer, it seems it will do. Think I might go and sweet talk a dealer into a loan of one for a test drive

Thanks again..........david

 

[rayc]

David, They appear regularly on e bay. If you are considering new I would suggest that for a few hundred pounds extra you get a fixed mover from Powrewheel. I have used both and in addition a Powrwheel which replaced the jockey wheel, and there really is no contest.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello David,

Based on the information I your last posting it seems that you have a gradient of 1in 2 (6" in 12") although this is only a short hill, I would not expect a normal road wheel driven motor mover to cope with that, yet alone an 'A' frame device.

I believe that Mr Shifta will demonstrate at customers homes, so it might be worth a demo, but done be surprised if they decline because of the steepness of your slope.

 

[Icemaker]

The mr shifta company came to my home to demonstrate the unit quite a few years ago, unfortunately the unit was just not capable of moving my coachman pastiche 520/4 up the low kerbstone and on to my drive which has a fairly gentle upward slope, the demonstrater tried everything to get the van on which in the end resulted in the shifta being ripped out of his hand and turning over on to one wheel before my hitch head stopped it going any further, it was pretty scary to watch.

We eventually purchased a powerwheel mover and this had no problems what so ever and is still in regular use fitted to my sisters van.

My new van has a reich mover fitted and allthough it is able to do everything i require it is not as confidence inspiring as the powerwheel, the soft start isnt really that soft and the unit is just too low to the ground, i have many scratch marks under it where it has caught on speed bumps.

I would personally recomend that you look at the fixed type of mover, as has been said thiere are loads of mr shifta's on ebay, you have to ask yourself Why ?.

 

[whitetop]

Contacted Mr Shifta about 2 weeks ago and received a card via the mail about 3 days later saying that a salesman would be in touch.........Still no contact....Now looking elsewhere

I am going to dig out the "speed hump" at the driveway entrance.

This will help with the incline but not he tight turn.

Thanks for all answers....David

 

[AnnM1]

David, before you start digging anything out (speed humps, etc.) make sure they are on your land and not part of the 'highway'. The man from the council will be out like a ton of bricks if not and you might be landed with a hefty bill for replacement.

Now to your question. We have a Powrtouch motormover fitted. Very easy to use and, although more expensive than the Mr Shifter, it does come with a 'no quibble' 5-year guarantee. Wouldn't be without ours.

Hitching up is no problem as you take the van to car, and it can get you off the soggiest of pitches.

 

[VonRyan]

Hi David,

I had a Rhyno mover fitted 4 weeks ago at

 

[whitetop]

Thanks Ann, but not to worry.

The "speed hump" is the boundary to my drive and is not the councils.

I will have to be careful about the digging out so as not to spoil the pavement, although anything would be an improvement.

To Rob.........I will have look at this one.

Thanks to all who replied. At least you did, unlike Mr Shifta

 

[Steve L]

Hi David.

We use a second hand Motormover ET (extra torque)to move our 20 foot twin axle van under simlar conditions. It works a lot better than a Mr Shifter as it fits in the jockey wheel clamp. I fitted a second clamp to our A frame as the original jockey wheel is an integral with the hitch type. This also saves having to wind the two front steadies down to remove the motormover.

While the chassis mounted movers are good, if you only need one specific move and don't need to use the mover out on site then a portable unit would be best.

One word of caution with the remote control built in movers is that, they might not react quick enough to cope with 8" of free space at the side of the van, where as a manual steer motormover is a lot more sensative as you control it.

Mine was the best

 

[KiwiPete]

Actually the remote controlled motor movers, well the Powrtouch anyway, are extremely safe to use because as soon as you remove your fingers from the buttons on the control unit the caravan immediately stops, the units acting as a brake. In fact it is a feature that is particularly useful on a slope.