Getting in caravan without steadies down?

[YorkieF]

I've always been told that you can't get into the caravan without the steadies being down but that info is from years ago.

Is it still current thinking or has caravan technology got better?

I'm asking because last year, I noticed quite a few people doing this while setting up and going through the current Lunar handbook, I can't find any reference to it.

Has anyone any thoughts on this?

 

[Hutch]

Hi Yorkie, Yes you can as long as you dont go behind the axle ant tip it on its Bum, as we did in dealers, last year, we were told " check out the New VIP over there, never thought to check the steadies, it went down backwards gently, but came down fwd a bit faster as we ran forwards.

Glad to see you still have the New Model of Sante Fe. :cheer:

 

[YorkieF]

Glad to see you still have the New Model of Sante Fe. :cheer:

Hahahaha :lol: I'll have to change that before the insurers find out

 

[DaveA1]

Hi Yorkie, Yes you can as long as you dont go behind the axle ant tip it on its Bum. :cheer:

Doors already behind axle on my van, starts to go down onto its bum as soon as you put your foot on the threshold

 

[ProfJohnL]

The practice is not recommended, because there is often end panel fairings that are likely to hit the ground before anything more substantial. But that aside its unlikely to do any damage to the chassis.

Of course if the caravan is coupled to the car, the the hitch coupling will be more than capable of stopping the caravan from tipping up.

 

[Thingy]

Apparently Gerry Anderson was a caravanner. It was this practice that gave him the idea of Thunderbird 3.

Seriously, why would you risk it?

 

[mandrake1]

done it with my van ,ok the door is very close to the axle and you can get in without tipping it . but a couple of steps rearward and down she goes

 

[otherclive]

During trip to Cumbria when the site we were on flooded the Xc70 demonstrated that its AWD system was working by spinning all four wheels with TC cutting in, but the van was going nowhere! So I unhitched the caravan and and sent my wife into the caravan and told her to slowly move rearwards. Then when the jockey wheel went light I activated the mover and the caravan came off the pitch beautifully. Previous attempts to move the caravan with a grip strip under the jockey wheel and the mover had come to naught. Please don't ask what noseweight I ran the XC70/Bailey at, as there is no correlation with my wife's weight!

 

[chrisn7]

The practice is not recommended, because there is often end panel fairings that are likely to hit the ground before anything more substantial. But that aside its unlikely to do any damage to the chassis.

Of course if the caravan is coupled to the car, the the hitch coupling will be more than capable of stopping the caravan from tipping up.

This reminded me that I discovered my van has a couple of fittings at the rear of the van fitted to the floor, I had not previously seen. Turned out that, in a flattened U shape, they are anti - grounding brackets to protect that vulnerable rear panel (which the CC chairman could have done with in that infamous TV programme)

 

[Raywood]

It happened at the dealers on the first two caravans we bought and caused no damage but I am not sure if newer ones might be a problem as they do not build them like they used to.