Grounding

[Phil-]

How to add a protective castor to your van chassis - Practical Caravan

This protective castor for van chassis project gives you a great way of protecting your caravan when moving in and out of a narrow driveway.

www.practicalcaravan.com

Any thoughts, has anyone fitted castors

 

[birdman101]

Fitted some on our first Caravan in 1973 and also an eye to hook a winch in.We had to get our caravan up a very steep slope up to the house. Later moved house so all other caravans since have not needed it.

 

[RogerL]

Castors may not help - it'll depend on the length and angle of the slope.

To get out from our shared drive to the public road we have to cross a 1m wide pavement which is quite sloped - for most of my time caravanning we just used to go very slowly and allow the bottom flange of the chassis to slide along the tarmac -although with my present car I can use the air suspension to lift/drop the car which lifts/drops the caravan A-frame and avoids the sliding - castors would only protect the part where the castors are!

 

[GUMPY]

Anytime I have this type of problem I just detach the van from the car, lower the height of the jockey wheel, which raises the back end and then put the van in position using the motor mover.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Whilst I appreciate some people may have a "grounding" issue and when it does happen them its obviously annoying or potentially damaging. Using a good "Banksman" should make the driver aware of the issue before it actually occurs, and prevention is always better than cure.

Hower there will be a few people whose access does present this problem, and they need a solution to prevent grounding.

My immediate impression is the castor as illustrated rather compromises the foot of the steady. Secondly by making the steady the fixing point for the caster, means if it does come into contact with the road/driveway and becasue of the angles of the surfaces, it will apply a very considerable force to the steady probably far in excess of the the steadys normal expected loads and my damage the caravans structure.

And using a castor with such a small diameter, the wheel is likely to get stuck and drag with relatively small stones.

I'm sure a well placed short scaffold board or ramp would be a better solution. Or consider a caravan mover or plenty of helpers to manually push the caravan.

 

[birdman101]

Mine were industrial casters fitted direct to the Steel B&B welded chassis in those days ,before Alko took them over

 

[Jcloughie]

Not for me. The castors are then going to catch the road when traveling ie. Speed bumps. This would cause shock to the steady mounting points and possible eventual damage.

Not cheap, but the best solution is to use a motor mover. This way the jocky wheel can be lowered to give clearance.

John

 

[birdman101]

Not for me. The castors are then going to catch the road when traveling ie. Speed bumps. This would cause shock to the steady mounting points and possible eventual damage.

Not cheap, but the best solution is to use a motor mover. This way the jocky wheel can be lowered to give clearance.

John

I think from memory when I did ours in the 1970’s they had not invented movers, or I think speed bumps .

 

[Hutch]

I think from memory when I did ours in the 1970’s they had not invented movers, or I think speed bumps .

Wow, Where is my Anorak, Sleeping Policemen

 

[JTQ]

Whilst the castor(s) might fend of ripping the van, they if doing the job will take some loads, these could in the scale of steady load ratings be very high.
Way better avoid the need, by not grounding, using the main axle not the steadies to carry the van's weight.
I use some steel channel lengths to bridge our lane side gullies.
Pre folding these up I used some planks, stacked to fill the gullies.