Grey13 said:
Prof - reasonable point. But having used my motor-mover (Powertouch) a lot and at least once tried to drive off after disconnecting power but not disengaging the drive...well the wheels simply do not turn. I would imagine if you lost power on a slope the van would just sit there. In any case I do have my rubber chocks handy when "mounting" my drive!
Can I just give you a scenario from a real life experience that a customer had. His caravan was stored in a shed at the top of of a hill with steep concrete trackway. The caravan had been in store for about 2 months when the owner was keen to demonstrate the mover to some friends, so he said he would drive the caravan down and back up the up the slope. He engaged the mover and it was fine on the flat in side the shed.so he drove to to the start of the slope the. The jockey wheel started down but when he got the main wheels to start of the slope the caravan started to turn to the left and despite stopping the drive signal the caravan continued to swing until the jockey wheel dropped off the edge of the road way and into a drainage ditch. The caravan was precariously perched on the edge of the concrete road, and sideways across the track effectively blocking the track to the shed. Major embarrassment all round and clean trousers needed by some.
What had happened was the the right tyre has a slow puncture, which meant the quality of the movers grip was diminished on the RH side It was OK on the flat but could not control the the tyre when on the slope.
Having had time to get over the shock of what had just happened, he worked out what had happened and re inflated the tyres to the correct pressure. He reckoned on using the mover to reverse teh caravan a little whilst his friends tried to lift the nose of the caravan back up, Next problem was the battery was struggling with the power demand to start pulling the van up the hill.
We were called to check the mover after the event, and it was perfect, it was all about proper maintenance of the the caravan, and its services.
Moral of the story always check your tyre pressure and keep the battery properly charged, and have chocks at the ready something that the customer does every time now..