WHEEL OVERWINTERING

[wellheads]

Hi
I have just put my winterwheels on and as i suffer from arthritis i find jacking the van and liting the wheels off to put the stands on is getting extremely hard.
A few years ago i reads about curved supports that were the shape of the lower half of the tyre.
you drove onto them or jacked up and lowered onto them and they supported the wheels and kept them from getting a flat spot on the bottom of the tyre.
Have any of you good folks out there seen these and better still know who sells them

regards
david harrison

 

[Chris_Hyde_Cheshire.]

Hi David, I know the type you mean, you often see them in Classic Car magazines but I think places such as -
Sealey: - www.sealey.co.uk & machine Mart: -www.machinemart.co.uk sell them.
Hope this helps......

 

[forestgump]

hi david this curve only works if you have the right tyre sizeas some cover 12 to 14 inch wheels i cant see the beeing a good fit .Just move van back and forth to stop the same spot on tyre i messed around with winter wheels last year .I will use van over winter but i will put it on axle stands if need be just take the presure of tyres i found the diffrence in hight for winter wheels and 15 wheels to mutch messing about.

 

[doublecouple]

Towsure sell the item you want plastic curve support for about £12, but why not buy yourself axle stands and leave the caravan on them over winter. NO need to take your wheels off as you would have to torque up the nuts and check again after half hour driving...a lot of trouble

 

[wellheads]

Thanks for the feedback, i did think of axle stands but cant put them on the axle as the motor mover is fastened across it and would be damaged and have been advised not to put them on the chassis

 

[TD42]

I cannot see how a motor mover would prevent you from using axle stands? The mover is usually clamped to the chassis, & is not attached to the axle at all. I have a mover fitted & use axle stands with no problem.Using axle stands not only saves the tyres but allows the suspension to relax as well.But be sure that your insurance allows you to remove the wheels though as some insist on a wheel clamp being fitted under all circumstances

 

[wellheads]

Thanks
i will have a look and try what you sugest

 

[forestgump]

you can still use axle stands with mover leave whels on just a inch off ground to look like wheels on floor and use wheel clamp.

 

[TD42]

or remove one wheel & clamp the other.Or do as I did & invest in a JSB hublock. http://www.jsbhublock.co.uk/3.html

 

[Dustydog]

Hi David
Sorry to hear the old arthritis is making life hard for you.
Where do you live. maybe there's a friendly fellow caravanner who could spend a bit of time and fit and remove the winter wheels for you?

 

[Steve L]

Hi David.
I can empathise on the debilitation of arthritis, I've had both shoulders and elbows operated on over the last 4 years. And now my backs gone west with a compressed disc probably as a result of being knocked off my push bike by a hit and run driver.

However.

I think the tyre formers are not a bad idea but unless you move the van say monthly to elieviate the tyre having the same pressure points exerted on it, thye will be of limited use. What about using an airbag jack to lift the van and put it on axle stands? Then you could also leave the wheels on the van but cover them with awheelie bin bag to limit ultra violet degregation of the tyres.

I'm afraid there's no easy way of relaxing the tyres without all the hassle of taking the wheels off. I must admit that as we are fulltiming in our van, we don't relax our tyres and as we only move 20 miles between sites twice a year at persent, I am not too concerned. However, once we go back to touring I will replace the tyres as a safety precaution as a blowout on the motorway at 60Mph can be far more devestating than a flat tyre at 40Mph on a normal road. Thats not to say that either are any les trivial or problematic, but for the distance we travel, it is worth the risk at present.

As a matter of routine, I have replaced my caravan tyres every three years regardless of apparent visual condition as you can't see how much the internal structure has been compromised.