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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
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    Default Moving a caravan in a back yard

    Need some advice please.

    We have an Adria Altea Caravan which is single axle and around 1000 kg fully loaded. The ball weight is 68 kg.

    I have to move the caravan about 8 metres in a straight line across a relative flat grassed yard before I can hook it up to the car. The reason for this is that the yard is an L shape and I need to pull the van up and turn it (the easy part) before I can hook it onto the car.

    I bought a rachet jockey wheel but it is useless. Due to the grass and the light ball weight, the jockey wheel just spins or digs in. Even with a board under it, it still spins. I have looked at the motorised movers but they cost a lot of money and its not viable for the amount of time we use the van. At the moment 2 of us push the van into position and push it back out again but its a strain on the back as you get older.

    I was thinking about cementing a pole into the ground behind the van and another 8 metres in front of it so I could connect a pulley system between the post and van to move it back and forwards. A rachet hand winch would also work but they make it a slow process. Also, with a pulley I can also use rope rather than wire (less damage if it snaps as I have one snap on a boat winch).

    What sort of pulley system would I need to move the van with the least amount of effort? If there are better ideas I would like to hear them.

    Thanks
    The Pen is mightier than the Sword

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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2001
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    Langwarrin, Victoria, Australia
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    Default

    Conventional wisdom says ball weight should be around 10 percent of van weight.

    If you increase ball weight, does the ratchet wheel work ?

    I assume its pneumatic rather than solid ? Perhaps a more aggressive tyre ?

    My father used a ratchet wheel on grass for years... 18 foot 1973 Capricorn .. 100kg+ ball weight.
    Glenn Visca

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Melbourne
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    Default

    How did the van get into that position to start with? it may be helpful to know so a solution can be worked out of how to get it out.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    Katoomba NSW
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by nrb View Post
    How did the van get into that position to start with?
    Quote Originally Posted by plantagenon View Post
    At the moment 2 of us push the van into position and push it back out again but its a strain on the back as you get older.
    Built: a Bench,a Desk,an Archery Display,

    Those were the droids I was looking for.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    Ipswich QLD
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    68
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    1,996

    Default

    Electric 4x4 whinch

    Sand tracks

    plywood boards/planks

    or a set of skis

  6. #6
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    Nov 2010
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    Brisbane
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn.Visca View Post
    Conventional wisdom says ball weight should be around 10 percent of van weight.

    If you increase ball weight, does the ratchet wheel work ?

    I assume its pneumatic rather than solid ? Perhaps a more aggressive tyre ?

    My father used a ratchet wheel on grass for years... 18 foot 1973 Capricorn .. 100kg+ ball weight.
    The van is a European make and has a light ball weight so that the smaller cars used in the UK and Europe can tow it. The ball weight comes up to around 90kg when the boot is loaded but that is still too light for the rachet wheel to work without slipping. Cant stand on the draw bar as it has a fibreglass cover over it that would break. A 100+ kg ball weight on a van would work as an 18 ft van would probably have 140+ ball weight if a single axle. Camex have a double wheel rachet jockey wheel that might work but unforunately they wont take it back if it doesnt work so there is no room to try it and find it doesnt work.
    The Pen is mightier than the Sword

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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    Darlington Point
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    31

    Default

    Do you have a ride on?

  8. #8
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    Oct 2012
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    Mackay
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    Default

    keep it simple. a fixed point - this could be a point concreted in to the ground or a removable grass/sand anchor/ with a single pulley fitted to it. then a rope running to a second double pulley fixed to the van, then back to the first pulley back to the second if you get the drift. web rope is the best. but don't use ski rope a it will stretch.
    So as you walk across the yard with the rope it pulls the van by reducing the distance between the pullies. the effort needed is 1 in 3 I think. had the simular setup pull 9 tonne plus trucks out of bogs with land rover 4x4s

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Helensburgh
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    618

    Default

    Set up a post and attach a pulley (snatch block) Snatch Blocks | ARB 4x4 Accessories to it and run a rope to the van through the pulley. Make the rope as long as it needs to be to allow a car to be hooked to the free end and pull the van with the car. The van should not need much if any guidance as it will head straight for the pulley and the car does all the work, its position is not really that important in relation to the pulley. You could put it back into position that way utilising a rear pulley, attach the rope to the van, through the rear pulley, under the van, through the front pulley, free end to the car. A dual pulley system would halve the load on the rope but a good woven rope should do it ok. To guide the van going backwards I would attach a shackle to the tow ball/bar of the van and when running the rope under the van it goes through the shackle. The van has no choice except to steer straight with that system.
    CHRIS

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Peakhurst
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    Default

    What you want is something like this. Has a good mechanical advantage.

    Vintage Industrial Rustic Large Farm Block Tackle Pulley SET BAR MAN Shed in Orange, NSW | eBay
    Steve

    Live while you're alive and sleep when you're dead

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    Brisbane
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    Default

    There are a couple of issues and a few solution.
    I also have a couple of side comments.

    ball weight bieng 10% of gross weight is a thing of the past.....many of the current crop of vehicles with their inflated towing capacities are only speces for 5% of towing capacity.
    Likewise many of the current crop of vans are plated at arround 5% of groos weight.

    one of the big issues with moving vans and trailers arround not attached to an appropriate vehicle is keeping controll of the trailer.

    ALL of the trailer moving devices apart from those that drive the actual trailer wheels suffer from the problem of weight and traction.....how much they suffer depends on what you are expecting of them......quite a few of these devices are completly useless unless on near flat high traction paved surfaces....this is a regular subject on caravan and boat forums.

    probaly THE most viable and affordable device IS the ride on mower.

    I regularly drag trailers arround my yard with my Cox ride on.....I have dirt driveways and grass hills with pretty fair slopes on them.....the box trailer less half full of dirt presents little or no problem, my smaller boat that weighs in just under 700Kg is relativly straight forward to move on my dirt driveway (a driveway that some people have trouble reversing unladen vans up).
    My larger boat that weighs in at arround 800Kg requires a little skill, throttle controll and use of weight on steeper parts of the driveway.

    My brother regularly moves fairly large trailers arround hs fairly flat dirt block with his cox, to prove a point t a friend he once dragged his nissan partol ( fully loaded) out of his shed with his cox.
    That friend now uses a cox to drag hsi twin engined cesna in and out of the hangar on his rural property.

    Just a word with the ride ons.....um....brakes are an issue.

    there are some reasonable heavy little electric trailer movers...and yeh they are expensive.

    A mate of mine round the corner has built a couple that fit in place of the jockey wheel...they have been bassed on a pair of rider mower wheels and an electric boat winch motor.

    If you are goind the pulled with a rope method...thing about doing it with a heavy boat winch.
    the heavier boat winches came with multiple reductions....1:1...2:1... 5:5 or what ever.

    the smart thing to do if youi are moving with rope is to build your anchor points well and use a safety tether so the van cant get away.

    Of course thereis also the other option...a tow bar on the front of the vehicle.....you would be surprised where you can put a trailer when it is hitched to the front of the vehicle.

    cheers
    Any thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
    Most powertools have sharp teeth.
    People are made of meat.
    Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.

  12. #12
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    Gold Coast
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  13. #13
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    Apr 2002
    Location
    Brisbane
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    Default

    The problem with electric boat winches and electric winches period is...what to power it off.

    they demand high currents and delivering that is not as easy as it may sound.

    I have a 3 ratio winch on my larger boat........I've see guys at the ramp grinding away with their electric winches......I winch on..by hand...I'm on and gone while these guys are still grinding away.

    The only thing sadder than an electric winch without adequate supply current is a deflating bag pipe.

    cheers
    Any thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
    Most powertools have sharp teeth.
    People are made of meat.
    Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.

  14. #14
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by soundman View Post
    There are a couple of issues and a few solution.

    probaly THE most viable and affordable device IS the ride on mower.

    I regularly drag trailers arround my yard with my Cox ride on.....

    cheers
    Thanks. A lot of people suggested the rachet jockey wheel, but as you say unless they are on a concrete or bitumen surface that is flat they are useless, particularly with a caravan with a light tow ball weight.

    What size Cox ride on have you got? I asked a lawn mover place about ride on some time ago and they said I would only burn it out if I used it to tow a van around the yard. I thought there must be one that will do the job.

    A tow ball on the front of the ute is not a bad idea also. My problem at the moment is that if I hook the van up to the ute I can only tow it forward a few metres before I run out of space. Although the yard is a rectangle in shape I cant get it around a 90 degree turn to go through the gates. This is only due to lack of room for the length of the van and ute. If I try a turn any less than 90 degrees I would hit the gates which open inwards and limit the space a bit. I can't open the gates outwards because of the slope of the land and the fact the council would have a tizz if I dug out their footpath. Another option is to put a sliding gate on the fence to give me a bit more room.

    Getting back to the front tow ball. Should this be mounted in the centre of the front or off set?

    I have put a couple of photos on to show what I mean. The first is they yard. Second shows the gates and the third is the van. The van normally goes right back to the fence behind it.

    IMG_0268.jpgIMG_0267.jpgIMG_0269.jpg
    The Pen is mightier than the Sword

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  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Sydney,Australia
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    174

    Default

    If you go with the winch option but are worried about an ear full of broken cable, I have seen several of the hand winches are now made with a drum & feed option that uses flat woven strap instead of a cable - I think Bias Boating have some in their catalog.

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