Unable to reverse van up driveway to park due to Camber??
Jewels Sparkle said
11:21 PM Nov 18, 2015
Hi I'm an newbie and need help
We bought our 1983 Windsor Windcheater caravan 13' this week.
DH parked it out the front overnight - no problems. The road does slope so don't want to park it there for too long.
Today DH tried to reverse it up our driveway to park under cover but we struck a problem.
The camber of the road at our driveway causes a deep dip but no problems driving our car up or down the driveway.
DH tried reversing the van up the driveway but the rear scraped (looked like it would bend the metal bar) at the gutter so was unable to continue. DH then tried to drive up - same problem but with the draw bar.
Van is now parked on the street again. What can we do?
Many thanks Julieanne
Possum3 said
11:32 PM Nov 18, 2015
Build a temporary bridge at driveway each time you need to put van in or out. Bricks or pavers could be used to "fill" the ditch (Temporarily). Perhaps even a few bags of sand would level out the ditch.
Elsewise you will need to purchase a remote controlled caravan mover and unhitch on the street. Last option (other than moving) is to store caravan off site.
dishlicker said
06:54 AM Nov 19, 2015
Hi there one solution on a permanent basis would be to place a steel plate from edge of road to xover dyna bolt it down the water can still flow under and it won't move when driving over cheers good luck.
PeterInSa said
08:22 AM Nov 19, 2015
I use 100mm x 100mm x 2400mm x 2 pieces of permapine in the gutter along with 5 small pieces of 75mm x 75mm in front of the bigger pieces to get over the dip in the gutter. Also have 3 rubber wheels under the rear chassis of the van, just in case it scrapes.
Purchase the 2 pieces that are 2.4m long from Bunnings at $5 each since they were a bit warped. Now painted.
Place and then remove after every drive out/in.
Works for me.
Peter
Hylife said
03:18 PM Nov 19, 2015
Filling in the gutter as suggested WON'T work.
Your problem is the entry/exit angles that your combination can't handle. having a filled in gutter does not alter the angle from road to driveway.
The rear of the van will scrape well before the vans wheels are in the gutter and then even if you were to succeed the draw bar will scrape well before the cars rear wheels hit the gutter.
The solution to reducing an entry/exit angle problem is to approach from a 45degree angle not at 90 degrees.
PeterInSa said
04:34 PM Nov 19, 2015
Re (The solution to reducing an entry/exit angle problem is to approach from a 45degree angle not at 90 degrees.)
I agree, I do that as well.
Peter
dishlicker said
08:50 PM Nov 19, 2015
Good'ay If you are still having trouble have a look at the xovers that a placed at construction sites they may offer some other methods cheers
Jewels Sparkle said
10:40 PM Nov 19, 2015
Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions.
DH is going to try the 45deg angle approach suggested by Hylife and PeterinSA tomorrow.
If that doesn't work then metal sheets as suggested by Dishlicker.
Not sure what we will do if none of the above suggestions work.
FAB group of people thank you :)
Vince said
10:32 AM Nov 20, 2015
dishlicker wrote:
Hi there one solution on a permanent basis would be to place a steel plate from edge of road to xover dyna bolt it down the water can still flow under and it won't move when driving over cheers good luck.
Check with your local council before doing this.
Here at Lake Macquarie NSW it is illegal unless you have permission to put any
approved gutter ramping from the roadway to your driveway
Heavy fines are imposed if not council approved.
Cheers
Vince
Jewels Sparkle said
08:23 PM Nov 21, 2015
Thanks everyone we tried the 45 deg angle reverse up the gutter/driveway and SUCCESS !
We now have our van inside our grounds and undercover.
Thank you
erad said
09:02 PM Nov 26, 2015
I have been following this thread with interest. Our driveway crossing had severe gradient changes, and the front or rear of our van used to scrape as we went in or out of the crossing. The crossing was only a thin bitumen capping over gravel, and large areas had broken up whenever it rained (very rarely here)! The broken areas always started where we dug holes with our caravan jacks or the towbar.
We had a slight gradient in our driveway (concrete) then a steep downgrade to the 'gutter', then a fairly steep up-gradient which was the camber of the roadway. After years of patching the holes with concrete, I finally sought permission from our council to get the crossing fully concreted. Oh boy! I opened a can of worms. Leglislation abounded. I tried to arrange for a contractor to do the work, but none of them wanted to do it because they would get into trouble from the Council. Eventually, I arranged for the Council to do it for me. It cost more than double what the contractors would have charged, but if it is wrong, they have to fix it.
Now, instead of having a steep downgrade to the gutter, then the roadway camber changing the gradient, I have a nearly flat section (the footpath), then a VERY STEEP downgrade to the gutter and then the roadway camber. As I traverse the crossing, both ends of the van now crunch heavily, but it is in 100 mm concrete and that ain't gonna break up in a hurry. I am considering buying a van now with air suspension so I can raise and lower it as required. All this because I didn't like holes in our driveway crossing.....
Hi I'm an newbie and need help
We bought our 1983 Windsor Windcheater caravan 13' this week.
DH parked it out the front overnight - no problems. The road does slope so don't want to park it there for too long.
Today DH tried to reverse it up our driveway to park under cover but we struck a problem.
The camber of the road at our driveway causes a deep dip but no problems driving our car up or down the driveway.
DH tried reversing the van up the driveway but the rear scraped (looked like it would bend the metal bar) at the gutter so was unable to continue. DH then tried to drive up - same problem but with the draw bar.
Van is now parked on the street again. What can we do?
Many thanks Julieanne
Elsewise you will need to purchase a remote controlled caravan mover and unhitch on the street. Last option (other than moving) is to store caravan off site.
Hi there one solution on a permanent basis would be to place a steel plate from edge of road to xover dyna bolt it down the water can still flow under and it won't move when driving over cheers good luck.
Purchase the 2 pieces that are 2.4m long from Bunnings at $5 each since they were a bit warped. Now painted.
Place and then remove after every drive out/in.
Works for me.
Peter
Filling in the gutter as suggested WON'T work.
Your problem is the entry/exit angles that your combination can't handle. having a filled in gutter does not alter the angle from road to driveway.
The rear of the van will scrape well before the vans wheels are in the gutter and then even if you were to succeed the draw bar will scrape well before the cars rear wheels hit the gutter.
The solution to reducing an entry/exit angle problem is to approach from a 45degree angle not at 90 degrees.
I agree, I do that as well.
Peter
Good'ay If you are still having trouble have a look at the xovers that a placed at construction sites they may offer some other methods cheers
DH is going to try the 45deg angle approach suggested by Hylife and PeterinSA tomorrow.
If that doesn't work then metal sheets as suggested by Dishlicker.
Not sure what we will do if none of the above suggestions work.
FAB group of people thank you :)
Check with your local council before doing this.
Here at Lake Macquarie NSW it is illegal unless you have permission to put any
approved gutter ramping from the roadway to your driveway
Heavy fines are imposed if not council approved.
Cheers
Vince
We now have our van inside our grounds and undercover.
Thank you
We had a slight gradient in our driveway (concrete) then a steep downgrade to the 'gutter', then a fairly steep up-gradient which was the camber of the roadway. After years of patching the holes with concrete, I finally sought permission from our council to get the crossing fully concreted. Oh boy! I opened a can of worms. Leglislation abounded. I tried to arrange for a contractor to do the work, but none of them wanted to do it because they would get into trouble from the Council. Eventually, I arranged for the Council to do it for me. It cost more than double what the contractors would have charged, but if it is wrong, they have to fix it.
Now, instead of having a steep downgrade to the gutter, then the roadway camber changing the gradient, I have a nearly flat section (the footpath), then a VERY STEEP downgrade to the gutter and then the roadway camber. As I traverse the crossing, both ends of the van now crunch heavily, but it is in 100 mm concrete and that ain't gonna break up in a hurry. I am considering buying a van now with air suspension so I can raise and lower it as required. All this because I didn't like holes in our driveway crossing.....