Just popped away for a few days shake down run after winter layoff. First thing I noticed getting out of my back garden was a tendency for the mover rollers to slip (Reich Easy mover). I had fitted new tyres recently and double checked that they were the right size, all OK.

On getting to site I got out the Reich manual to check the roller/tyre clearance, it should be 15-20mm. I estimated my clearance to be about 30mm. Confirmed when I got home.

I was beginning to wonder if the mover attachment had slipped along the chassis and then I begun to remember that I have had trouble getting up levelling ramps and thought that problem was because the centre of the actuator was not in line with the centre of the wheel allowing some slippage.

On further investigation I find that the mover cannot be fitted any closer to the tyre as the actuator housing fouls a funny little attachment, welded to the chassis. I believe some people use these fittings for a side jack to change a wheel.

Anyway, I can't slide the actuator any closer without doing one of three things.
1. Grind off the chassis attachment (I would never use that for jacking anyway)
2. Remove the actuator housing that fouls the chassis attachment, I believe the economy version of the Reich comes "bare bones" anyway.
3. Try and get a packer between the chassis and the attachment plate to lower the whole assembly by at least 6mm.

Anybody come across this problem before with advice or even a better solution?

mover1.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)mover2.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Ray, when I used to fit that Reich model (and now the newer easydriver) I've cut that attachment off with an angle grinder and splodged some black Hammerite on the bare metal - a five minute job before the mover is fitted.

As you say, you'll then be able to adjust the roller-tyre gap to 15-20mm.

Before adjusting the mover, make sure the van's reasonably level and the tyres are inflated to the correct pressure.

Thanks John,

I've started dropping the actuators down from the chassis and I can see that not only did that lump stop the correct gap being achieved, it also stopped the actuator being tightened up square to the chassis. You can see that the actuator is not level in one of my photos.

I'll even be able to swop the covers over so that they are the right way up!

I might take the wheel arches off too , bit too close to where the grinder will go.

first thing I did to refit the mover was to remove the redundant tubes, neater job and better clearance.

Well, the job is done but a lot more hassle than expected.
I can only work on one side at a time in my limited garden storage spot so I slackened the U Bolts on side and lowered the actuator sufficient to grind off the piece of tube. I also removed the wheel arch for safety. Lifted the actuator assembly up and nipped up the U Bolts at the correct distance to the tyre, sufficient to drive the caravan a short way.
Moved the caravan away from the wall to work on the other side and repeated the process.
Now I crawled underneath on my back and made final adjustments to the actuator position and fully tightened the U bolts.
Next refit the wheel arch and actuator cover on the one side that I could get to. Dohhh! Can't get the actuator cover on, there's not enough clearance. So , had to release the U bolts on that side, drop the actuator sufficient to fit the actuator cover and then bolt it all up again.
Move caravan over to repeat on the other side.
Last job was to fit the security locking blocks to stop the whole lot moving along the chassis. I couldn't get the smaller single piece in place as there was insufficient clearance between the torsion bar and the roller drive bar.
After a lot of head scratching I couldn't find a fault in my fitting so my solution was to cut a thin angular sliver off the locking block so that it would fit. The rear double locking block also wouldn't fit properly but there was sufficient room for just one of the locking bolts to work.

It all looks smart now, the actuators are in line with the centre of the wheel, the actuator covers are the right way up and there is loads of spare travel on to the tyres to really wind in hard if the rollers slip in wet conditions.

Now I'm happy that at last the mover is fitted and working within its design parameters

Just thinking a bit further. I could have just put the single locking block to the rear and forget about the front where there was limited clearance.
Thinking about the forces involved, the action of the roller being rammed in to the tyre is only ever going to impart a force to the rear. I can't think of a scenario that is going to try to pull the actuators nearer the tyre.
Think I wasted an hour there trimming that locking block.

Engineering ramblings

On the subject of badly fitted movers:

Had a call yesterday from a fella who asked me if I could pop round and look at his mover cos he was going away this weeekend and needed it fixed urgently

He didn't know what make it was so I asked him to send me a couple of photos...

ReichEconomyFit.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)ReichEconomyFit2.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Please contact my solicitors, Devious Conners Grabbit & Run.
Dave

Quote: eribanaut wrote in post #9

---

Please contact my solicitors, Devious Conners Grabbit & Run.
Dave

---

Well JohnE, at least it looks like you won't have to grind off that pesky bit of chassis.

Couple of heavy duty cable ties should lift that lot up in to place.