Hi all.

Does anyone think that a motorised jockey wheel would be any good on our 91 Eriba Pan? We are considering it to allow us to move the caravan a short distance up a slight slope as opposed to getting the standard wheel motor mover. Not sure if it even be fitted to the round Alko draw bar, and if, when raised, it would have enough clearance

This is an example:

https://rocwood.co.uk/product/caravan-mover/

Advice is appreciated.

Thanks. Would the Eurotec motor have enough clearance when raised? People suggest 150mm minimum. It would only be used to get the caravan up a 3 metre long area with a slight slope.

Ground clearance if it was kept on all the time instead of the original jockey wheel. Otherwise going over a high speed bump might wreck it.

Get the feeling it's going to be a proper motor mover

Hi Colin,
Can I pop in here and ask how / where did you attach to the Caravan ? Was it to the jockey wheel shaft itself ? This particular method would suit our set up perfectly except I would need to attach to the rear. I posted a similar question regarding a motorised jockey wheel a short time back. Seems nose weight / traction is problematic which I can understand.
Chris

Wow Colin..
Did you meassure the clearance with a feeler blade !! I dont think I would be brave enough to even try that !

Presumably you had another door out of the garage...?

I have a similar issue to using my garage, but it has no other exit door, so I have to be able to get out again, or be able to shut the door remotely once in

We have a mr shifta to move our troll into winter storage. - we still keep it in the back yard but nose-in for security. This involves taking it out up a slope onto the road and turning through 180 degrees before reversing it back in. The mover is really only needed when pushing it back out again in the spring.
We’ve never needed a mover when out & about luckily, so the shifta stays in the shed.
The only real issue we have is that the motor fouls on the wierd metal triangle under the draw-bar when pushing, but the puck may be different.

I had a great conversation with the original designer of the mr shifta, who is long-retired but still interested.

This type of external mover has its own battery and uses the standard hitch, so it’s easy to use.

Could well be something to resurrect as a project now that battery technology has moved on so much, although it appears that nose weight is the real issue - it needs to be heavy in order to gain grip. Our caravan came with a Reich Easy Mover fitted - I wouldn't have bought one otherwise - although, I have to say, it's amazing how flexible it makes the van. Up hills, tight turns, spin around in tight areas - i use it a lot and think that, really, it's the best solution, because it's positioned where the mass of the caravan is centred...

Years ago I purchased a hand winch - which was fitted to a metal pole (about 5' long) with two spikes on the end. I drilled a couple of holes in the concrete floor of the garage - to fit the spikes, hooked the cable around the axle and was able to winch a 6 berth WWB up quite a steep drive by hand - very low geared of course.

I haven't seen such a winch for a few years though.

Similar idea to the attached video. I also used this method to one-handedly extract bogged Land Rovers from pet bog

Winching

Dave