1. Although Reich movers have their motors mounted inboard and away from the worst of the spray from the tyres, the roller covers fitted to the Move Control model (which are mounted behind the wheels on Eriba Touring caravans) collect stones and road dirt which is impossible to remove without dismantling the covers. While this accumulation of road debris has not been known to cause any problems, it has to be a good idea to prevent its ingress rather than have to dismantle the unit every once in a while to remove it.

This article shows you how to: a) clean dirt and stones from your roller covers and b) make and fit simple gaiters to prevent future accumulations building up.

2. Tools and equipment required:
Jack
Wheel brace, wheel nut socket and key for locking wheel nuts (if fitted)
Sharp, pointed tool (small knife, screwdriver, bradawl etc.) for removing rubber bungs
6mm Allen key
13mm (1/2” AF) ¼” drive socket or suitable 13mm box spanner to hold Nylok nut from turning
Thin cardboard (270mm x 640mm), pencil and scissors for making a cutting template (I used the box from a 72 pack of Weetabix)
Two pieces of suitable material for gaiters, (each 270mm x 600mm approx.) I used spare material from my caravan cover but any other thin, strong and waterproof material would do. 230mm wide plastic damp proof course would also be suitable.
Adhesive
Hole punch
Brass eyelets and eyelet crimping pliers
Shock cord

3. Jack up one side of the caravan and remove wheel


As you can see, access is limited with the wheel in place

4. Remove two rubber bungs one in top and one in bottom surfaces of plastic roller covers to reveal a long stainless steel Allen bolt and Nylok nut. These are usually fitted with the nut in the top half of the casing. Hold the nut from turning with the socket or box spanner and unscrew and remove the bolt from the casing. The lower part of the housing can now be removed. I was unable to remove the upper halves of the casings on my Triton due to lack of clearance.


This picture shows the location of the Allen bolt in the innermost of the four holes in the underside of the cover. The rubber bung that you will have to remove to gain access is on top of the mirror.


You need to remove the wheels in order to gain access to the Nylok nuts in the upper halves of the covers. Here you can see that a 1/2" AF 1/4" drive socket is perfect for this task.

5. Clean out all dirt and stones from the lower half, clean the outside of the roller cover top and bottom and reassemble. Be careful not to over tighten the bolt as you could damage the plastic housing.


This is what you can expect to find inside the lower halves of the covers

6. Wrap the thin card around the roller casing and by drawing around it and folding at the inner rear edges where access is limited, produce a cutting template - remembering to allow enough extra for turning over the hems to reinforce the attachment points.


Your cardboard template should look something like this.

7. Replace caravan wheel, lower and remove jack. Torque the wheel nuts to the appropriate setting.

8. Transfer the shape to your gaiter material and cut out two, remembering if necessary to reverse the template to produce one left-hand and one right-hand gaiter.

9. Depending on what material you are using, turn over the ends and glue or staple them down.


One of the gaiters glued prior to turning over the hems to reinforce the attachment points

10. Punch two holes in each end of each gaiter to take the shockcord loops and fit brass eyelets if required.


Use a proper hole punch or a spent .17HMR cartridge case if you can find one.

11. Make four loops of shockcord to join the ends of the gaiters and hold a flame to the cut ends to seal the outer sheathing and stop it from fraying. (You may have to experiment with the loops in order to obtain the correct tension for fitting and retaining the gaiters).

12. Repeat steps 3,4,5 and 7 on the other side of the caravan

13. Slide the gaiters into place over the mover roller casings and carry out any final adjustments to obtain a secure fit.


The finished gaiters in place. As you can see, they fit quite tightly yet are easy to remove and replace. A couple of lateral metal tongues that project from the top and bottom of the roller casings should prevent them from falling off while towing. (One of these can be seen near the ratchet handle in picture in #4 above.)

14. Originally, I did not envisage having to fit brass eyelets into the holes for the shockcord but as you can see, the holes in the material had elongated after only a few days of the gaiters having been in place on the caravan, so eyelets have now been fitted. Fortunately for me, the eyelets that came with the pliers were exactly the same diameter as the holes that I had punched with the cartridge case so I'd recommend using a proper hole punch of the correct diameter for the job.




The finished job.