I expect there are other discussions about this, but I'm having trouble finding them. Due to being injured at work a couple of years ago and sustaining an ongoing back problem as a result, I've not been able to use Pandora my Puck for far too long. That's why my membership to this forum lapsed I expect, because I've been grounded for some time. However, this year I'm planning to get as back to normal as possible, and make up for lost time, but won't be able to manoeuvre my Puck like I used to. It was suggested I get a motor mover, which sounded like a good idea until I disappeared down the rabbit hole called internet, and I found a myriad of issues relating to motor moving a Puck.

There's a huge amount of conflicting advice about whether or not a Puck can be fitted with one, and if it can then where's the best place to get one fitted. Is there a simple answer to this please? I'm prepared to travel anywhere in UK to get one and have it fitted at a reasonable price, as I'll be going up to Scotland in a few months so happy to detour anywhere on my travels. Automotive Leisure is closest to me in Dorset, but I know from experience that they are probably the most expensive in the country. I'm on a tight budget so would appreciate any advice in this regard. Many thanks

Thanks Randa, but it's not that simple. She's stored at the bottom of my garden on a hardstanding (paving slab patio area), which is next to a grassed track. I can hook up and drive her away, but it's a different story when I return. She needs to be unhitched and parked back onto the hardstanding, whilst also being turned around to face the right way for the next time I leave. I can't do this due to my injury, and in fact when I put her there it took three strong young men to park her. and they struggled due to the slight incline as she could have easily rolled off the paved area and drop the couple of feet onto the vegetable plot. The track is a dead end, so once she's unhitched I then have to reverse my car down the 200 metres or so to the end of the track, which is too narrow to even contemplate reversing up there with the Puck. A motor mover seemed the perfect solution, but from your comments it obviously isn't. A boat winch wouldn't be able to manoeuvre her through 180 degrees in the space available or from the grass onto the hard standing, and don't if a jockey wheel mover would be able do that safely either. What do you think?

Thank you Colin, I will.

We've seen pucks with movers so it can be done......

Esther, our Puck, has a Reich Move Control. I think a Comfort II. It was fitted by a previous owner in 2005, possibly DIY. I have to say, until reading this thread I never thought there was an issue with it. We store Esther on some decking at the side/rear of our house, and the driveway to it is fairly steep and a bit uneven. The mover has meant that we can get her up and down easily and I'm not sure how we'd cope without it, although the day we bought her we did manhandle it down the slope without battery assistance.

I know it adds about 33kg to the weight, so that limits what we can put inside the van, but there are only 2 of us so the back of the car is usually full of stuff. However I read with some trepidation the comments on ground clearance and headed straight outside with my tape measure! I can report that clearance is 140mm. Not sure if I should be worried by that but I can say that there have been no issues with speed humps or uneven ground while towing.

I've actually just bought a pair of new aluminium rollers, to replace the gritted ones. One is fine but the other is losing some grit and can slide. Seeing as I will have to remove each side to fit these I was thinking it an ideal opportunity to overhaul the entire system, as I shouldn't think it's had much in the way of service in recent years. This has lead me to consider how and where it's fitted on the chassis (aft of the wheels) and wonder if it would be possible to change to forward of the wheels, so I came on here to search and see what the best thing was and here we are. TBH I was thinking that the brake rod would prohibit this, but wanted to find out if there was any advice.

So yes, Puck can have a mover. There are obviously issues with weight and possibly clearance with some models but if these can be taken into account then there should be hope to carry on using Pandora. If I can help in any way (photos etc) I'll certainly try.

Only person I know who may be able to help is Dom Fox - If you Google his name it should bring up his website - Give him a call he might be able to sort out your problem for you ( He is in Norfolk near Mundesley/Cromer).

So I started the job today and I think I can shed some light on why some people will not want to entertain fitting a mover to a Puck! The 'clearance' issue, rather than being solely to do with the ground, could pertain to the Puck having a rather 'shallow' chassis! Removing a drive unit on its own proved impossible due to the fact that the retaining bolt used to secure the motor unit was obviously installed with the entire unit on the bench, and therefore was too long to be withdrawn upwards as it hits the floor! I had to cut the excess off, ensuring enough thread to secure the nylock nut back on (must get some new ones of course) but even then it would only just pull up enough allow the unit to slide out! The only alternative would be to uninstall the entire unit, which I'm still considering doing if I can...

In a similar vein the extra long 'U' bolts securing the crossmember to the chassis itself almost touch the underneath of the wooden floor. One of the nylock nuts wasn't even done up, presumably the fitter got bored with turning it by a quarter at a time and wandered off... So out came a bottle jack to hold the crossmember in place and off they came as well to be slightly shortened. To be fair it's the only way I'll be able to get a ratchet ring spanner on it and I'll be happier knowing it's got all four nuts done up!

It's all good fun and part of the learning curve lol.

To give enough space for the motors there is and extra box section above the cross member as a spacer. If it wasn't for this there would be an extra 40mm of ground clearance, but the gearbox on each motor would possibly be inside the van!

I've seen some far more modern units than this old Reich thing out there, and there must be some more elegant solutions. But this is what Esther has, and the new shafts are enough of a spend for now. Might post some pics when it's all done if anyone is interested.

So today my new shafts have not arrived yet, but I thought I'd share a few pictures to explain the rather clever way the motor mover is fitted to Esther. I Was looking at an installation video on YouTube and suddenly realised how it's been done.

So this is basically the same model of mover, still available today for a fairly budget price:

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Note where the actual motor sits on the assembly, above the crossmember (obviously this is only one side shown, there is another assembly fitted symmetrically on the other wheel of the caravan and the crossmember links them).

Well if you look at the photo below you'll see that the motor on our mover is inverted so that is looks downwards:

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Also, even though the motor is now the lowest part of the whole assembly, it's sitting in the cross-section between the road wheels, meaning that it's quite unlikely to bottom out unless you're driving down a very rutted track - something you'd probably be aware of if you've fitted this yourself, or should be made aware of by a fitter.

This has been achieved by merely swapping the shaft carriers and the motors and symetrically opposing them. I believe this is part of the design but it could of course be a happy accident! However it works a treat and is not compromising the unit one bit. Fixings are all in the same place.

I've tried to demonstrate what's been done by just turning the unit over and holding the shaft carrier in place on the opposite side of the gearbox in the following photos:

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Finally, a picture of the box section (presumably offcuts from the crossmember supplied to fit wider vans) used as a spacer. No U-bolts visible in this pic, as they are removed to shorten the threads and make fitting easier. I'll admit this is a tight fit against the crossmember of the actual van itself, but it does go:

9CA08121-0B23-4D06-813D-9801A837BA40.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

All in all a neat solution I reckon if you really must have a mover on a Puck. But I'm not sure where the longer U-bolts came from...maybe Reich themselves. I'd be happy to explain in more detail if anyone needs more help or even dare I say help with fitting....but don't tell Verity I said that!