Very Steep Driveway. How would you store Van.

[saj]

I'm moving to a new house in a months time and have a little problem with where i am going to park my van. The Double Driveway is very steep(downhill away from house)and im not even sure if i can back it up the drive without bottoming out, but ill deal with that when i get there. I have a 17 foot dual axle pop top coromal. Unfortunately offstreet parking is impossible, only have a little patch of grass out front which wont accomodate the van and i want it parked at home and not in storage.

I have an idea of dynabolting two strong permanent right angle brackets to the driveway which will be in enough so the van tyres won't run over them and then low enough so the van underbody won't touch the brackets.
Then i would throw the van a bit further back so i could slide a sleeper(on it's side) across the brackets to rest on which will inturn rest the wheels on so incase the brakes fail , there would be no way the wheels would go over the sleeper and the van would just be resting on the sleeper. I have a bit of room infront of the tyres for resting something there.

I'm doing this purely for safety reasons, so i don't want the neighbours to see they have a new van parked through there garage. I know the brackets will be permanent, but that's ok as they will be out of sight untill we go on a holiday trip and then i'll stick something over them so no one injures themselves when the van is not there.

Hoping someone has been in a similar situation to me and could share there ideas, would be great.
Thx
Ivan

[Quietguy]

Restraining a van

While your idea should work it seems a lot of work for little gain.

Why not just bolt a bracket right at the rear of where the van is parked and attach a length of chain to it. Then when your van is there just hook the chain onto the vans rear bumper.

Cheap, nothing to trip over, 30 secs to hook the van up

David

[Quietguy]

While your idea should work it seems a lot of work for little gain.

Why not just bolt a bracket right at the rear of where the van is parked and attach a length of chain to it. Then when your van is there just hook the chain onto the vans rear bumper.

Cheap, nothing to trip over, 30 secs to hook the van up

David

And of course if you have trouble backing the van up you can always just get a boat winch (I would go electric) and haul it up thevdriveway

David having an afterthought

[MSF]

Similar issue at my old Bosses house when I lived in Brisbane.
He owned a 22ft Boat that he was unable to reverse up the driveway at the side of his new house with his Fairlane.

I would come over and reverse it up for him until we sorted out a way for him to do it.

To secure the boat at the top, we dynabolted two large steel plates into the driveway (about 40cm x 20cm - each had 6 bolts holding it to the ground) at the top and we had some chains that were secured to the plates and then would be attached to the back of the trailer with shackles. At the front of the wheels was a steel pole that sat across the front of the front pair of wheels about 15-20cm off the ground so there was no way the trailer could roll forward. The steel pole was slid in from the side once the trailer was in position. When in position, the front wheels would just rest on the steel bar whilst the rear chains were almost fully tight. The side posts for the steel pole were sunk into the driveway and were quite large - so they weren't going anywhere. The previous owner had fitted them and used them for a similar method, albeit with a smaller / lighter 15ft runabout.

So basically, I would reverse it up, he would attache the rear chains, then slide the pole in and secure it, I would then roll forward slightly to let the front wheels and chains take the weight then unhitch and it was secure...

After about 6 weeks of doing some thinking of the best way, he bought an old refurbished electric winch from a tow-truck (I think) that was mounted up higher behind the plates (about a metre off the ground so it cleared the driveway) he would use that to winch it up the driveway. That way he was able to have it facing either way in the driveway - (after he fitted a second mount for the steel bar to rest against the wheels...)

[Hamish3300]

No need for anything bolted, bought or made as the van has its own way of remaining put. After you have positioned the van, winding down its stay legs will keep it in place perfectly well. It won't roll anywhere when the 4 corner legs are on the ground.

[Aussie_Dan]

No need for anything bolted, bought or made as the van has its own way of remaining put. After you have positioned the van, winding down its stay legs will keep it in place perfectly well. It won't roll anywhere when the 4 corner legs are on the ground.

I wouldn't be trusting them on a steep slope.... They will slide across the ground for sure.
Dan.

[saj]

Some good ideas in those posts there guy's. I like your chain idea Quietguy for extra safety, i still think something infront of the wheels as an extra safety precaution would make me sleep better.

I strongly feel that winding legs down alone won't do a thing to stop a 1.5t Van rolling down a steep drive then a steep hill. Hamish, you might think i have a flat spot to park ontop of Driveway, which isn't the case.

Our house will be at the end of a culdasack up a hill. So picture steep driveway then straight down onto very steep road which would be 100-200 metres long before the street makes a turn onto flat road.

I like MSF's idea of lifting a pole in and out of ground , perhaps some sort of brackets in the ground rather than above it.

Keep em coming please guys.
Thx
Ivan

[my.paj]

I would use the rear chain idea with 2 chains and use these rubber blocks

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/wheel-chocks-/181151565776?pt=Caravan_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a2d7987d0

I use them for my car when working on it and they hard to drive over when you forget.
Another way is to bolt 2 u-shaped bit of steel to the ground in between the tyres then slide box steel into the u bits roll forward.
Rick

[4wd26]

if you put anything in front of the wheels have a back up plan on how to move the van backwards off the "chocks" as you will get a portion of wheen creep and getting a chock out, whether rubber or timber will be difficult.

a endless chain for example.

at the front you already have means to attach- hitch chains as a secondary security measure, but would be looking to secure at the rear as primary.

on the ML triton you can play with the electronics amd the front diff to disconect, this enables you to have low range 2 wd, perfect for manourvering with the vehicle up the incline.

[MSF]

With the one I mentioned, the front wheel pole and rear chains almost equally held the boat in place. If anything it was the wheels holding more than the chains - but only slightly as you could still undo the rear shackles with a spanner on the end if needed.

To get the boat down, he would reverse his Fairlane up the driveway, attach the trailer and then take all of the weight of the boat/trailer and reverse it just a little (2-3 cm was all that was needed) to take the weight off the front pole and remove it. Then they would undo the rear chain / shackles and drive the whole lot down the driveway.

I had to help him once when he needed to get the boat down in the wet as the Fairlane just could not get any traction trying to reverse back.

Once the winch was installed, it was so much easier -
pull up out the front, unhitch from the towball and attach the strap from the winch and just drag it up.. Once in position, slide the pole in and then attach the chains, release the winch and it was secure..

It was a Whittley Cruisemaster (if you know boats) so would have been about 1600kg all up i'd reckon

[saj]

With the one I mentioned, the front wheel pole and rear chains almost equally held the boat in place. If anything it was the wheels holding more than the chains - but only slightly as you could still undo the rear shackles with a spanner on the end if needed.

Yep this is how i also want the end result.

[Stevie-Ray]

One option is fit one of those removable & lockable bollards, weld a chain & a square-receiver onto it, & use one of those hitch-cradle winches (or weld one up). That way you can connect it (w/anderson-plug) to a h/duty power-supply from house to winch camper up (& down) drive-way, padlock to chain, remove winch & store it away.
Plus you could even make it so it's a hitch-extension, so it's sits between vehicle & camper! That way you can take it with you, & once you've set up camp & take to the tracks, you use it to recover those Toyotas & Nissans getting bogged & stuck trying to keep up with you!

[saj]

I will see if i have to winch it up when i get there. I have no plans for winching, and i would prefer to just drive it up backwards if i can,
However if it bottoms out , i might have to winch!!

[schnitzel]

other thing to think about is a front mount towbar, will give you better maneuverability and control in pushing the van uphill, especially in 4wd