niktam Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 I would like to bring the MH round home for a clean however I have a gentle slope up from the back of the footpath straight up our drive. I have quite a rear overhang on the MH with the lowest point being the spare wheel which could do with lowering and lubricating the spare wheel hanger anyway as it's never been off in 3 years so I could remove that. Two choices is it better to reverse up and risk scraping the rear end on the drive or driving up and dragging on the road. Are there any mathematicians out there to advise the best way forward. Yes, the answer is to try it but I'd like to have some idea before I tried it! Also if I get it up the drive and wash out the tanks and empty it all out will the suspension spring back up to where it was as if not may not get the van out again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Put some planks under the wheels to lift it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 I'd agree, try using some decent, hefty scaffold type boards under the rear, once the front the was well up the drive'). Obviously, how workable that would be, depends on how busy your road/street is.. I wouldn't really want to be faffin' about scrabbling around setting up and re-adjusting boards, if the back end of the van is blocking a busy road?(having said that, plenty of caravanners temporarily "block" their streets when taking their 'vans home). Our previous van(and at our previous house) could/would catch on the rear O.S when pulling forwards onto our drive', until we fitted rear air assisters. There was no way ours came close to being reversed on though,as it would've just wiped out the rear panel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 niktam - 2020-03-10 7:47 PM ...Two choices is it better to reverse up and risk scraping the rear end on the drive or driving up and dragging on the road.... Me, I’d definitely drive up the slope. Obviously that would mean reversing back down the slope after the Big Clean, but you should have much finer control going forwards and it might be possible to ease back down the slope very slowly using gravity. As has been advised above, try to avoid any grounding by using planks (and your initiative). ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 Hi This might be a silly idea but, if you let air out of front tyres would this not change the angle? Just a silly idea really but is it viable? Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plwsm2000 Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 If you want to try to calculate it (and you know the angle of your drive!), you can try this - [url=] https://www.vcalc.com/wiki/KurtHeckman/Approach+(departure)+angle [/url] (h/t to Robert Crawford on another thread) This method measures from the tyre to the rear overhang bodywork. If your spare wheel is lower and is in the middle of the van, you could use a long piece of wood across the rear of both tyres and use this as your measuring point. Hope this makes sense. You could also google "departure angle" for other methods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 I've just had a quick google at images of the van model in question..and if I've got the right one, it does have quite a lengthy overhang... If (IF?) it is only going to be the spare wheel that's likely to catch, why not just look at taking it(and it's cradle?) off where there van is currently(presumably in storage?). I think if the spare wheel was going to be the one thing that stopped me from taking my van home, I'd be looking at relocating it if possible?... Either way, I'd want a couple of "spotters" and maybe a *plan B when you take it home (for the first time?) *Could you not just park it on the road,across the front of your property for the duration of the clean'n'fettle ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 An image of a 2017 Autoquest 196 is attached below. This model is built on a “Tempo Libero” (camping-car) chassis. Carrying the spare-wheel should involve a cable-operated ‘wind-down’ mechanism and no metal cradle. As pepe63 has said, if niktam believes that the spare-wheel would ground as the motorhome goes up the slope, the obvious precaution to take would be to remove the spare-wheel beforehand (which evidently needs to be done anyway). It has to be said that - even with the spare-wheel removed - the rear overhang looks long enough for grounding on a slope to occur at the very rear, but taking off the spare-wheel would be worthwhile and usefully remove about 25kg of weight from behind the rear axle. The Autoquest 196 is another of the many ‘tail dragging’ designs that are commonplace nowadays and it cries out for an air-bellows kit to be added to the rear suspension. Fortunately, as the 196’s chassis is not AL-KO, adding semi-air should be relatively inexpensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niktam Posted March 12, 2020 Author Share Posted March 12, 2020 Many thanks most helpful as you have given me some ideas. I'II go for a drive up the slope and remove the spare wheel for a clean and lub of the mechanism. Empty out the few things under the rear lounge seating and belt and braces remove the two full 6 kg gas bottles so that's another 25kg hanging on the rear for the gas bottles alone. It would be great to give the MH a good clean and wash the tanks out. Ensuring that I can fully drain the tanks out as on a slight slope as I need to make sure they are fully empty.? I have a few scaffold boards but in old money they are 13 foot and the drive at the very bottom is only 12 ft as I need them at the junction of the drive to the footpath. Saw job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 niktam - 2020-03-12 8:26 PM . It would be great to give the MH a good clean and wash the tanks out. Ensuring that I can fully drain the tanks out as on a slight slope as I need to make sure they are fully empty.? Your van will need to be level to drain the tanks completely so why not drain them before you get home use a car wash I've done this several times to wash out tanks and then they'll be lighter to attempt that drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 witzend - 2020-03-14 11:31 AM niktam - 2020-03-12 8:26 PM . It would be great to give the MH a good clean and wash the tanks out. Ensuring that I can fully drain the tanks out as on a slight slope as I need to make sure they are fully empty.? Your van will need to be level to drain the tanks completely so why not drain them before you get home use a car wash I've done this several times to wash out tanks and then they'll be lighter to attempt that drive Ours wouldn't completely drain when parked on the level drive'. To drain and rinse the "dregs" out I needed to back the van partially down the slope of the drive'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niktam Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 Next problem the winding thing for the spare wheel which has an Allen key mechanism. Isn't a six sided one but 5 sided one. Nothing in the wheel brace kit any ideas where to buy one. Is it an Elddis fitment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 I think it'll be a Peugeot / Fiat item. Just Google 'Peugeot Boxer spare wheel winch tool'. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niktam Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 pepe63 - 2020-03-14 8:13 PM I think it'll be a Peugeot / Fiat item. Just Google 'Peugeot Boxer spare wheel winch tool'. :-D Many thanks found it. I was hoping I could just buy a socket but looking like this is a security item?? And I bought the MH second hand and I realised that I didn't have a socket for the aftermarket alloys so I bought one. Then later I found out that I couldn't have fitted the steel spare wheel as I didn't have any OEM wheel bolts as the alloy bolts are longer and the alloy is a heavier grade.Then today I found out that I wouldn't have been able to lower the spare anyway as I thought it used the OEM wheel brace. Golden rule check and recheck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 This 2018 forum thread may be of interest https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Ducato-2009-Spare-wheel-removal-tool-problem/50308/ As pepe63 says, the appropriate tool is advertised quite widely (example here) https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1109646508?iid=232190703217 The tool is shown to the right of the jack in the attached photo of a Boxer/Ducato/Relay tool kit ‘box’, but if a motorhome has a Fix&Go repair kit, the tool may not be provided. Similarly, if the motorhome has no spare wheel as standard, the tool may be omitted. However, as your 2017 Autoquest 196 does have a chassis-mounted spare wheel, logically there should have been the required tool in the vehicle’s tool kit or the owner of the motorhome would not have been able to use the spare wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niktam Posted March 15, 2020 Author Share Posted March 15, 2020 Many thanks Derek as always. Ordered one to arrive on Wednesday! Also thanks for the photo of the tool box so I can now put all the tools where they are designed to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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