Help!!! Don't know what to do now. (1 Viewer)

[Mimi]

So glad all O.K. in the end, enjoy your next trip and may it be the start of many happy motorhome trips.

Good luck

 

[Figaro]

For info - if your getting towed off by a tractor where do you attach the tow rope to ? is there a tow eye to use.
Also do tractor drivers expect payment ? Wouldn`t be unreasonable to pay but never having been in that situation (time yet) I`m not sure of protcol
TIA

 

[jumartoo]

A few years ago on the Thursday before Easter we drove onto a parking field for an orienteering event in, of all places, Spain! During Friday it rained. The organisation banned all vehicles except 4WD from the parking. Unfortunately the 4WD drivers thought it great fun to mess up the parking and eventually created huge furrows. The weather changed during Saturday and Sunday and dried up the field, but unfortunately dried the huge furrows as well. The local owner of the land had great fun towing out all the motorhomes in his brand new (2 day old) tractor, scraping our undercarriage on the bit between the furrows. Martin got a ride in it and was enthralled by all the computers and driving with a joystick instead of a wheel!

Had it not been for the 4WD vehicles the field would have dried out for us to leave under our own steam!

P.s don't ask about Guadalcanal!!!

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[busby]

Thanks for that both of you but the other question is how to reverse off the ramps backwards up hill. We have milenco quartos with stepped levels.

See if you can borrow two similar ramps and place them in front of yours the opposite way round,,,then drive to the top of yours and then down the borrowed pair but don't drive over them with the other axle,,move them. BUSBY.

 

[mikebeaches]

Well we are on our way home.

We got off the field quite easily. We put 2 milenco slip mats behind the front wheels, reversed off the ramps onto the mats and waited for the tractor to tow us off the field. What was I stressing about!!!

Thanks for your advice. As you say, we are learning as we go along and we will think before we park up next year.

Glad to hear you've escaped! The Milenco grip mats are great.

The only other time we got stuck was when I accidentally drove off a hardstanding at a French campsite into soft sand. The front end dropped like a stone and the wheels were virtually in up to their axles.

Initially, thought no chance without a tow. But reckoned I'd try the Milenco mats we'd never used in anger, as nothing to lose. Dug some sand out from behind the front wheels, put the Milencos in place and with a few revs managed to my - and the audience watching - amazement, reversed back up onto the hardstanding - phew!

Went to recover the mats - where are they? Completely disappeared - buried in the sand - had to dig them out. But they saved the day, and now carry two pairs 'just in case'.

 

[Littlewheels]

Good to hear your on your way safe and sound,look at the positives it's all part of the MH experience! You'll be putting this into your repatour of conversations and will be laughing about it amongst friends and fellow MHomers in the very near future.

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[sedge]

And you risk breaking the ramps - as we did. My guider got distracted when directing me up our ramps and I overshot, cracking the front of one of them

In our case, the Guider wasn't at fault whatever - it was simply that the DRIVER had totally forgotten that he reversed up the sodding things in the first place - and as the Guider immediately yelled WTF?? at him - it was too late Ethel ! LOL

So one of ours has a rather smart stainless steel reinforcement in the front of it!

 

[Taran_Las]

Well we are on our way home.

We got off the field quite easily. We put 2 milenco slip mats behind the front wheels, reversed off the ramps onto the mats and waited for the tractor to tow us off the field. What was I stressing about!!!

Thanks for your advice. As you say, we are learning as we go along and we will think before we park up next year.

​

 

[MattR]

In our case, the Guider wasn't at fault whatever - it was simply that the DRIVER had totally forgotten that he reversed up the sodding things in the first place - and as the Guider immediately yelled WTF?? at him - it was too late Ethel ! LOL

So one of ours has a rather smart stainless steel reinforcement in the front of it!

So do we, thanks to @trophychap and his metal working skills

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[sedge]

Hee hee ! - I'd forgotten about that! Two matching pairs though the ones we each own, aren't matching pairs! LOL

 

[Viennese]

Don't even mention the mud at Peterborough in - was it 2012? When I arrived they were towing vans ONTO their pitches...

 

[busby]

We don't do bad weather,,,if forcast is crap we stay at home,,if we are in Europe and its bad we move,,,,BUSBY.

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[GJH]

Don't even mention the mud at Peterborough in - was it 2012? When I arrived they were towing vans ONTO their pitches...

The ruts were still there in 2013 - but the ground was rock hard.

 

[DBK]

Another tip for escaping from a rally is to borrow an unattended chair or two and lay them under the driving wheels for added grip.

 

[Viennese]

One like @Theonlysue's??

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[Nik]

Having got stuck similarly, sur le continent, last year I watched the locals and they all reverse onto their ramps. This I now do too, as you can drive forward off your ramps, keep that initial momentum going to firm ground/road and then stop to recover your ramps. You have to ensure you don't drive over them with your non ramped wheels but I have found this method quite effective.
Don't worry about getting stuck as I alway say there are two types of motorhomers....Those who have got stuck and those who have yet to do so! you are now so experienced. Lol

 

[Badknee]

For info - if your getting towed off by a tractor where do you attach the tow rope to ? is there a tow eye to use.
Also do tractor drivers expect payment ? Wouldn`t be unreasonable to pay but never having been in that situation (time yet) I`m not sure of protcol
TIA

There will be either a towing eye somewhere under the front or a small panel you pull away to reveal a threaded socket. In your tool kit you will then find a bar threaded at one end with an eye on the other. That's where you attach the tow rope/strap.
I carry a strap from my trucking days that rolls up better than a road and two horseshoe shackles that go through the eye.
I haven't needed towing yet but a couple or three quid for the driver to get a pint would be my guess.

 

[Badknee]

Haha, that picture turned out full size or bigger in fact.

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[Peter Sansom]

I agree with mikebeaches, especially rolling off the ramps onto the anti slip mats or whatever. You would probably have to use a little accelerator to get the front wheels over the small scallops on the ramps. Perhaps borrow another set of anti slips to put in front of the wheels once you're off and then let the tick over take you over them and (hopefully) down the hill. Luck!

 

[Peter Sansom]

There will be either a towing eye somewhere under the front or a small panel you pull away to reveal a threaded socket. In your tool kit you will then find a bar threaded at one end with an eye on the other. That's where you attach the tow rope/strap.
I carry a strap from my trucking days that rolls up better than a road and two horseshoe shackles that go through the eye.
I haven't needed towing yet but a couple or three quid for the driver to get a pint would be my guess.


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When I managed to get stuck (the very first time I used the van) it was facing downhill and the access was from the rear. As previously said there is nowhere to hitch on. It took mucho messing about with very large metal ramps (the type used to manoeuvre static caravans into position). After a lot of red in the faceness, high blood pressure and mud all over van we managed. Where would you attach a strap at the rear, bearing in mind there isn't a tow ball?

 

[busby]

When I managed to get stuck (the very first time I used the van) it was facing downhill and the access was from the rear. As previously said there is nowhere to hitch on. It took mucho messing about with very large metal ramps (the type used to manoeuvre static caravans into position). After a lot of red in the faceness, high blood pressure and mud all over van we managed. Where would you attach a strap at the rear, bearing in mind there isn't a tow ball?

If no towing eye i would put in around rear spring hanger,,,very solid,,BUSBY..

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[Peter Sansom]

I did wonder. Had visions of tractor towing a spring hanger and MH still stuck. I suppose a tow rope/strap with a +3.5T limit would do it on my case?

 

[FIDGET]

If no towing eye i would put in around rear spring hanger,,,very solid,,BUSBY..

depends on how low the spring hangers is , is it below rear skirt , if not it will damage the rear panel

 

[Peter Sansom]

depends on how low the spring hangers is , is it below rear skirt , if not it will damage the rear panel

Good point, especially if being towed up a gradient when the two rope would be at a higher angle. I'll need to go and have a look...tomorrow, it's beer o'clock now!

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[maison]

At Camp de Florence, a few years ago, the ground was saturated so we asked the owners if would be advisable to be towed out rather than spin wheels and create a mess.

He expressed gratitude that we had been so thoughtful and brought his tractor over. I connected up to the towing eye and went to get into the cab. Unfortunately he set off before I was fully in the cab and before I could release the handbrake. Result, two very deep furrows across the pitch which we had tried to protect. Fortunately he realised it was his fault and laughed it off.

It took me almost an hour to get the mud out of the wheel rims, brake calipers etc!

 

[busby]

At Camp de Florence, a few years ago, the ground was saturated so we asked the owners if would be advisable to be towed out rather than spin wheels and create a mess.

He expressed gratitude that we had been so thoughtful and brought his tractor over. I connected up to the towing eye and went to get into the cab. Unfortunately he set off before I was fully in the cab and before I could release the handbrake. Result, two very deep furrows across the pitch which we had tried to protect. Fortunately he realised it was his fault and laughed it off.

It took me almost an hour to get the mud out of the wheel rims, brake calipers etc!

Is that La Romeo (The Cat Village) BUSBY.

 

[jockaneezer]

Result, two very deep furrows across the pitch which we had tried to protect. Fortunately he realised it was his fault and laughed it off.

We'd just had a large section of the shop floor painted with a two pack epoxy paint over the Christmas shutdown. I was in doing some maintenance work and drove across it with a forklift to drop off a pallet of spares outside an office. I went into the office and the manager made a point of telling me how much the floor had cost to get painted and that I'd better not spin the wheels or brake hard and mark the new surface. I was concentrating that hard under his withering gaze, that I forgot to lift the forks when I set off, good job the painters were still on site

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[Easyliving]

I think we have all had problems with a slippery field at some time, @mikebeaches tale of woe of getting stuck in a car park entrance made me cringe! Its just one of those things with the Ducato we know and love - can get stuck on a blade of damp grass.

Paul

 

[bigtwin]

Yes, it can happen to us all - mine happened today!

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/resorting-to-plan-d.127957/

Ian

 

[maison]

Is that La Romeo (The Cat Village) BUSBY.

La Romieu, yes.

We loved the village. When we went to the grocers there was no-one to serve us. Then the owner appeared from the bar opposite. He was having a drink while watching the football and going over to his shop if he got a customer. A man happy with his lot!

We had a great time there and almost bought a house before deciding to settle on Burgundy.

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