Rear Overhang Swing

[Millsy's]

Picking our new Carado T447 up next week and I have never driven one before but I have towed numerous caravans over plenty of years.
I am not daunted by the thought, in fact, I am looking forward to it, but I am conscious of the fact that there is substantial overhang swing to be accounted for when manoeuvring in tight spaces or maybe sharp bends?, do any of you more experienced motorhome owners have any advice /tips that you could pass on to me please ?.

 

[tonka]

Well your already aware of the overhang, swing and extra room needed.
I would say your already sorted.. Just allow a bit more room when you pull out or turn tight, Soon get used to it..

 

[tonyidle]

Yep. See thread "Driving like a tw*t".

 

[Electraglide]

The place I am very wary at are toll booths, close enough to reach but need to careful when clearing the barrier when it goes up.

 

[Boringfrog]

The place I am very wary at are toll booths, close enough to reach but need to careful when clearing the barrier when it goes up.

And pulling away from petrol stations after filling up.

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[movan]

And turning right if ghere is a bollard in the road
And turning left if there is a signpost right on the edge of the pavement
And reversing
And ... errr ... well, maybe I'm not ghe right person ask.

 

[moulin 87]

For me the swing is the lesser concern, car park/ferry ramps and severe hairpin bends have caught me out before so I always carry fibre glass repair kit to fix flapping skirt on the rear of the van..

 

[Figaro]

I always carry fibre glass repair kit to fix flapping skirt

How often do you hit something ?

 

[moulin 87]

How often do you hit something ?

Not so much hit as scraped the bottom of the overhang.

1st time on a hairpin bend in the Italian Alps when they were doing road works.

2nd time in a car park in the Arctic Circle

3rd time on a car park ramp in Portugal...

 

[2657]

I've often wondered why they seem to build motorhomes on short wheel base chassis with large overhangs, my Globecar PVC is only 6m long but has a longer wheelbase than many longer motorhomes.
This brings a different problem though with turning circle and cut in on bends but on such a short van it is not really a problem.

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[jdk62]

Always pull further forward than you think before you turn....

 

[sweetie]

And pulling away from petrol stations after filling up.

On first motorhome had towbar/bumper full width of motorhome. Being a bit green went to Armstrong’s and they fitted it with a 9inch gap between bar and bumper.
Well first time I filled up with fuel pulled away from pump and heard almighty bang, I had hooked the towbar round filler Hosea does pulled nozzle from holster luckily no damage. Only made that mistake once always check mirror where rear end is know

 

[grumps147]

If you park close to a wall, fence or any solid object and you have to steer away from it, put the lock on a little at a time, do not grab a handful of full right or left lock of moving off from stationary.

One thing is certain, it's not something you do twice.

 

[gus-lopez]

And turning right if ghere is a bollard in the road

we have streets here with cast iron bollards every few metres.

And turning left if there is a signpost right on the edge of the pavement

I regularly take out a sign at Alicante airport. Camber means the upright sign over hangs the road & gets caught when I get in tight to the kerb.Last week is the first time for some while I haven't ripped it apart

Always pull further forward than you think before you turn....

If you are like me & parked between vehicles in the road the 1,5 m overhang is going to wipe out anything on the pavement whilst trying to exit the space. I have to be extremely careful of the places with bollards,lamposts,signs. Apart from the fact that I forget that the wheels aren't where they should be , at each corner

If you park close to a wall, fence or any solid object and you have to steer away from it, put the lock on a little at a time, do not grab a handful of full right or left lock of moving off from stationary.

One thing is certain, it's not something you do twice.

You can't do that though parked in a street between vehicles. It is a straight turn out & hope you remembered not to park against any street furniture. & don't believe it .You do,I've done it numerous times. It never occurs to me why anyone would build such stupid vehicles. Yes it might make them easier to turn in tight spaces but I prefer a wheel right on each corner & keep away from anywhere that requires stupid overhangs.
I was taught to park close in tight against kerbs walls parking spaces ,etc: & always do it even with the van.

 

[moulin 87]

Of course @Millsy's when you are looking right. left, straight ahead, behind you, where the exit is, what the other vehicles are doing, how big the curb is, can i turn yet?, what's that 'bleep' doing on my right, sat nav is saying to turn left up a one way street (the wrong way), wife wants a wee!! don't forget your HEIGHT like I did and knocked my SatDish straight off at 1mph!!

There was a sign but some inconsiderate camper had knocked it off days before....

Overhang is important but height, width are more so...

(Luckily I have a very understanding French insurance agent)

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[joe and sue]

Learn to use mirrors when carrying out any manoeuvres when close to anything , also get OH to watch out as well,
always works for us
Joe & Sue

 

[Mikey RV]

Just be careful, you will soon learn the size of your vehicle. Go to a empty space and place a cone or two around your motorhome and practice turning to get the perspective of size. Good luck.

Oh and if you park near me, make sure your six metres away please.

 

[jdk62]

We had an 8.1m Motorhome with a very long overhang and I was always conscious where we parked.

I pulled into a large Tesco Extra car park and parked away from everybody. Not a single car around me

Came out the shop 30 mins later and two cars had parked either side of me... Not enough space in front to pull forward sufficiently before I could turn. Had to wait 50 minutes before one of the drivers returned.... Grrrrr......

 

[GWAYGWAY]

The place I am very wary at are toll booths, close enough to reach but need to careful when clearing the barrier when it goes up.

Not the overhang it is the bloody mirror that caught the pillar the barrier was ok, it was the main upright that got me.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

Learn to use mirrors when carrying out any manoeuvres when close to anything , also get OH to watch out as well,
always works for us
Joe & Sue

Watch out for asking OH.
I asked mine to watch me back out of the drive. BANG!!! I hit the railings opposite. I Shouted out I thought you was watching. Answer was 'I was watching I was I saw you do it, you didn't say to warn you.' I bought a nice new rear camera after that. It me cost a new rear light unit .

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[Lanerboy]

Regards overhang I think my new carthago sits very low at the back compared to my old Rapido and what I have noticed since being in france is the very high stupid ramps they put in some of the villages with zebra crossings across them.

I have had to go over them at slower than walking pace so the back end does not drag when the rear wheels come back down over the hump leaving the back end over the raised area, why on earth do they build them this high now wonder they all have huge scrapes in the tarmac from people's towbars

I really like the idea Concorde have where they put two sets of wheels at the back so if you ground out the wheels hit the floor stopping any damage to the rear panels

 

[tonyidle]

I really like the idea Concorde have where they put two sets of wheels at the back so if you ground out the wheels hit the floor stopping any damage to the rear panels

It's good idea but the van rear substructure needs to be able to cope with the lifting force involved when the wheels ground out. Probably not suitable for aftermarket installation.

 

[bigtwin]

I really like the idea Concorde have where they put two sets of wheels at the back so if you ground out the wheels hit the floor stopping any damage to the rear panels

Because they are mounted lower than the rest of the surrounding chassis/bodywork, they just result in an increased frequency of grounding out and increased forces being transmitted to the chassis/body of the vehicle.

I certainly wouldn’t have them fitted to mine and we have a low and very long (over 2m) overhang.

Ian

 

[funflair]

A couple of years ago we sat in the field at the N+B factory in Polch watching all the vans leaving after the open weekend, it wasn't terribly uneven or anything but time after time the Concordes were dragging the little wheels as they left the field and turned left so they were putting side load on the chassis as well, as Ian says they just reduce the ground clearance.

The wheels are on drop brackets that are supposed to bend when side loaded so then you need to replace or straighten the brackets.

Martin