Community Forums

RonA · 03-15-2013, 02:38 PM

I am in the process of buying a house that I will need to change the driveway in order to get the motor home on the property. Have a little more than half an acre but it is in a pie shape. The front of the property is only about 50' wide. The current drive gradient is too steep and the MH will drag the rear if I attempt to enter the drive way. The only remedy I can think of is to tear out the old drive (not me, pro help) and reduce the gradient. Anyone else run into this? Ron

tncruiser · 03-15-2013, 02:57 PM

i feel your pain we live on a dead end ,winding narrow road i must drive past my house about 500 feet get my self faced the other direction then pass my drive then back down our drive it also is "windie " and steep . our motor home is 30 feet long because any longer and we would not be able to navigate it into its parking spot , you can see it in the pic . i would not move anywhere else even with the aggravation of parking the MH we live in the woods in the summertime and about 4 months a year we look out at the lake.
brianj

Coaster1 · 03-15-2013, 03:02 PM

My problem resulted from the angle that my driveway met the street. I tried a 2x12x10 but that did not work. Tried at an angle, no dice. I could not pull into the drive because there was no place to turn around so I had to back in. Finally installed a set of air bags on the rear which would raise the coach just enough so as no to drag. I also installed bogie wheels on the rear of the frame just in case I forgot.

StevieG · 03-15-2013, 03:52 PM

My driveway is shaped like a question mark and on a pretty steep grade. When you get to the top, there's not much room with 3 cars in the driveway. So the first thing I have to do is park all the vehicles at the bottom of the driveway. To get in, I have to go past the driveway and come back from the cul de sac. Then I back up the hill with my DW trying to keep my tires on the edge of the driveway as much as possible. The first bend is the roughest, since I am 39 ft. and my first turn is about 10 ft in. I have already gone off on each side, but only one tire and by about 2 ft. I am having a paver come tomorrow to give me a quote to widen the inside and outside of the turns and lengthen the back where it's parked. I already have depressions in the asphalt from where the tires sat all winter. The whole process takes me about 20 minutes every time I go in and out... People are amazed I get it up there, but not much of a choice... it's not an optimal situation, but its in my driveway and plugged in to 50 amp service all the time...

StevieG · 03-15-2013, 03:56 PM

I guess when I think about it, it's still easier than trying to dock a 41 ft flybridge boat in an 8 knot tidal current with a wind and 1 to 2 ft chop...

RonA · 03-16-2013, 06:44 AM

Has anyone ever reshaped their driveway?

StevieG · 03-16-2013, 12:30 PM

Ron, it sounds like a very expensive solution if you need to pay some one to do it. I just had a quote this morning for minimal paving to expand the width of one turn (by a foot on each side) and add on a 6 ft X 6 ft pad at the end for the coach for $2,500. Yikes!!! I was told that quote was only good for 2 weeks because of the price of gas... thinking about getting another quote and putting gravel on the turns now. If they have to rip up the existing driveway in your case, regrade, put down item 4, and repave, even for a small area that can get very costly.

Ramzfan · 03-16-2013, 07:42 PM

Ron, I would think very seriously about modifying my coach before I tore out my driveway and re-did it. I believe you could go to a good motorhome shop and get the "drag-wheels" welded to your frame somehow so that you did not drag as you entered or left your drive. Also, as another poster suggested, adding some additional air bags to your suspension in the rear makes a lot of sense. Both of these modifications would not come anywhere close to what the cost of a new driveway would be.

RonA · 03-16-2013, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramzfan

Ron, I would think very seriously about modifying my coach before I tore out my driveway and re-did it. I believe you could go to a good motorhome shop and get the "drag-wheels" welded to your frame somehow so that you did not drag as you entered or left your drive. Also, as another poster suggested, adding some additional air bags to your suspension in the rear makes a lot of sense. Both of these modifications would not come anywhere close to what the cost of a new driveway would be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coaster1

My problem resulted from the angle that my driveway met the street. I tried a 2x12x10 but that did not work. Tried at an angle, no dice. I could not pull into the drive because there was no place to turn around so I had to back in. Finally installed a set of air bags on the rear which would raise the coach just enough so as no to drag. I also installed bogie wheels on the rear of the frame just in case I forgot.

Thanks for the info.
How much will air bags raise the rear end? Will air bags fit on my motor home? (2003 Dolphin LX 6355, Workhorse W22).
I have one RV dealer in Pensacola, FL. I am new to the area. Could you suggest other shops that might be able to weld on the bogie wheels?
Ron

Coaster1 · 03-17-2013, 06:17 AM

Ron, both Firestone and Airlift make air bag kits. Complete with a compressor, on- board gauge and switch, the cost should be less than $500 installed. They should provide 4 to 6 inches of lift. You need to verify this with the mfg and the installer. The wheels or rollers as they are sometimes referred to, should of good quality steel about six inches wide welded to the rearmost of the frame, not the hitch. Don't go the cheapie route by using rubber or caster wheels as the do not need to swivel. I forgot the name of the RV dealer you are referring to but they are located on hwy 29 north of I-10. You do not need a dealer to do this. Any heavy duty truck shop will do. As far as the welding goes, a good shop, once they understand what you are trying to accomplish, can fabricate the spacers needed to go between the frame and the wheel assembly and complete the installation. I found these wheels to be very helpful over the years and even have them on the trailer I pull. Hope this helps.

Just occurred to me. When I said six inches in width, not diameter. The rollers I'm speaking of should look like a kitchen rolling pin. By adding typical looking wheels you are only reducing the clearance between the coach and the road.

RonA · 03-19-2013, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coaster1

Ron, both Firestone and Airlift make air bag kits. Complete with a compressor, on- board gauge and switch, the cost should be less than $500 installed. They should provide 4 to 6 inches of lift. You need to verify this with the mfg and the installer. The wheels or rollers as they are sometimes referred to, should of good quality steel about six inches wide welded to the rearmost of the frame, not the hitch. Don't go the cheapie route by using rubber or caster wheels as the do not need to swivel. I forgot the name of the RV dealer you are referring to but they are located on hwy 29 north of I-10. You do not need a dealer to do this. Any heavy duty truck shop will do. As far as the welding goes, a good shop, once they understand what you are trying to accomplish, can fabricate the spacers needed to go between the frame and the wheel assembly and complete the installation. I found these wheels to be very helpful over the years and even have them on the trailer I pull. Hope this helps.

Just occurred to me. When I said six inches in width, not diameter. The rollers I'm speaking of should look like a kitchen rolling pin. By adding typical looking wheels you are only reducing the clearance between the coach and the road.

Have not been able to locate the wide rollers... can someone point me in the right direction. Ron