steep driveway - new unit?

[schmuttis]

Just to give you a followup - we went to the Hershey RV show this weekend and purchased a Winnebago Sightseer 33C on the hope that the larger wheels might help to get it up the drive. We did purchase it contingent on it making up our driveway. I attached two pictures of our sad results. Even 3" added on with airbags won't help us. So it looks like no motor home for us.

[monkey]

Very sorry for your troubles,,, and I know metal grates and such have been mentioned here. But have you looked into having a local metal/welding shop build you a couple temporary "ramps" to bridge the 5 or so feet you need ? They wouldn't be permanent . Just used when needed... I bet it wouldn't cost that much,,, considering what you are buying... You could always build a landscape effect to leave them close by so as not to mess up your really nice driveway,, and not have to tote them up to the house... Keep trying,, there is Always a way to get there...
Monkey

[steveamc]

I would try to hit the driveway so the rear tire on driver side hits the curb several feet in front of the flat entrance. You could use some 2x4 or 2x6's to help with the transitiion from pavement over the curb. The sooner you can get the rearwheels up off the street the more clearance you should have at the rear. I made my approach very wide when we built our house and keep way left on the street until I have to make the turn left on the drive. I had a 38 foot Safari and made it up our drive which looks about the same. Now have a 34 Alpine with shorter overhang still no problems. Just some thoughts.

[Pirate]

How does one purchase a unit and then take it back to the dealer? I would have thought they would go with you, you would test, if not, they drive back.

[Cajims]

Originally Posted by corvettec3

I have a very steep driveway and when we replaced our Class C with the 35' Class A Winnebago we definitely had a major problem. The solution was installing an air lift kit. When the bags are pumped to full capacity (100 psi) it raises the rear bumper of the rig by almost 4". That is enough to give us the clearance we needed. We purchased the kit from Air-Lift (one of our forum sponsors) and a great company to deal with. Before we drive down the driveway it takes about 40 seconds to raise the back with the onboard compressor and remote control and then when we reach the street we drop the air pressure down to 35 psi which gives us a more pleasant ride. When we get home we just do the reverse. I have attached a picture which will give you an idea of the slope of our driveway and the MH overhang.

i had to have this same product on my 97 Coachman. It worked great. when I purchased the new motorhome this year (2006 Windsport) i thought I was going to have the same problem, much to my surprise it went right up the drive with no problem.

[TimLoon]

Had the same problem when my Dad gave up his DP and offered it to us as we were ready to move from the 5th wheel. Would not go up our driveway without alot of manipulation so we ended up buying an Allegro 32BA. The upswept tail goes up with 3 inches to spare. Looking back. it would have been cheaper to have the driveway regraded and repaved.

[VanDiemen23]

x2 with the last post. On the scale of cheap to expensive, this is a backhoe solution.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by schmuttis

Just to give you a followup - we went to the Hershey RV show this weekend and purchased a Winnebago Sightseer 33C on the hope that the larger wheels might help to get it up the drive. We did purchase it contingent on it making up our driveway. I attached two pictures of our sad results. Even 3" added on with airbags won't help us. So it looks like no motor home for us.

So you actually purchased the coach and then they took it back? Amazing. (Sorry it didn't work out for you.)

[wanderso]

It does indeed seem that the incline of the driveway can be changed to be more gradual. Might require some retaining wall work though to stabilize the adjacent soil.

[Z714X4]

Originally Posted by wanderso

It does indeed seem that the incline of the driveway can be changed to be more gradual. Might require some retaining wall work though to stabilize the adjacent soil.

Actually not a bad idea. Perhaps building an "on-ramp" on the side of your existing driveway to lessen the incline.

It could be done with paving stones pretty inexpensively and simply removed when no longer needed.

I really can't tell but it looks like you might have room for that.

[schmuttis]

With encouragement from you and a very nice sales staff that gave us another go at getting the motor home up the driveway - we did it. Now that's not to say it was easy - we inched the rig up the drive with blocking until we got everything on the same plane. Now to see if we can figure out a way to make this a little easier!











Whew!

[SarahW]

OMG!!! Now that you've got it up there, is there a plan for getting it back out? Good luck and enjoy your new moho.

[freetimer]

We have a 38 Gulfstream and the driveway is very steep. We live on a very narrow street and need to hug one side of our driveway while backing up to clear the fence accross the street. We use 4- 2" boards aprox. 4' long, put them (doubled all the while)under the rear tires, because we're backing up, and keep moving them until the tailpipe clears. Also in the front so that does not bottom out. It takes us maybe 4 times, but it's worth it to see him back up the rest of the way. Of course, if you have a wife, she does all the work unless she drives the unit. haha It works for us, good luck!

[wanderso]

Will the clearance change when it is fully loaded for a trip?