Parking on sloped driveway

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Nrgtic4

We were always asking, everyone, from the very beginning, if we should keep, remove or modify the ramps... If the consensus is that the ramps are un needed and are making things worse, level wise, safety wise, etc- instead of better, -we are all for disposing them. We are open to all ideas (other than storing the trailer elsewhere)

Again, your driveway slope is very similar to mine and I consider mine very benign. I don't think that your ramps were really needed. On the other hand I wouldn't waste the time to remove them.

The only time I've ever worried about the ability of chocks to do their job was this lovely site in Deception Pass State Park. It was listed as a 30' site.
That time I was probably wishing that I had a tandem axle so that I could use X-chocks. On the other hand, those plastic chocks did just fine.

Ron

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Nrgtic4

We were always asking, everyone, from the very beginning, if we should keep, remove or modify the ramps... If the consensus is that the ramps are un needed and are making things worse, level wise, safety wise, etc- instead of better, -we are all for disposing them. We are open to all ideas (other than storing the trailer elsewhere)

Yes Lisa and Pete I would remove the ramps . I don't think they are needed . Pat

[War Eagle]

For what it's worth, I've always believed that rubber chocks are less likely to slip on hard surfaces, like a concrete driveway, compared to plastic chocks. And if you like the idea of rubber chocks, here is an example of a commercial-sized wheel chock that will fit between tires on twin axles. You can tie a rope to the i-bolt to make it easier to pull out:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...w?cm_vc=-10005
On a side note - someone mentioned flat bottoms on tires, and it reminded me of my high school basketball days and road trips in the winter. I don't know what size, bias and load range the tires were on those big old yellow school buses, but we'd drive an hour or more to another school, and the tires would be hot and relatively flexible when we we got there, so the bottoms of the tires in contact with the ground would flatten a bit to conform to the ground. In below zero winter temperatures (this was in Colorado), the tires would "freeze" like that. End of game, time to load up and head for home, and those "frozen" flat spots on the bus tires would go "bumpity, bumpity, bumpity" down the road for many a mile before the tires warmed back up enough that the flat spots would round back out. Fun memories....

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

What padlock would you use to secure the chain?

Probably this one

[tractors1]

Originally Posted by Rossue

To keep the Chicago sky(and trailer) from falling, perhaps on top of removing the ramp while keeping the standard chocks plus having the between wheel blocks you could also tether the trailer with a chain securely tethered on an eye bolt either anchored in the driveway or fastened to the garage

P.S. Will this thread ever end?

Probably many more expert opinions coming............

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by tractors1

Probably many more expert opinions coming............

We haven't discussed the advantage of a single axle over tandem axles when parking on a slope.
My 17B simply pivots on the single axle, putting no extra pressure on the suspension.

[Brian B-P]

The repair ramps which Dave showed his trailer's front wheels on, and which I suggested using under the front wheels to level the trailer, essentially are chocks (reasonable ones are made of plastic, are an open gridwork so the trailer tires grip on them, and have rubber feet so they don't slip). So... you can secure the trailer and level it, with no custom ramps, nothing excessively tall, and nothing in any way shaky.

Personally, if it happens to be set up exactly as shown in the first photo when winter hits, I would happily leave it there, because that works too.

[wetzk]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rossue
you could also tether the trailer with a chain securely tethered on an eye bolt either anchored in the driveway or fastened to the garage

P.S. Will this thread ever end?

Originally Posted by gbaglo

What padlock would you use to secure the chain?

This is a nice lock

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Ain't that just the purtiest door you ever seen?

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Ok, I've been trying to decipher this for awhile now. Purtiest = prettiest, for sure, but after that, I got nothin'. [emoji23]

Get it now? Darn fast swyping without grammatical checks.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

The repair ramps which Dave showed his trailer's front wheels on, and which I suggested using under the front wheels to level the trailer, essentially are chocks (reasonable ones are made of plastic, are an open gridwork so the trailer tires grip on them, and have rubber feet so they don't slip). So... you can secure the trailer and level it, with no custom ramps, nothing excessively tall, and nothing in any way shaky.

Personally, if it happens to be set up exactly as shown in the first photo when winter hits, I would happily leave it there, because that works too.

Wow a lot of debate here over a parking spot. Yes, my current (temporary) set up in the driveway is rock solid and it appears I have quite a bit more slope than the OP. The only thing I would do different is run the trailer up on the ramps a little bit more to more equally load the axles. As far as stability, let's remember that there are nine contact points with the ground...almost 10 because the back hitch is almost on the concrete

[Dave Walter]

I guess that anyone with a sloping driveway had better start moving their wheeled vehicles to perfectly flat ground prior to any winter storm, or you will find your cars, trucks, boats, camper trailers and bicycles have all slid down the ice to the bottom of the slope.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

......or you will find your cars, trucks, boats, camper trailers and bicycles have all slid down the ice to the bottom of the slope.

Or in my case on down to the end of the block too.

[ReagentGrade]

Originally Posted by Steve Clark

Good advice from Pat! We have a sloped driveway also. In addition to the sequence Pat gives, after chocking all wheels, I return to our tow vehicle. With my foot on the brake, I let the weight of the trailer slowly creep forward, tightening onto the chocks. The tow vehicle and trailer are now totally locked into the chocks. When you unhitch, the trailer remains stationary and does not budge. The coupler slides straight off with no further adjustments.

Good advice from Steve! I never thought of "preloading" the chocks. If you just kick the chocks under the tires, as I have been doing, there is a chance of them sliding at an inopportune time. Steve's method eliminates that risk.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by ReagentGrade

Good advice from Steve! I never thought of "preloading" the chocks. If you just kick the chocks under the tires, as I have been doing, there is a chance of them sliding at an inopportune time. Steve's method eliminates that risk.

We find after we have unhitched the trailer already preloads the chocks because of the slope . But another great tip in case they don't . Pat

[arniesea]

Originally Posted by Nrgtic4

Thanks Pat,

(And Dave, Ron, Jim, and everyone else that is trying to help).

I took a new picture from the street that might more clearly show our set up from that angle.
Our set up IS chocked with chocks on both sides of the wheels, we have wheel stops in between to stop the movement of wheels, and the ramp that Pete constructed. Should we switch to rubber chocks? An x chock or your thing between the wheels ? remove the ramp? So many ideas, it's a bit confusing...

Compared with my driveway, yours has much less slope. If it were me, I would remove the ramp, angle the trailer to the same slope as the driveway, chock it as you discussed above, and sleep easy knowing everything is fine. Perhaps add a cover to reduce oxidation.

[Chotch]

Originally Posted by float5

You have a bad situation and I guess that we just would not even do it. I would suggest finding a storage facility. We have a sloped driveway but no way we would put the trailer on it. We happen to just have enough space at the top that is level that we could probably use but we have not tried it. It would greatly limit our overall space for cars. We are in a storage facility instead but may see about home later. We would, however, not be on any such slope at home.

We also never put down stabilizers for storage. If someone has the trailer at home and is constantly in it, then maybe they want them down. I would never do it in winter for sure. Things can need to be done such as moving and that doesn't work with frozen parts.

In your situation, the first thing, which you may know, is not to crank the tongue jack with stabilizers down. The stabilizers are not to take the weight of the trailer. You can mess up them and the trailer doing that. That is, in effect, what you are doing in this situation --- trying to stabilize the whole trailer partly with the stabilizers. They are for making the trailer more stable while in it but should never be used to take the weight of it.

No way that I would have anyone stay in that trailer and I would watch out when in it.

We stayed at this site for 5 days, experienced a pretty bad thunder storm while there, heavy rain gusting winds. Stayed snug as a bug. I think there's a lot more slope than that little driveway.



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