Hi Dan,
You’ve probably been looking at my website?
I added this capability recently at the request of a valued friend who asked for it since he, like yourself, was getting creaky in the knees, and in fact could find nothing suitable locally so he built his own.
The problem seems to be with sourcing suitable 12VDC gearmotors that are not hideously expensive, since any cost there is immediately multiplied by 4. He eventually imported something which didn’t work out that much cheaper once he paid the import and the carriage costs.
From the research I’ve done on the subject I can tell you that it’s possible for the averagely skilled workman to motorise his own steadies but it will cost between R30,000 and R35,000. using locally available motors. That includes the remote control electronics.
I’ve taken this as far as the proving stage but I don’t plan to get into the manufacturing business, but I can certainly advise you on what we’ve learned about the process so far.
If you want to ask some more questions, this forum would be a good place to answer them. Otherwise if you want to do it privately you can find my email address on my website.
Hi Dan,
You already have 4 corner steadies with a proven ability to lift and level the caravan under almost any conditions. They need little maintenance and will last the life of the caravan if not abused. The problem is you don’t want to bend down and crank the 17mm AF hex head on the end of the leadscrew with a manual crank handle. You want to motorise it.
(There are all sorts of other esoteric solutions such as hydraulics etc, but let’s stay with what is reasonably attainable and within our practical reach. We want a finish able project and not pie in the sky.)
To do this you need a machine with an output RPM of 30 – 60 (1 to 2 seconds per turn) and an output torque of 20Nm (the same as a 20Kg force applied to a crank with a 100mm arm length). The gearmotor should be securely mounted on the chassis, couple readily to the hex end of the leadscrew, and not extend too far forward or backward from the end of the screw.
The best way to accomplish this is to use a worm drive gearmotor (the output shaft is perpendicular to the axis of the motor) with a hollow output shaft that can accommodate the hex end of the screw without too much modification. The hollow output shaft will have a keyway cut into it. The gearmotor must be mounted on the front or rear transverse chassis member and then covered with a suitable enclosure.
If you plan to operate the motors directly with switches you’ll want to place limit switches to detect the UP and DOWN ends-of-travel so as not to damage anything when the motor runs out of road. My control takes care of this problem by electronically detecting the current spike that happens at this point and shuts off the power to the motor.
The only real difficulty we have encountered so far is that the gearmotors that fit the above format are of industrial quality and capable of continuous operation, whereas we could use something a lot less robust since we will use it for less than an hour per year. So the cost of these machines when multiplied by four becomes outrageous.
On the other hand motors of a different format are either totally suitable (such as too long), or require such extensive engineering to adapt them to the task that they become unviable.
So at this stage it is a fairly simple project but requires deep pockets. The most generally available motor that fits our specification is made by Transtecno in Italy and is sold here by several different dealers for between R5000 and R6000 each. Domestic quality motors such as those used on garage doors would come in at half or less that price but the search for such a motor/gearbox combination has so far been unsuccessful.
This is the format of gearmotor you need:
This is what the corner steady looks like. A fairly uncomplicated DIY adaption by someone with moderate hand skills.
Come chat with us in the forum. Click here to register an account or if you are already registered click here to log in.
