1999 U320 Front Recovery Points

January 19, 2015, 08:00:38 pm

OK travelers I have a small issue...

The winter parking spot for our coach can get a bit soggy if we get a TON of rain. We have met that condition and more the last few weeks here in Portland. The coach is actually sinking just sitting in place so I need to get it out and put a few loads of gravel down. (Just tried to move the coach and it is indeed stuck...)

We have another truck with a 20K winch on the property but I am not sure where to pull from? There is not an obvious spot up front other than the axle.

Thoughts and comments please.

Cheers

Chris

Re: 1999 U320 Front Recovery Points

Reply #1 – January 19, 2015, 08:18:17 pm

Chris

We were at Talladega during one of the races that got rained out and left the camping area a mud mire. The coaches were not buried up to the axle just couldn't get traction on slick ground. The way that they hooked onto 2 Foretravels was they opened the generator door and slid a chain with a hook on the end down the front frame on both sides of the generator. The hook caught on the open end of the frame rail. They then hooked up to the center of the chain and gave a gentle pull. Now if you are buried up to the axle this could pull the coach in half.

No we were on high ground it wasn't us. As a side note there was a Marathon coach that had water up half way in the basement. Took 2 tractors to pull him to high ground.

Pamela & Mike

Re: 1999 U320 Front Recovery Points

Reply #2 – January 19, 2015, 08:25:45 pm

One approach is to push a chain with a hook on the end into the rectangular frame members that are on each upper side of the generator. Push the hook in and then set the hook around the open rear of the rectangular frame. Put a spreader between the chains a few feet in front of the generator to prevent the chains from squeezing the two frame members toward each other. Very slowly pull coach forward.

Re: 1999 U320 Front Recovery Points

Reply #3 – January 19, 2015, 08:41:37 pm

They used a tractor pulling on the tow bar on our 36ft U295.

best, paul

Re: 1999 U320 Front Recovery Points

Reply #4 – January 20, 2015, 04:47:14 pm

Quote from: squeezer – January 19, 2015, 08:00:38 pm

...............................We have another truck with a 20K winch on the property but I am not sure where to pull from? There is not an obvious spot up front other than the axle..............................

Squeezer,

Or, you could make up a tow attachment device and always be prepared for a front tow situation without doing damage to the coach.
I can't take credit for this as I mimicked a concept that FT Owner Roger Kirk invented. Roger made several of these up and he even tried to get FT interested in building them as standard new coach issue or to be available as an optional.
As we all know, the frame in a Foretravel is incredibly rugged and strong in both design as well as strong welds. Thus, when the only option for extracting a stuck FT is to retrieve by a front tow attachment point, the challenge becomes how to easily secure to the front frame without damaging the surrounding "small stuff."
This tow device is a simple, easily stored, installed, removed option. It inserts length wise down one (or the other, no need for both) of the 5" x 3"x 3/8" web frame rails, that are on either side at the top of the generator, turns 90°, and thus becomes a non-fouling front attachment point for a chain or cable. Once installed, because it is firmly anchored to a massive frame member that is welded to even more massive frame members that run directly the entire length of the coach, there is little concern that the Motorhome frame can be damaged. The tow attachment device itself would fail long before any of the Motorhome's frame members would be damaged. As long as the retrieval chain/cable is reasonably in line with the long axis of the coach and inserted on "the most stuck side of the coach", no appreciable twisting moment will be applied to the entire coach frame.

I think that 2001 and newer coaches have some interference that would have to be removed in order to use the concept. I know that our 2002 does. The front hatch scissor mounting tabs are bolted to the front of the aforementioned 5" x 3"x 3/8" web frame rails, so if one had to use this tow attachment device, the hatch would have to first be unbolted and cleared out of the way. Of course installing a plug connector for the hatch lock solenoids would add to the usability of the design. But the advantage over just using a chain is that the same hatch removal would have to occur to use a chain, then fishing a chain down the four plus foot length of 5" x 3"x 3/8" web frame rail would have to occur and most chains will not have a foundry hook on the end so the chain clevis grab hook is going to either be difficult to get to secure or it will bite into the end of the frame rail web and become fouled to the frame during retrieval.

An entrepreneur could make up two of these, one to carry one for himself, and another to sell to another Foretraveller for a slight fee, thus keep'n on buying diesel and go'in on down the road. From my experience, many FT owners are strongly interested, only one in a hundred has ever really needed one, the expensive parts are the two heavy duty clevices, the completed device is way too heavy and bulky to ship but it does sell well in a group get together.

I have seen one used. I was amazed at how stuck this particular coach appeared to be in a drainage ditch and how easily it was extracted. They sent a huge commercial wrecker to the scene where a FT had entered a freshly built island and drainage ditch in front of a new service station, at considerable speed (last second turn and overshot the entrance). Pulling out the way that he went in would have stopped traffic for a long time and would have been a seventy five yard or more pull. Pulling out forward was just a few yards and created only a "gawker disruption" of traffic flow. The entire coach belly was resting in rain saturated muddy topsoil. The front and rear suspensions as well as generator and engine compartments were "scooped full" of fresh, muddy topsoil. The wrecker, from a solid anchor vantage point, attached a winch, with the FT running in neutral, the wrecker running at idle, they snatched the FT out in a gentle couple of minutes. The FT immediately dropped 4 or 5 yards of muddy topsoil onto the station's new parking lot. The coach was driven away, non the worse for wear.

Just an option,
Neal

Re: 1999 U320 Front Recovery Points

Reply #5 – January 22, 2015, 02:18:18 pm

Thanks for all the input (I really like the tow hook above).

Another day of drying out and a few more rounds with the shovel and the coach drove out under its own power.

Four yards of gravel were laid down last night and all is well with the world...

Cheers

Chris

Re: 1999 U320 Front Recovery Points

Reply #6 – January 25, 2015, 12:01:39 pm

Glad you got her out ok. I too like Neil's towing bridle design. Having rebuilt the generator frame subassembly, I would strongly caution against attaching any hawser to any of those parts (generator framing subassembly welded to frame.)

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