-
Driveway Considerations
I am not talking about the base prep or the concrete PSI etc. Rather I am wondering about the area needed to turn a bus around. Possibly a circle that the bus could navigate with no wheel getting off the pavement; possibly a “T” shape to do a 3-point turn.
We are looking for suburban land to build a house and a “bus barn” that will also house other toys. We are not talking about many acres since we will be building perhaps still in the city of Knoxville. I am trying to gauge how much room the process of turning a bus will take.
It is challenging enough to house such large vehicle without overwhelming the house, but the area needed to turn it will also impact the house.
Depending on the topography we end up with, some or all of the toy storage may end up in a tall basement under the house. The same turning issues will remain.
Years ago I found the image below. To my eyes it says a circle drive would have to be 90 feet in diameter and 40 feet wide… that does not seem right. Maybe I’m reading it wrong, or maybe it does not apply to Prevosts of today.
Any input will be appreciated.
-
18 Replies
-
To me, it seems that a place for a three point turn would be the answer. I was at a casino last week and the driveway between the buildings ended in a T. I turned right and that leg was the length of the bus. Then I backed into the other leg of the T. That’s a pretty efficient way, without having to cover a quarter acre in concrete.
-
We live in the country on a paved town road; two lanes, modest crown, no gutter, narrow shoulders, shallow ditches (that I keep the coach out of. I back the coach down the driveway and into its parking spot. Four out of 5, 5 out of 6 times I do it without having to go forward to move the front end or the back in over a few feet. We have good under coach clearance as long as the coach is fully aired up and set to “Road”.
A couple of weekends ago we brought the new 26′ race trailer home behind the bus. It was still light out so I decided to see if I could back everything in. I only had to go forward three times to get the trailer properly positioned in its parking spot next to the coach. I suspect that with experience I’ll back the trailer into its parking spot using one single backward motion. The neighbors were out in their yard when we did this. They all came over and were impressed.
BTW … Cathie spots for me when I’m backing the trailer, but I’m to the point of being solo when its just the coach.
One of the deal killers in our search for a 45′ coach was having independent front suspension (IFS). I’ve driven a straight axle (40′) only on one trip (with a 24′ trailer) and didn’t get into tight quarters, so I don’t have a good feel for how manuverable those coaches are. But sitting in the driver’s seat and turning the wheel full lock to one side I’m alway impressed that it seems like the front end of the coach is literally moving sideways.
The driveway leads directly to the race shop. The pad for the coach, trailer, and Suburban is to the east of the garage so both the trailer and the coach have to be swung over to get into their spaces. After using all of this since last November, I wish I had extended the concrete of the parking pad further down the driveway than I did. Its a little tight once in a while. If you want a schematic/drawing of what I have, let me know and I’ll put something together so you have it to reference to.
So … in your search for a property … think about configuring the driveway so you can back down the driveway rather than having a huge concrete area for turning the coach around. You’ll save a ton of money on site prep and concrete and have much less driveway to shovel, blow, or plow when it snows. You’ll also have more yard to enjoy. Take all the money you save and spend it with Jeff Rowe at East Tennessee Luxury Coach. You’ll enjoy money spent with Jeff more than money spent with the concrete guy.
-
The picture below shows the house, marroon HHR on driveway, race shop, Prevost, enclosed trailer, Suburban, and one of the race cars with a cover on it. I can back the coach and the 26′ trailer down the driveway from Pleasant Valley Road and park the trailer in its spot.
I have to admit, I am very, very proud of that.
-
That’s a lot of room…I’am thinking rally.
Very nice…and I think you’re the first to post a satellite picture.
-
I drive by the barn on the left and drive in the back door and out the front. As you can tell I had to widen it out. Missed it the first time!!
-
Very impressive. You don’t have to back up!
-
An ”In-N-Out” bus barn, cool. But hey, real men reverse (with a trailer) don’t they Dick? :))
-
Andy: I never thought about it that way, but I suppose the argument can be made. The very first time I backed the new 26′ trailer in with the coach, it was done in ONE, continously motion. No back and forth. Other times I haven’t been so lucky. A couple of times I’ve had cars coming from either direction or both on Pleasant Valley Road when I’m in the middle of the procedure, it isn’t working so I give up and “go around the block” (a four mile trip) to reposition the coach and trailer.
For any of you current or prospective coach owners who are thing thinking about pulling any kind of a trailer, made sure you get one with a long tongue. Our old trailer (24′) had a standard length tongue and the corner of the coach and the trailer “touched” a few times, so I bought a new trailer with an extended five foot tongue. Very, very important.
At the end of the day, I would prefer to have a drive-through/pull-through arrangement. Just makes it easier, less stress, obviously much easier to do if I’m alone. It really gets exciting on a dark, cloudless night.
-
Dick, any chance you could get access from the side road, and lay another driveway straight across to your garage?
-
Dick,
Maybe you can talk your neighbor into selling so you can build you a new pull through operation. Andy, I am not sure my bus will go into “R” when I have something hooked up to the back of it!!! But if I ever have to give it a try I will let Shari do the backing!!
-
Andy wrote: “Dick, any chance you could get access from the side road, and lay another driveway straight across to yourgarage?”
Even if I could, I probably wouldn’t. Without towing anything, I can easily back the coach into its parking spot next to the race shop without any help; as long as I’ve got some daylight.
After a little more experience, I might have some lines painted on the concrete so I can easily know when I square in the parking spot without stopping and getting out to look. I’ve been amazed at how far from “square” the coach can be when I think its “square” in its spot. This is complicated by the driveway not being perpendicular to the race shop. Turns out the corners of the property are not precise right angles. The race shop was built to be parallel to the rear yard line, hence the first couple of times I tried to line up the coach or the trailer (with the Suburban) with the garage using the driveway it didn’t work.
Some things I learned:
1. You’ll notice the new concrete narrows on the right side of the property as you look at the picture as it approaches the long driveway. I should have extended that angled new concrete another five feet. I end up with trailer, coach, and Suburban tires over the little corner of grass where the angle closes. I thought I had it calculated correctly, but I should have gone further.
2. Something I would have NEVER thought of. Both inside the race shop and on the concrete in front of the shop I should have dictated to the concrete guy where to put the cut lines. For nine years I backed the trailer up to the attached garage where I worked on the race car. I had the Suburban almost at right angles to the trailer. I used the troweled grooves in the concrete to know if I was lined up right to left and when I was back far enough.
I could have done the same thing on the new concrete. Cut lines in front of shop centered on each garage door opening about 2″ wider than the tread of the trailer. On the shop floor, cut lines either side of center about 1″ wider than the tread of the race car.
Where the trailer and coach are parked, cut lines that coincide with where the trailer should be and where the coach should be.
But laying that out ahead of time in the first iteration of building a shop and trailer/coach parking ahead of time and getting it “right” would have been a challenge.
Of course I could have put LEDs in the concrete for lining everything up!
-
Steve the Tinman wrote: “I am not sure my bus will go into “R” when I have something hooked up to the back of it!!! But if I ever have to give it a try I will let Shari do the backing!!”
I can certainly understand your relulctance. The first time we came home with the trailer on a coach we had the 40′ rented Prevost and the 24′ trailer. I parked at a commercial building down the road, unhooked the Prevost, and retrieved the trailer with the Suburban. When we came home with the 45′ Prevost and the 24′ trailer the first time, Cathie wanted me to do the same thing. About a half mile from the house I explained to her that I wasn’t prepared for all the fooling around parking temporaily, unhooking, move the coach to its parking place, bringing the Suburban out, hooking up, manuvering the trailer to drop the race car, and then parking the trailer. I told her, “We’re going to back the trailer into the driveway with the coach.”
And we did it.
My advice to anyone who is going to try the same thing, (1) make sure you have a spotter (radio or walkie-talkie helps) helping you and (2) make sure you clearly understand the geometry between the turning and pivot points of the coach and the trailer. Understand what happens to the trailer when the front end of the coach moves in one direction or another. Whereever the trailer needs to go, you must anticipate that movement with the coach. Finally, make sure the spotter understands the concept of jackknifing the trailer against the coach and can clearing understand (and communicate to you) when “trailer is getting ahead of the coach” and the “coach is ahead of the trailer” … simplies communication.
If you’re uncomfortable backing the coach with a trailer in close confines, find a big parking lot to practice in. Get the feel for how the trailer reacts to the coach’s movement. Set up some cones say 12′ feet apart and back the trailer in between them from different angle. I presume backing with the trailer (and actually without) where the driver’s side of the coach is on the “inside of the corner”. Makes it very easy for me see where I am on the inside which is where the most danger of hitting something is.
The longer the trailer is from the ball to the center of the trailer axle(s), the easier it is to back up … to a point. Short trailers are hard to back up (the trailer has a tendency to get “ahead” of the coach, longer trailers react slower.
If you’re buying a trailer to pull with your coach, make sure you get one with a 60″ tongue; otherwise the corner of the trailer and the corner of the coach could collide.
-
“My advice to anyone who is going to try the same thing, (1) make sure you have a spotter (radio or walkie-talkie helps) helping you “
One of the best features of RV parks without pull through spaces is the entertainment provided by couples who go through the gyrations of backing into a site. The most humorous ones usually have the wife sceaming into the walkie-talkie waving her arms and making all kinds of gestures while standing where the driver cannot see her.
Any time a driver relies on someone else to guide him back into a space he has given up control.
-
I agree with Jon. What is really entertaining is three to five “helpers” giving the driver conflicting “directions” and using terminology about where to go, what to do, and what was about to be hit that was developed during the building of the Tower of Babal.
This isn’t our first rodeo. We’ve been racing for ten years with the Suburban and 24′ trailer.
Over Labor Day we raced at the Milwaukee Mile and I parked with the curb side of the coach and trailer facing the sun and I had to turn the rig around. One of my racing buddies was walking by and asked (notice he “asked”) if I needed help which I gladly accepted. Walt is a third generation farmer from central Indiana. I’ve never had better, timely, succinct direction while manuveuring the coach and trailer than I got from Walt. I could clearly understand what the trailer and the coach was doing and what needed to be done to get parked where I wanted to get parked … something I didn’t have to explain to Walt as he quickly understood where I wanted to get.
-
I have backed trailers all my life but have never tried it on the back of a 45′ bus. I know it can be done because I have seen it.
I saw this a week or so ago at the Marion Civic Center. This driver has backed a trailer a few times. The space behind the trailer is about 5′.
Log in to reply.