Crazy Question

[Fastpitch]

This may sound crazy but here goes.

I have this problem with being able to park my 5th wheel in my driveway. At the mouth of my drive I have my mailbox on the left and a storm drain on the right. My problem is, I will have to back one side of my camper over the storm drain in order to get into the drive. I haven't tried this yet simply because I am not sure if the concrete storm drain top will be able to withstand the weight of my trailor. The trailor dry weight is 10,000#'s according to the manufacturer specs. Does anybody have any input on this. Or would it be best not to risk it. I only want to be able to reload my trailor when needed. We have covenant's in or neighborhood that only allows us to keep the rig in our driveway for 72hrs. My plan was to purchase a ramp that will withstand up to 5000 pounds so I could just roll up and over one corner of the storm drain. If more info. is needed on this matter, I will be glad to give as much as I can. With my rig hitched, I figure I am about 51ft overall. I am not a pro at backing either. I am just trying to give myself some room for error if needed while backing up. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Carl L]

By a storm drain, do you mean a culvert under the driveway apron?  Do you have a foto you could attach to your message?

 

[Fastpitch]

I wished I did have a photo. The only way to describe it, the curb runs parallel to the road in front of my house with a storm drain the same height as the curb at the corner of my driveway for rain/water run off. The storm drain is made of concrete. The top of the storm drain is about 6"s thick of concrete with a round steal man hole cover right in the center of it. I don't know if the top of storm drain has re bar inset in the concrete or not. One idea a had was to take the manhole cover off and place bricks between the floor of the drain and the top concrete lid so if there was any give, the lid would press down on the bricks. I hope this will give you an idea. If not, I will try and get a picture and attach.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Carl L]

Well, is it your storm drain or the city's or county's?  If the latter, you had better ask them if you can roll a vehicle across it.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Ask the authority that installed it, but I would not anticipate a problem.

It sounds as though only one tire will bear on the drain at a time and that means no more than about 2500 lbs of pressure. Probably less, since at least 2000 lbs of the trailer GVW are carried by the tow vehicle. That's certainly not a lot for the brief time it will be there.

 

[Fastpitch]

Thanks Gary.

I will take the advice of calling the County 1st. I agree with the fact of not being to much weight and the brief time the trailer will be on it, just trying to be cautious. I definitely will explore all options before proceeding. Especially with contacting the proper authorities. Even thought of calling a concrete contractor for advice.

Thanks

 

[BruceinFL]

Or you could move the mailbox.