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Hi there,

New member and no doubt a stupid post, but bear with me I'm very new to all this caravan lark!

Just returned from our very first trip, and my first time at towing. Everything fine apart from a problem I had when I first went for a test run with the van on the back.

20 yards into my first trip, I braked gently for a junction and the whole until slammed to a halt with an accompanying BANG!

Knocked me confidence for 6....

Further investigation revealed that despite being wound up to the maximum, the jockey wheel didnt have enough clearance. When braking even gently, the wheel made contact with the floor, halted the van causing the caavan brake to engage. this obviously halted the car prety sharpish too!

I played around for ages trying to increae the clearance, and in the end the solution I came up with was to simply take the jockey whell off when towing and throw it in the boot of the car.

I did increase the clearance by an inch or two, but with my confidence shattered I wasnt taking any chances of it happening again!

I've double checked since I got home, and the caravan looks perfectly parallel to the road, it isnt overloaded towards the front, (it was actually empty when I first tetsed it), and when I bounce the hitch up and down there is acres of clearance.

Is this something people have come across before, and are there any issues about removing the jockey whell when towing?

Apologies for my ignorance - theres a lot to learn!

Hi GeeEmm, and welcome to the forum.

First of all, your jockey-wheel shouldn't be able to contact the road when it's fully wound up. Are you sure the car's suspension is capable of carrying the load on the tow-hitch?

Secondly, I can't understand how the jockey-wheel would affect the brake. I would double check the hitch damper, as these have been known to throw the brakes on in the past. A good test for the damper is to push it back manually, and it takes a fair bit of force, and then when you release it, it should slowly return to it's original position. If it is easy to push in, or doesn't return to it's original position, you need to get it replaced.

Re. the jockey wheel, strictly speaking it is supposed to be fitted at all times when towing, but I know that for various reasons, some 'vanners prefer to remove them.

I really don't think your jockey-wheel is the problem, more likely to be the damper.

Thanks for the reply.

I think that what was happening was the jockey wheel was hitting the floor when I braked,  causing the van to "push up" closer to the car and thereby activating the damper / van brakes.

Since I removed the jockey wheel there hasnt been a repeat of the problem.

The car suspension looks fine with the caravan hitched up. there is no real "squatting" or sag at the back end even with all the holiday gear in the back, and it pulls fine, (no to and fro see-sawing or lateral snaking).

The caravan is 20 years old, but it did have a full service 12 months ago by the previous owner and I have the receipts and service invoice to show no real problems were detected.

I'll test that damper like you suggest though.

I'm assuming that the way it works is that as the car brakes, the hitch damper bit compresses and activates the brake on the caravan?

I had a bit of a struggle reversing up-hill into a pitch when I was away and assumed that this was because I was pushing against the van, which was tipped downhill and therefore had the brakes at least partially activated? (i'm told that there is a way of de-activating the brakes for these circumstances but I'm not sure what it is!)

Quote: Originally posted by GeeEmm on 08/2/2008

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I had a bit of a struggle reversing up-hill into a pitch when I was away and assumed that this was because I was pushing against the van, which was tipped downhill and therefore had the brakes at least partially activated? (i'm told that there is a way of de-activating the brakes for these circumstances but I'm not sure what it is!)

Older caravans use to have a bracket/clip that could be swung over the hitch before reversing, but I doubt very much if your 'van would have it. When reversing, the mechanism inside the wheel-hubs should automatically release the brakes, or rather, over-ride them, to avoid them activating.

 

 

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I'll need to have a look at that then as I'm pretty sure the brakes were on!

The van is a 1988 Compas Omega 430, so its not modern by any stretch of the imagination! May well have a mechanical way of de-activating the brakes.

No trouble at all reversing when on level ground.

Many thanks for your replies.

All advice appreciated as I dont know anyone else with a van, other my Dad who last towed about 30 years ago so his knowledge is a little dated!

Quote: Originally posted by GeeEmm on 08/2/2008

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I think that what was happening was the jockey wheel was hitting the floor when I braked,  causing the van to "push up" closer to the car and thereby activating the damper / van brakes.

 

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I'm pretty sure that your 'van will have the jockey-wheel positioned outside the A-frame (as opposed to some of the modern ones that have it "inside"), and the only way that I could imagine the jockey-wheel being able to interfer with the brakes is, if the wheel was turned in at right-angles to the A-frame rather than parallel with it, IF the wheel grounded, it might force the brake-rod upwards, thereby applying pressure to the brakes, but even then, that should never happen, as the jockey-wheel should never hit the ground at any stage when travelling.  

Thats right.

The jockey wheel is outside the A-frame and when retracted, it lies flat against the side of the A frame cover pointing backwards.

I probably hadnt wound it high enough initially, and after I played around to get it as high as possible I'd become a bit paranoid about it hitting the ground again so decided just to remove it.

It was a scary enough bang and jolt at low speed, and I didnt fancy it at higher speeds!

Quote: Originally posted by GeeEmm on 08/2/2008

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The jockey wheel is outside the A-frame and when retracted, it lies flat against the side of the A frame cover pointing backwards.

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I'm pretty convinced the jockey-wheel wasn't your problem then - more likely to be your damper.

Although 20 years old your caravan is not so old that it would have a manual system for de-activating the brakes when reversing. I suspect that the brakes need a good service - they may have been checked 12 months ago but if the van has been standing around a lot they may well have stuck a bit. Caravans should be really be serviced annually anyway, like cars, although I know a lot of people only do them every couple of years.

When you wind up the jockey wheel make sure it is fully wound - sometimes there is a "notch" in the sleeve that accomodates the bits that hold the wheels on and you have to make sure that the wheel is moved round to the right position for it to come up the last bit into the notch. This stops the wheel spinning round. Once the caravan is securely attached to the hitch, loosen the clamp and raise the wheel as far as it will go - on most vans this means the wheel pointing backwards alongside the hitch, although on the one I have now it fits more comfortable with the wheel forwards.

This should give plenty of ground clearance. It is perfectly safe to take it off completely while travelling, as long as you remember to clamp it back on before you take it off the hitch. Lots of caravanners do this, for two reasons, firstly to allow extra clearance over speed bumps, going on & off ferries etc, and secondly as a deterrent to would-be thieves at services.

I think that was the mistake I initially made.

I had wound the wheel up, but hadnt noticed the notches, and the fact that lining up the wheel would give extra clearance.

I also dont think I pulled up the whole assembly as high as it would go either.

I'll definitelty be taking your advice about checking the damper though. There is a very slight clunk when pulling off from a standstill which my dad tells me is it "taking up the slack"

am I right in thinking there should be no slack?

Quote: Originally posted by GeeEmm on 08/2/2008

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am I right in thinking there should be no slack?

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On stopping, the 'van will compress the damper thereby applying the 'vans brakes. On take-off again, the damper will be released, but you shouldn't notice any noise. If the damper is faulty, what happens is, on stopping, there is no resistance to the weight of the 'van trying to push the car along, and then suddenly, you hear a clonk when the damper comes to the end of it's travel, and applies the brakes suddenly. Then on take off, again without any resistance, as the car moves off, the damper will extend to it's full distance again, and obviously at that stage, you would hear another clonk, as the car suddenly jerks the 'van forward.

There are grease nipples on the hitch damper, could be the van needs a good service.

There is adjustment at the wheels-sets shoe to drum clearance, and on the centre rod which actuates the brakes.

Both ends if I remember correctly- possibly these need setting up.

Haynes do a caravan manual which is useful as it shows this info.I found it useful when I used to service my own van. Can't do it the moment as its under warranty!

When the jockey wheel is up it should look like this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Coupling_caravan_car.jpg/800px-Coupling_caravan_car.jpg

Thanks for that.

My jockey wheel wasnt coming up quite that high, due to what I suspect is an aftermarket fibreglass cowling over the A-frame.

I tested the damper as described above and it seems fine. Took a fair old effort to compress it, and it came back out again slowly and smoothly - no whooshing noises or squaeaks or anything.

I'll try again with the jockey wheel and see if I can get it a lot higher.

Thanks everyone for your replies.