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We have just purchased a caravan which has been garaged for just under two years & not used.  When braking hard there is a very loud clonking noise coming from the caravan & seems to be knocking into the back of the car.

Someone has suggested it could be the damper but we have pushed this in as advice & it comes back out slowly, apprantly this is what should happen.  Could the brakes just need to given an overhall? or could it be something far worse?.  Your advice would be welcome as we are new to caravaning.  When we checked the paperwork new brake shoes were fitted not long before the van was placed in storage.   

Many thanks for your advice

Sounds to me like the brakes need adjusting, my new van did this when I towed it home. You can check at the back of the tow hitch where the pivot arm connected to the brakes is, the gap between them with tow hitch fully out should be 2-3mm at most, on mine is was nearer 12mm and not been adjusted at least correctly in 10 years!!

Another possible reason because it's been stood, if you have inner and outer cables leading to the brakes, then these or something else might be sticking.

could be your hitch not properly secured to the car (ball to frame or frame to chassis). or the hitch on the van excessively worn so it is a loose fit, or could be the hitch not secured to the caravan chassis correctly.

It is possible the damper has failed so it does spring back softly, but under compression (braking) there is little or no damping effort as the push test only really tests the action in one direction

Hi Jags.

After 2 years parked up I would at least get serviced, that way you can be sure on the main things, brakes and wheels, gas and electricals.  This could be the best £140 or so you could spend.

And from what you describe it could be the damper, on top of the Aframe there should be a grease nipple, you could try putting 3 or 4 sgood squirts in and see if that makes a difference

My recomendation though is service.

All the best

Thanks everyone for the advice, we are going to try greasing everything at the weekend, hopefully this should solve the problem.  We have already booked the van in for a service, but were slighlty worried when they told us how much a new damper would cost, lets hope the all the other options work

Tony

imho,its the damper at fault,they are not hard to do yourself. type  in damper

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