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Subject Topic: Oops. Broken my jockey wheel? Post Reply Post New Topic
PersonVickyandBrian
09/4/2018 at 10:59pm
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On arrival at site today had to wind the jockey wheel to full height as it was sinking into the deep gravel... still didn’t bring front of van high enough. Would not wind up any more.

My (not so) bright idea was for my strong 15 year old son to lift the front of the van while I put a block under the jockey wheel. Unfortunately as he lifted the van up, the wheel fell out!

Thankfully he held up the the van long enough for me to put the ‘tube’ back inside the receiving tube so he could put it back down safely! (We even repeated the whole performance a second time to put the block under).

Now the jockey wheel will not raise or lower... and seems only to be held in place with gravity. Not looking forward to hitching up in 5 days if I cannot lower into the towbar!

What now? I was taught on my towing course years ago never to use the corner steadies to take the weight of the van, only to ‘steady’ it. Although I see many people do this. Can I use them to raise the van high enough to get under the jockey wheel and see what’s going on? Should I use a car jack (on something to give it height) to take the weight of the front of the van to take a look? What am I likely to see... and can I mend it?

Many thanks


PersonG#Winger
10/4/2018 at 12:18am
 Location: south yorkshire
 Outfit: coachman Amara 450 View G#Winger's Profile View Profile   Reply to G#Winger Reply   Quote G#Winger Quote  
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with the weight of the van secured on the corner steadies ,loosen the clamp on the jockey wheel , then ,with it loose ,wind the jockey wheel down ,until the threads re,engage on the stem , then tighten clamp and wind wheel down till it gets some weight on it.
stu

-------------
I predict a riot !!


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PersonOpensauce
10/4/2018 at 1:06am
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It’s ok for weight of ‘van to be on front steadies. What has happened is that you wound jockey wheel down far enough for the lower section to unscrew from the upper. Hopefully you have not bent jockey wheel so proceed as above post & once clamp is undone so weight is off jockey wheel the 2 halves should screw back in together.

Once you have jockey wheel sorted then find a couple more blocks of wood so you have a thicker stack to put jockey wheel onto to make hitching up easier.

If jockey wheel is bent & will not go back together then caravan will be ok to leave on steadies while you find a local caravan shop & buy a new jockey wheel. They are standard items & any caravan shop will stock them cost around £30.


PersonPaul_B
10/4/2018 at 8:05am
 Location: Yorkshire
 Outfit: Car & Caravan View Paul_B's Profile View Profile   Reply to Paul_B Reply   Quote Paul_B Quote  
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Don't use corner steadies as a jack but like others have said they can take the weight when used in combination with the wheels.
A lot of people take the weight off the jockey wheel once the van is level, some take it off (side type) and use the clamp for an aerial or satellite dish


PersonVickyandBrian
10/4/2018 at 9:47am
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Thank you so much all of you. When it stops peeing down I’ll do that!


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Persontango55
10/4/2018 at 11:19am
 Location: Lichfield
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I had an Al-ko jockey wheel clamp lever snap when I arrived at a campsite near York a few years ago so I was unable to unhitch. Luckily the jockey wheel was clamped to the side of the 'A' frame (not down the centre) which was easy to remove which I did but there were a couple of other guys who helped to lift the hitch off the towball whilst I wound the corner steadies down on the caravan for support. I made a temporary repair by removing the broken lever bolt stuck in the thread and then buying a 10mm. hexagon bolt (as I had Allen keys in my tool box) to replace the Al-ko clamp lever till I got home to buy a new one. At least I was able to hitch up using the bolt and Allen key but I never jacked up the caravan by the corner steadies as they are only fixed to the timber floor and not the chassis as some people think they are.
Just a word of caution to only use the corner steadies as support and never to use them as lifting jacks. Hope you get sorted anyway.


PersonVickyandBrian
10/4/2018 at 5:04pm
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Woohoo. Very proud of myself for mending, and very grateful for your advice. I also spotted a bolt coming out of my mover but cannot for the life of me find my allen keys. Stuffed the bolt with blue tac and used a phillips screwdriver! That’ll do till I can find an allen key in next few days! 8 years of solo adult caravanning with kids and dogs and never had a crisis to put me off yet. Even the roof light coming off while on the move!!! (To be fair, had husband with me for that one and he ran back for it!!!!) Thanks all


Personthe black fox
11/4/2018 at 9:40am
 Location: flint north wales
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Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 10/4/2018
I had an Al-ko jockey wheel clamp lever snap when I arrived at a campsite near York a few years ago so I was unable to unhitch. Luckily the jockey wheel was clamped to the side of the 'A' frame (not down the centre) which was easy to remove which I did but there were a couple of other guys who helped to lift the hitch off the towball whilst I wound the corner steadies down on the caravan for support. I made a temporary repair by removing the broken lever bolt stuck in the thread and then buying a 10mm. hexagon bolt (as I had Allen keys in my tool box) to replace the Al-ko clamp lever till I got home to buy a new one. At least I was able to hitch up using the bolt and Allen key but I never jacked up the caravan by the corner steadies as they are only fixed to the timber floor and not the chassis as some people think they are.
Just a word of caution to only use the corner steadies as support and never to use them as lifting jacks. Hope you get sorted anyway.

Weirdly enough this happened to us last time out ,hitching up to come home and the bolt snapped off as we got the van on the car . Managed to get home with it 300 miles ,and even got a new handle en-route from a caravan shop . But getting the old stud out of the thread was a nightmare my mate done it in the end but a experience I didn’t enjoy


Persontango55
11/4/2018 at 10:24am
 Location: Lichfield
 Outfit: Coachman Amara 450 View tango55's Profile View Profile   Reply to tango55 Reply   Quote tango55 Quote  
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Quote: Originally posted by the black fox on 11/4/2018
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 10/4/2018
I had an Al-ko jockey wheel clamp lever snap when I arrived at a campsite near York a few years ago so I was unable to unhitch. Luckily the jockey wheel was clamped to the side of the 'A' frame (not down the centre) which was easy to remove which I did but there were a couple of other guys who helped to lift the hitch off the towball whilst I wound the corner steadies down on the caravan for support. I made a temporary repair by removing the broken lever bolt stuck in the thread and then buying a 10mm. hexagon bolt (as I had Allen keys in my tool box) to replace the Al-ko clamp lever till I got home to buy a new one. At least I was able to hitch up using the bolt and Allen key but I never jacked up the caravan by the corner steadies as they are only fixed to the timber floor and not the chassis as some people think they are.
Just a word of caution to only use the corner steadies as support and never to use them as lifting jacks. Hope you get sorted anyway.

Weirdly enough this happened to us last time out ,hitching up to come home and the bolt snapped off as we got the van on the car . Managed to get home with it 300 miles ,and even got a new handle en-route from a caravan shop . But getting the old stud out of the thread was a nightmare my mate done it in the end but a experience I didn’t enjoy



The way I got the broken stud out of mine was to access it from the back end (under the 'A' frame). I sprayed some WD40 into the hole then used a nail punch and hammer and tapped it round anti-clockwise then got some pliers on the last bit and retrieved it that way. Luckily I had the tools with me to do the job but without getting the broken stud out first I wouldn't have been able to use the temporary 10 mm. bolt.
Apparently these levers do snap over time due to the thread on the lever being stretched constantly under tension and it's a part that doesn't get lubricated under the service either so it may pay to unscrew it once a year and apply some grease to the thread. That way if it the thread does snap it's going to be easier to remove the broken bit left inside.



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