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Topic: Oops. Broken my jockey wheel?
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10/4/2018 at 12:18am
Location: south yorkshire Outfit: coachman Amara 450
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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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10/4/2018 at 1:06am
Location: Outfit:
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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.
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10/4/2018 at 8:05am
Location: Yorkshire Outfit: Car & Caravan
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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
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10/4/2018 at 11:19am
Location: Lichfield Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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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.
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11/4/2018 at 9:40am
Location: flint north wales Outfit: swift challenger 480se 2002
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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
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11/4/2018 at 10:24am
Location: Lichfield Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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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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