Jockey up or down (from Dec magazine)
Comments
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The layout of my caravan is such that the seating area is at the rear, opposite that of the jockey wheel, so jockey wheel up or down is not going to make any difference because all the weight of the occupants goes through the rear steadies (and they are the normal ones, i.e. not Big Foot).
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Surely with all steadies down and then the jockey down its not going to take that much weight at all! All will be distributed fairly evenly, with the wheels taking most weight, if pitched correctly.
What of these self levelling caravans and motorhomes? They appear to use the steadies in a similar way.
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Surely with all steadies down and then the jockey down its not going to take that much weight at all! All will be distributed fairly evenly, with the wheels taking most weight, if pitched correctly.
What of these self levelling caravans and motorhomes? They appear to use the steadies in a similar way.
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Your more likely to bend a steady than a jocky wheel, look at the thickness, and you can also push you steady through the caravan floor without the jockey wheel down, ALWAYS keep it DOWN when un hitched
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Doubtless, with your capitalisation, you speak with a well informed expertise. Perhaps you will help us all with a reference to someone who has experienced a corner steady "pushing" its way through the floor. Your response will be enlightening for us all. Presumably you also have experience of rear steadies pushing through where there is seating at the rear.
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Would anyone who sees an advantage in raising their jockey wheel while pitched, please provide an explanation of the advantges, please?
What exactly do you gain by raising the jockey wheel?
At a stretch, I might be able to see that it would be no worse to raise the jockey wheel than to leave it down, other than the wasted time.
Second thoughts, no I cannot even that in a positive light.......so come on Jennyc......what are the advantages?
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A friend of mine ( who honestly isn't short of a bob or two ) gave up his new Range Rover and T.E.C. caravan for a new very nice motor home,
When asked what the heck had he done ! He answered " this is the way forward, we've got the bikes on the back". The next rally he came on he was pulling a Smart Brabus ??
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It has always seemed unlikely to me that corner steadies were less than adequate for supporting the corners of caravans, unaided by a jockey wheel, which is absent at the rear anyway. Though we have always left the jockey wheel down for reasons of convenience. Following strongly polarised views on this forum, I took the trouble to contact Alko for their advice, which is that while the wheel is commonly left down, it isn't essential. I've reproduced their response, verbatim on this thread. Following which we've read a number of posts which categorically claim that the poster is correct that the wheel must be left down and a variety of unsupported claims as to the vulnerability of corner steadies. We continue to leave the jockey wheel down because it's convenient, and to temporarily raise the jockey wheel by using a coarse adjustment to the jockey wheel clamp where circumstances necessitate it. It's a pity that so many people on this forum post their beliefs as fact, when in reality they are unsubstantiated and sometimes not even thought through.
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a couple of you not sure about my coment about a steady pushing through,
1: a caravan is made nose heavy so the jocky wheel takes the weight
2: I knew a guy when I lived in Durham who put the steadys down, then lifted with a jack and removed the wheels for the winter, then removed the jack, in the spring when he went to the van the wheel drums where on the ground, the steadys had pushed through the wood floor
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Dakota, there are so many misunderstandings in your posts that its hard to know where to start.
This thread was started by someone who wanted to know whether a jockey wheel should be lowered when “on site”. You seem to have misunderstood this to mean with the wheels removed for winter storage. All subsequent posts have related to the OP’s original question, not to storage without wheels.
You tell us that the reason that caravans are manufactured nose heavy is to ensure that the jockey wheel rests on the ground. In reality, all trailers, including those without jockey wheels are made nose heavy as an aid to towing, with jockey wheels or simple legs being a secondary consideration.
You don’t seem to be aware that the A frame loading is normally limited to 100Kg, while a common jockey wheel is built to support 150KG static load or 90 Kg while being pushed. In contrast, typical Alko corner steadies are rated at 1000Kg each (though this takes no account of the strength of the floor to which they are attached). These figures are readily available on the Alko website, and they confirm that far from simply steadying the van, corner steadies are designed to be strong enough to support the front (and rear) of the van unaided by the lesser strength of the jockey wheel. It can reasonably be assumed that caravan manufacturers allow for normal domestic use in their floor strengthening too.
You go on to give an example of someone who, in conflict with universal advice, from numerous professional sources, decided to support his entire caravan unaided by the wheels and suspension, on the steadies. Unsurprisingly he suffered considerable damage. He was maybe lucky that he didn’t suffer chassis distortion too – perhaps he did. I could be wrong, but I rather doubt that anyone on CT is unaware that caravans should not be levelled laterally, nor wheels changed, nor stored by using corner steadies as jacks.
Although Cody is so confident in his own opinion that he believes it to be fact, and the qualified engineers at Alko are unknowledgeable pen pushers, there may be value in basing our beliefs on manufacturer’s specifications.
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The very fact that this has become such a contentious issue with 85 replies up to now indicates to me that there is no substantiated evidence that it makes any differenece one way or another if the jockey wheel is up or down. If the position were clear then the issue would have been settled long ago and there would be no further need for any replies.
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Can't believe this thread is still going! Reminds me of a song. .
"You put your jockey wheel up, you put your jockey wheel down, up down, up down, turn it all around ...."
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When I first saw your post, I checked the CC's recent survey, which revealed just 3% of respondents had floor problems, and all were delamination, not weakness where the corner steadies were mounted. But I waited until yesterday, when I was due to collect our Swift van from a large dealer, following a service. "Yes" they have come across cases of corner steady damage to floors - only ever after malpractice such as attempting to use the steadies as jacks when changing a wheel for example. No one had came across a failure in normal use. So I think that we should treat your LOL as just another unjustified snipe at manufacturers. And of course, in doing so you mislead CT readers into believing that bad design and workmanship are endemic - what a pity.
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