Alko atc locked brakes after uncoupling
Hi all
Please excuse my ignorance but it is down to the total lack of experience. I bought my first ever caravan on Sunday and am delighted with it and cant wait to get out there and hopefully meet up with some of you around the sites
I drove the caravan home from the dealers which is a Bailey Olympus 462 which is fitted with an Alko atc system. It went great on the drive home however after reversing it into my driveway, I uncoulpled it but then decided to move it a bit further back with the motor mover. When I tried to move it however the wheels had completely locked up. I re-coupled it to the car and I still couldn't move it forward or backwards as the brakes appeared to be locked up
In fairness to the dealership, they sent a technician out first thing this morning, however I was not there to see him as I had gone to work. My wife said he took less than 10 minutes to fix the problem but she was able to put the technician on the phone to me. He told me that what had happened was that when I reversed the caravan, I should have moved it forwards slightly before I uncoupled the caravan because if I didn't, the atc unit would lock the brakes up. He said it was especially so if reversed up or down a slope
My questions are, if you are able to help me:
- Is this totally correct and that I need to make sure that I always move a little forwards again after reversing and uncoupling
- I am going away to my first CL site this weekend and very nervous that it may happen again being such a novice. If it did, and considering how quickly the technician fixed the problem, is it something that I could reset myself
I just don't want to get away from home somewhere and find out that I cant move the caravan again after it is uncoupled
Apologies if I am being really naïve but I am trying to learn all I can and don't want to go and do anything really stupid
Thanks in advance
Jack
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Yes. If you get chance, get someone to film with camera phone as you slowly back your van up, you will see that the bit of the tow hitch behind the ball concertinas up. Usually covered with ridged rubber. Once you have stopped reversing, you simply need to ease forward very slowly slightly to release the brakes again. You need to do this every time after reversing with van hitched up. Very, very gently and under full control. We often do it with jockey wheel down but not locked, just prior to uncoupling. If you are on a very steep slope, you could put a couple of bricks in front of caravan wheels as well.
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Sounds about right to me.
After you’ve reversed the van just move it forward a few inches so you can see the rubber gaiter stretch, apply the van handbrake and unplug the electric lead before uncoupling. That will release the brakes and prevent the ATC working.
It always worked for us.
You beat me, TDA. I was too busy watching Shetland.😀
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That's great, thanks for the advice. I will make sure that is top of my to do list every time I reverse. I was absolutely gutted when I arrived home with my new caravan to find that it had what I thought a serious fault. Now it makes more sense and having been through the pain, it is something that I really hope that I will never forget to do in future!!!
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That’s the term I was trying to think of “rubber gaiter”😁
You’ll be fine, everyone has to learn all these little things. Slow and steady when reversing is always the best way. All too easy to burn out a clutch as many have found to their cost.
Good to hear you are going on a CL, many would find it daunting for some reason, but little different to any other site. Don’t be worried about asking for help or advice, Sites are usually very friendly places. On Club Sites Wardens are very used to new owners, first time outers, and most CL owners have vans themselves, or at least lots of experience. May the sun shine for your first trip..............😁
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I doubt you'll forget, Jack.😄
Enjoy your van.
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No, there is confusion here right from the start between the ATC and the auto reverse system.
The ATC , the electronic stability aid, in no way is affected by reversing, but the auto reverse system is.
However, if you had not "cleanly" uncoupled the electrics that also power the ATC, the slight remake would have started it applying the brakes, then the final separation would leave it now without power where it was at that moment, the brakes possibly on.
It should if set up correctly only be appling about 40% of the brake system's maximum but this still could make moving it challenging. The cure is to reconnect the electrics and let it go through the pre-check, that should be audibly self evident. Then don't wiggle the plug, but aim to very smartly pull it out in a single unhesitating action, a clean single break.
The auto reverse, trips the brake's shoe cam so the push back on the hitch seen as a different thing to the push the van over running ahead creates. This tripping comes from the reverse rolling of the wheels of the van. It happens that this can cause the brakes to drag if the distance reversed is not enough to fully trip the cam. Therefore, it is good advice to before uncoupling to ease forward so the cam is not part tripped.
But any tension, compression or side loading on the ball, also can make uncoupling that a challenge so try to uncouple with no undue load on the ball. if the gradient etc allows you to do that.
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Thanks OCSID. My van was so locked up my car wouldn't budge it an inch in either direction when coupled back up. When I phoned the dealers and spoke the workshop manager he suggested what you said about re-coupling, leaving my engine running and unplugging and replugging the electrics 2 or 3 times to see if it would reset itself. When I tried this, I heard a very short whirring and clunk but it stayed firmly stuck
Unfortunately because I wasn't able to be there when the technician came out to fix it, I didn't get to see what he actually did but as previously mentioned it couldn't have been much because he was fully done within 10 minutes of arrival
Just wish I knew what he actually did for future reference
Thanks to you all again for the really useful advice and support and yes I am hoping that I will never forget to pull a little forward before uncoupling in future and fingers crossed it was a one off
I am also not arrogant enough to think that I don't need help and a little advice when I get to sites and will readily ask whoever is available anything I am not sure about
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Ours is an older and less sophisticated purely mechanical system, but it still took me surprisingly long to work out why sometimes it was so hard to uncouple. I post this merely to reassure you that you're not alone, jackeade!
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I have a LUNAR QUASAR, purchased in 2019. It is fitted with ATC (braking system) Recently I pitched up and after uncoupling I went to apply the hand brake and instead of lifting it under control, it slipped and completed the manoeuvre under its own momentum. What I later found out, was that the rod attached to it, instead of going into its cylinder, it ended up missing the cylinder and and catching on the lip of the cylinder. This rendered my brakes unusable and locking the brakes. I couldn’t move the van either forwards or backwards. Called out an engineer and he took less than 15 minutes to jack the van up and hammered the rod back inline and thus fixed the problem. Apparently not an uncommon problem. Good luck !
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