Jockey Wheel Choice
I rang the dealer this morning to discuss the new caravan. He did refer back to the fact I had requested a pneumatic jockey wheel, rather than the standard fit solid wheel version. The reason for this was that on our very 1st trip last April the solid
wheel on the lunar dug badly into the grass and wouldn't even turn. The warden on the CC site suggested we may prefer one with a proper tyre.
So my question is what do people suggest, do you agree with the Warden or would you stick to the standard wheel.
Getting very excited now as it's only 10 sleeps until we get the new beast.
Comments
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If you have motor over fitted then you are generally better off with a pneumatic tyre on the jockey wheel; there is less of a tendency to bed/bog with the latter.We had caravans with both solid and inflatable tyre's over the years before we went to mh ownership
and both tyre's have their pros and cons.Get a square piece of thick marine ply and put it under the jockey wheel when unhitching,it makes bogging less likely at re-hitch time.Enjoy your caravanning.0 -
Yes we have a motormover, so for £60 I think I'll stick to the plan of having the pneumatic wheel fitted.
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Had a solid when we first got the van, when we put the motor mover on we changed to a pneumatic one shortly afterwards as the solid sometimes bedded in a bit on stone and grass, six months later and two pneumatic wheels later as I thought maybe it was just
the first one we brought was a problem we went back to solid as I found the small amount of benefit didn't out way the hassle. Incidentally my father in law has also gone back to solid after his third pneumatic he brought due to problems with the previous
two got destroyed on a speedbump because it wouldn't retract as high as a solid which seems to be a common issue for some.0 -
Errrrr..... I thought thst you had just been away in your new caravan, Catherine?
No we went in the old one Ian. Well I say old, it' 12 months old in April. After trying it out as much as we love it, it's too small with the 2 dogs in practice. New van is collected on 8th April. We are swapping from a Lunar Quasar 462 to a Sterling Elite 560.
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I never got on with the pneumatic and it has been stuck under the bench for years, mind you, we avoid wet weather and wet sites. Of course, you have to keep the tyre inflated and if it ever deflates away from the rim there is a knack to reinflating it (just
like a wheelbarrow tyre).0 -
Catherine, we were on Meathop Fell a couple of weeks ago and the caravanner opposite us had a blow out in his pneumatic jockey wheel. When he took it to be replaced the guy at the service centre just shrugged when ask why it had happened and said they just do!! I think I'll stick to my solid one, although it's not perfect with the motor mover.
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Hi
I changed to a pneumatic tyre about 10 years ago after problems getting van over a high kerb and have found it to be so much better and smoother on all sites. As a precaution I still carry the old wheel so if I ever got a flat I could just change the wheel
back to solid as it is only a matter (in my case) of removing a split pin But have never had to resort to this. GO PNENUMATIC.0 -
I bought a new twin axle Lunar last year, and the jockey wheel was very reluctant to turn so I decided to investigate.
Took the split pin out and removed the axle only to find that there was absolutely no lubrication. With a good dollop of grease and rebuild, it certainly improved things.
(I was considering changing the wheel prior to this!)
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We did have one fitted to our last van and it definitely improved manovering whilst using the mover, particularly on the gravel in our storage area. However, in 7 years we got through 2 wheels and 3 inner tubes. The tyre on the first degraded and they no
longer made that size and the inner tubes kept failing on the inflators. We always carried the old plastic one, as punctures of course occured at the most inconvenient time. Also they were slightly larger, so tended to scrape road humps. Our current Bailey
came with a much wider plastic one, which I was going to replace. However, in general we have found it OK. In storage I use a couple of those plastic mats for getting you out of the mud, and that solves the deep gravel problem. So I have left it on. No more
jockey wheel punctures.0 -
When we had our caravan I changed our jockey wheel to a pneumatic one and found it to be a lot better. Our van didn't have a mover so we had to push it in to the drive and on to pitches and having the inflatable tyre made it so much easier.
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I changed the solid tyre to a pneumatic one a couple of years ago, I went through 2 wheels and inner tubes and was always re inflating it. I found a slight improvement in manoeuvrability but nowhere near enough to justify all the hassle.
I put the old solid tyre back on after less than a year and never looked back.
Save your £60 for a few extra nights away.
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