Lunar lunacy
hi everyone...Can you help,once again? my partner & I purchased a second hand Lunar Quasar 524 2014 just recently..The van is lovel but oh!!! we have just spent the whole morning struggling & cursing to try and remove the spare wheel from the alko wheel carrier. What an awful experience. We're both in our early 70's and just couldn't manage this and would never cope if we had a puncture on the van while broad. My partner decided to abandon the wheel carrier ...once we got the spare wheel free, so that we could put it in the front locker but no luck. The wheel is too big to fit in the allotted space Lunar have made in the locker for the said purpose. Are these manufacturers from another planet or is it us? We could not find anyway of inserting the wheel,so it now stands that we will have to carry the spare wheel in the car....and to add to that problem ALKO who make ths chassis,suggest that a wheel jack be placed under the axle,unless ofcourse an special ALKO side jack point has been purchased and fitted to the van.O Has anyone of senior years tried getting to the axle of their caravan to do this?
We would be grateful for others experiences on this matter. The reason for all our discoveries was to be prepared before we go to France. why did we bther,because to outcome is we'll call 'man who can'
Comments
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I don't know about the side jack but the wheel carrier is renowned for being a pig. On our last two cvans we opted not to use it and carried the spare wheel in the back of the car. We used a small trolley jack under the axle for lifting.
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The ALKO spare wheel carrier is not good, I have one and when it has its yearly service I ask that its cleaned and lubricated. At the very least I know (with luck) it will move when required, as for whether its next to a high kerb or whether I really want
to bother is another thing.If it happens I have Mayday in this country and Red Pennant abroad, so someone else can do it.
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I don't think age has got anything to do with it, more degree of mobility. The wheel carrier is indeed awkward but does turn noseweight into tailweight. If one is intending relying on someone else to do it, be prepared to explain to them what is required
as they will probably never have seen one before. So having worked it oneself is a good start, as is speaking french/german/spanish/etc.I have a trolley jack under the chassis every time I fit the second wheel-lock. The more one does it the easier it becomes.
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The Alko spare wheel carrier is a feature of many caravans, not just Lunar so it's perhaps unfair to blame them. The spare wheel is difficult to remove but I found that lowering the nose of the caravan as far as possible gave more access room although this
goes against the recommendation that the 'van should be left connected to the car for safety. Whilst caravanning in the UK I keep the wheel in the cradle and hope that we never need to use it but if we're in France I always remove it from there before we go.
It would be suicidal trying to get the wheel out when on the 'wrong' side of the road. We carry it in the caravan, roughly in the place where it would be if it were in the cradle to keep the weight balance about right. When we use the caravan it goes underneath
for the night or until we move on.I used to carry a trolley jack but even that was difficult to use to get it in exactly the right place under the axle and is of quite a weight, 14kg if I remember correctly. Consequently I've invested in an Alko side lift jack which is light weight and very
simple and easy to use should the need arise - hopefully not.0 -
Although it is a load of hasle you could remove & re-fit the spare wheel carrier so that it is extracted from the offside of the caravan and then return it to the original position on return from the continent.
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It does sound as though the problem is a combination of poor lubrication and bad design. Difficult to advise as the wheel is a heavy item and may be needed there for balance purposes.
As said before it is a standard item on most makes so it is just not a lunar problem.
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The Alko carrier has to be well lubricated and "exercised" occasionally to make it work, but even then it is difficult to handle whatever your age or strength. But, if you have dropped it to the floor on the near side and cannot pull it out try removing
the split pins from the opposite side chassis and the whole unit will drop to the floor. This can get you out of trouble in an emergency but it is difficult to replace without crawling underneath the caravan. I prefer the Bailey Unicorn wind down spare.0 -
Give me an Avondale wheel well any day. Easy access, clean wheel, CofG in right place, easy to check tyre pressure. What's not to like?
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The Alko spare wheel carrier is a useless piece of junk.
No, it isn't a Lunar design, but they chose to use it, because it's an 'easy way out' for them.....along with most other caravan manufacturers.
I have decided that the next time we buy a caravan, I will ask for it to be removed and will require a discount for not having it.
Carmary - we had similar problems to you when we had a puncture in France. To make it worse, the puncture was on the side where the carrier was positioned. I have since removed the wheel and store it under the fixed bed.
We have an Alko jack and the associated brackets. It is like something out of a Mecanno set - a flimsy piece of rubbish. I therefore now carry a trolly jack in the car boot.
Yes, it is nigh on impossible to get the jack under the axle, especialy with a motor mover in the way. I just position it as near as I can get it, because what else can you do?
All very frustrating, I agree.
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Some years ago I had a puncture (twin axle) on Motorway and pulled in to a service area. No way could I get the Alko spare wheel holder to drop far enough to get at wheel so I called Green Flag. They were there in no time, similarly problem so had to trolley
jack van up to gain clearence to access spare, fitted spare and off we went.If you have breakdown, as you definately should, use it, don't scramble about risking injuring trying to access and humping heavy wheels around. That is what you pay for and I am no spring chicken either.
Yes, manufacturers have to come up with something better but spare wheels dont sell caravans!
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Last summer our friend clipped a kerb and punctured a tyre on his twin axle coming into a campsite in Metz. Between the two of us, on a campsite so no worries about traffic, we couldn't extract the spare wheel from the holder. I might be an idiot but my
friend is a chartered engineer we put red pennant into action and the tyre was extracted with the help of a large hammer. Once the tyre was out you could see where the frame of the holder rubbed on the tyre side wall.In my opinion the alko spare wheel holders are a complete heap of junk. We are fortunate to have a Hymer and the spare is sensible located in the front locker Admittedly on the UK offside but easily accessible.
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On our last Lunar we took the carrier off and stored the wheel while travelling in the back of the car. Keep the carrier and put it back on when you sell the van! With our new Lunar we have left the wheel in the carrier but when we had a problem we just called green flag and let them sort it. If you are abroad and have Red pennent just get them to sort.
If you are going to do it all yourself you need to carry out maitenance on the frame, i.e. grease etc..
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Give me an Avondale wheel well any day. Easy access, clean wheel, CofG in right place, easy to check tyre pressure. What's not to like?
I never did understand why the rest of the market did not follow and Avondale dropped it.
Same here it was by far the best spare wheel solution i,ve come across.I removed my alko carrier a while back and carry the spare in the boot.
v9
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A lot of people will say call out Greenflag or red pennant what ever and to a certain extent I would agree. However with something that should be relatively straight forward such as changing a wheel you should be able to get the job done and back on your
journey before the rescue truck has turned up.0 -
I discovered the design fault in the Alko carrier when I had a blow out on the motor way. Even the AA guy struggled, made worse of course by being on the hard shoulder. So, we just ditched the carrier and stored the spare under the bed. Simples !
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A technique that seems to be missed by many is to tow the wheel of the carrier release side up onto blocks so gaining much needed clearance; the more so if that is the punctured side.
Then with spare wheel removed, if not already the case haul the punctured wheel up onto blocks so there is clearance for the jack and less distance needed to lift with the jack.
We all have cars connected to make this task so much easier than many make it.
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I discovered the design fault in the Alko carrier when I had a blow out on the motor way. Even the AA guy struggled, made worse of course by being on the hard shoulder. So, we just ditched the carrier and stored the spare under the bed. Simples !
Unfortunately we do not have a big enough underbed area to store a spare wheel.
Bailey do fit one of their own design but some people are not keen on that.
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