Alko axle problems
I am the proud owner of a Bailey Cadiz s3 and am getting rather concerned about all the stories relating to Alko axle failure and that the opt out for replacement under warranty is overloading. It would appear that you have to carry everything in the
towcar as the payload is so small you are nearly at the limit once the 12v battery, motor mover,spare wheel and carpets (8kg's) are in. Anybody else know of axle problems?????
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I haven't seen "all the stories relating to Alko axle failure and that the opt out for replacement under warranty is overloading" but fifteen years ago we did have a problem with our Alko axle on our brand new Swift. The story is outlined in the thread 'Alko are useless' where I wrote:
In our case, we found that Alko were just the opposite of useless. They (and Swift) were fantastic when we had a problem with our Alko suspension rubbers within the axle assembly. It was replaced (once) by our dealer, and when the replacement axle was fitted and found to have exactly the same fault as the original, the caravan was loaded on a low loader by Alko, and taken down to their workshops on a Monday, the axle replaced, and it was back with our dealer on Wednesday so that we could go on our pre-booked ferry to France on the Friday of the same week! They subsequently identified a whole batch of faulty assemblies and they were recalled.
Some people have very different experiences - but I think we couldn't have got better service if we'd paid thousands for it - it didn't cost us a penny!
Basically the problem was that there are three rubbers inside the axle assembly and these were not correctly seated and had twisted within the assembly. The effect of this was that the right hand wheel (where the heaviest items in the van are located) almost touched the tyre - and in fact the body rubbed on the tyre when being towed. We'd only had the caravan a week or two when we noticed, and the original dealer told us that we had to tow it back to them - about sixty miles away, we felt this wasn't safe especially as the tyre might blow at any time. We phoned our local dealer, where we were well known, and they agreed to have a look at it. They weren't even Swift dealers (though were Alko stockists). Between them, Alko and Swift, the problem was sorted out to our entire satisfaction, and as I said, in time for us to continue with our holiday plans.
Our local dealership was so impressed with the service we got from Swift (a technical director of the company came out to personally look at the van) that a year or so later they became Swift dealers.
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My OH has added that the caravan was weighed (it still had our full payload in it as we were expecting to go away when we noticed the lean), and was found NOT to be overloaded.
The dealership were Alko service agents, and they identified that the problem was actually with the rubber inserts. His suggestion is to take the caravan to an ALKO approved service workshop, get them to weigh it, and then examine the axle.
Our problem happened in the year 2000 and as I said, a faulty batch of axles were identified at that time. I don't know if we were the first to ever have this problem, but the attention given to sorting it out so quickly makes it appear as if it might have
been. You could mention that you know of a case of this happening right back in the year 2000 - and remind them about the Swift Speedbird with the wrong side door! Our caravan was built for export to Holland, and everyone who has worked on it remember it
for this reason - this and the Alko problem!!0 -
Sounds like a shaggy dog story to me. Bailey usually under rate their products to make them available to those using smaller and lighter cars, but will sell you a "Max Upgrade" to increase the payload. This involves a new loading sticker and blowing the
tyres up a bit. So their products are well able to carry the standard load.0 -
I am the proud owner of a Bailey Cadiz s3 and am getting rather concerned about all the stories relating to Alko axle failure and that the opt out for replacement under warranty is overloading. It would appear that you have to carry everything in the
towcar as the payload is so small you are nearly at the limit once the 12v battery, motor mover,spare wheel and carpets (8kg's) are in. Anybody else know of axle problems?????What are the Al-Ko axle failures? we have a new caravan with an overheating wheel bearing which is worrying me but does not seem to be of much concern to the dealer who over the last 5 weeks as done nothing!
Dave...
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I am the proud owner of a Bailey Cadiz s3 and am getting rather concerned about all the stories relating to Alko axle failure and that the opt out for replacement under warranty is overloading. It would appear that you have to carry everything in the
towcar as the payload is so small you are nearly at the limit once the 12v battery, motor mover,spare wheel and carpets (8kg's) are in. Anybody else know of axle problems?????0 -
We have a unicorn Vigo, not 2 years old, and noticed the wheel on the side were the oven is, gas bottles and water heater are situated is sat very low, only a few mm clearance above, having had dealer look at it they say it's collapsed, and that we must
have overloaded it, we have had three baileys and never had this problem, we now have to pay £950 to have it replaced. That's with a 15% discount. I'm concerned that with the gas bottles, battery and mover, there is to much weight over the axle, full size
fridge too. Also that the mover switch is in the van, so I have to enter then van to switch mover on and off. So when I get in van, with no legs down the axle would be over loaded, any thoughts.0
