Alko Chassis anyone ?
Hi, I have been browsing around and saw a thread starting to discuss Alko chassis.
Those new to motor homing may not be aware that their motor home may have an Alko chassis and it needs to be greased annually.
From my experience, this little chore, gets overlooked as the Motohome dealer, does the ""caravan bits"" and has little idea about grease guns, Fiat Proffessional garages also tend not to have grease guns because Fiats do not have grease points , I was told by my local (Crawley) dealer !
Failure to get this job done, can lead axle to fail, and a repair cost of hundreds of pounds.
So, take a look in the instruction book, if you have an Alko chassis, you should have been given a booklet about Alko A5 size with details and service records.
I have no idea if Caravan Alko chassis needs this maintenance.
Rgds
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yes, i have the booklet, and have just had the chassis greased for the second time..
both thimes done for free as part of the service....different dealers...just told them it needed doing.
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I have no idea if Caravan Alko chassis needs this maintenance.
Neither do I, Tony, but I shall certainly be asking my service people. We've just had an axle go on our 2016 Valencia. Fortunately, Bailey have agreed to replace it. Bailey seem more concerned about overloaded caravans being the cause. I shall still ask the question though....
David
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My Fiat Pro dealer at Chelston MHs in Wellington, Somerset said it was part of the service schedule, but new Fiats are only serviced every two years! My first MOT is due in Feb so I will ask them to do the chassis greasing then.
BillC
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There are parts of the Al-ko brakes and drawbar overrun systems that need greasing - and the steadies, of course - but the axle has rubber indespension units fitted and require no grease. The road wheel bearings are, I think, sealed-for-life regarding grease.
I did remove my wheels myself for the first time at the 6-year tyre change, and found that the threads of the wheel studs had been greased - and they should not be. Must have been done by the service engineer - he will not get away with that again!
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It’s not the same animal as the Alko motorhome chassis, LT.
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Why not do as I do - I carry a 24" breaker bar (not heavy) to initially release the studs, rather than risk them not being correct to specification.
If you grease them and apply the torque specified on the legend plate, you risk them working loose during travel. If you over tighten them to allow for the presence of grease, which is what you are doing if you still apply the specified torque, you risk tightening them beyond their elastic limit. This can then produce fractures in the shanks of the studs and have the heads eventually break off and lose a wheel.
Either way, if the worst happened and it caused an accident, the likelihood of a police examination would show the fault and you could find yourself in serious trouble with the law. The specification that wheel stud threads should not be greased is there for a reason. Think of your safety and that of others on the road - because you have not yet lost a wheel does not mean that you won't.
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I've got an old yacht stanchion that I use for the purpose. Stainless steel - no expense spared.
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MM You are putting yourself at risk. 40 years wielding spanners or not, your methods do not succeed the advice given by the designers of tools and equipment. I can beat that, and with over 30 years in engineering development, I still observe important specifications. One of my responsibilities was to set up a procedure for training production operatives in correctly assembling rail and marine components, and correct torquing was included in this. By arranging demonstrations in our research facility we could show operatives what happened when proper procedures were not observed, and the results were spectacular. Why anyone takes the view that they know better than the professionals is something I will never understand. When you take your car/caravan in for servicing, would you be happy if the engineer simply guessed at the tension he applied to tightening your wheel studs, or would you have him reprimanded?
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David, I've had the same problem on my 2015 Bailey, I examined the new and old axles but found no grease points.
By the way, if you get brake squeal with your new axle as I did, go straight back to the supplier. The brakes are changed along with the axle and some have been fitted with faulty brake shoes causing scoring of the brake drums. My drums and shoes were replaced after 600 miles on the new axle assembly! The date plate on my new axle is 2017.
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So why not be professional and work to specifications and good engineering practice? Your background and training should be shouting back at you to follow basic engineering principles. During my career I have met the occasional colleague who, although qualified to similar levels as myself, has taken the "short cut" - a sort of familiarity breeding contempt - and ended up getting their fingers burned. And in each case I have asked myself, "Why?" A few lost parts of their hands and one even died from electrocution - and all had simply been looking forward to going home as usual at the end of the day!
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