Alko premium noise weight jockey wheel

Ty

Apr 18, 2018
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Hi All
I read a thread on here last week re the above but now i cant find it so i am now probably going over old ground, hopefully some one can help i have bought and fitted the alko premium onto a compass Camino 554 but i have not got a clue how to do the conversion in the manual.
How do i find out the following

max nose load of the drawbar on the trailer

Max noise load of the overrun device on the trailer

Max nose load of the ball type coupling on the trailer

I have looked in the manual all i have found is the max noise weight is a 100kg

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ty
 

Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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If the nose weight limit given in the specifications for the Alko device is given as 100kg that will be the weight limit for the towing hitch and other Alko components.
The other limiting factor that you need to be aware of is the limit set by the towing vehicle manufacturer, which could be lower than 100kg.
 
Jul 28, 2008
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You also need to do some measuring and calculating, as the figure on the Premium jockey wheel isn’t direct Kgs. The figure mine was calculated to was 118. The car’s max is 150 kg, and the caravan’s 100 kg. You need the lower of these figures (i.e. 100 kg) to use in the calculations. If you don’t have the instruction manual, they are on Al-Ko’s website.
 

Ty

Apr 18, 2018
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Hi Nigel

Ive got the instruction i cant get to the caravan until next friday but will get the measurements done,we went out this weekend with the van and 3 different people asked re the calculation saying they didnt know were to get the origanal info from and it seamed complicated .
Now i know its the 100kg i should hopefully be ok
Thanks
Ty
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Hello Ty,

Do you realise that the nose load any trailer produces is determined by how you load the trailer, it isn't a fixed value, in fact it will vary from trip to trip.

I strongly advise you get the instructions and follow the method to establish the correction factor. Don't forget the jockey wheel needs to be pointing in the same directions each time you check the nose load using the built in guage.
 
Jul 28, 2008
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Ty said:
Hi Nigel

Ive got the instruction i cant get to the caravan until next friday but will get the measurements done,we went out this weekend with the van and 3 different people asked re the calculation saying they didnt know were to get the origanal info from and it seamed complicated .
Now i know its the 100kg i should hopefully be ok
Thanks
Ty

Good advice from Prof John!

Yes, armed with the 100 kg the calculations are quite self-explanatory aren’t they? As a rule of thumb (I did a piece for PCV magazine a few months ago about the Premium Jockey Wheel), it seems that the calculated weights are generally about 20 above the actual maximum noseweight in kilos. For instance, my max is 100 kg (as per the caravan hitch), and the calculated figure is 118. My son’s Mondeo has a max noseweight limit of 90 kg (caravan still 100 kg, but the car’s limit is less - 90 kg), and I seem to remember that the calculated figure on the jockey wheel was c.110.

Have fun. Oh, and await the comments on-site like “oooh, your noseweight is far too heavy!” But you’ll know different. :silly:
 
Nov 11, 2009
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Reading this thread serves to confuse me. What’s with all the calculated weights v actual weights. Must be easier with bathroom scales.
 
Feb 23, 2018
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otherclive said:
Reading this thread serves to confuse me. What’s with all the calculated weights v actual weights. Must be easier with bathroom scales.

I remember reading the article Nigel wrote about the Premium Jockey wheel as I thought it would make checking the nose weight a bit easier (One less piece of kit), but why did ALKO need to make it so complicated! Once you have completed your trigonometry homework you should be ok... but i'll just stick to the Milenco gauge.
 
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CustardAvenger said:
otherclive said:
Reading this thread serves to confuse me. What’s with all the calculated weights v actual weights. Must be easier with bathroom scales.

I remember reading the article Nigel wrote about the Premium Jockey wheel as I thought it would make checking the nose weight a bit easier (One less piece of kit), but why did ALKO need to make it so complicated! Once you have completed your trigonometry homework you should be ok... but i'll just stick to the Milenco gauge.

I,ll answer Clives point first

The Alko system is always there, and does not require carrying any other form of weight measuring device. But because the jockey wheel is closer the the caravans axles, the torque the distribution of the caravans mass produces will be greater at the jockey wheel than at the hitch which is further away from the axles.

Fortunately the relationship of the distances between the axle and respectively the hitch and the jockey wheel (providing you always align the jockey wheel in the same direction relative to the caravan) will remain constant for that caravan, so using school day lever theory for turning moments in equilibrium:-

length1 x force1 = length2 x force2

It possible to work out a correction factor which will be constant for that design of caravan such that the jockey wheel reading can be multiplied by the correction factor to calculate the true nose load.

In practice you only need to know what the maximum jockey wheel load can be so having done the calculation once, its no different to using a normal nose load gauge and comparing it to the maximum value

CustardAvenger - "Alko" have not made it complicated, exactly the same calculations would be needs to correct for a jockeywheel reading on any other manufacturers chassis. That's just the way it is.

But even the Milenco gauge does snot give a true nose load reading as it doesn't correct for the unknown height difference of the loaded gauge compared to loaded tow ball height of your car. If you have TA that could be a very considerable difference. The Alko system removes that inaccuracy, though there are other considerations that don't make it perfect.
 

Ty

Apr 18, 2018
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Hi Prof john
Thanks for the advice , i didnt know that the jockey wheel needed to face in the same direction every time, i can get to the caravan this Wednesday to measure the relevant distances hopefully will be all set now for the weekend .
Thanks
Ty
 
Nov 11, 2009
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I originally set mine up by having the car and van on a level section of road them measured the height to the center if the towball, accepting that it was hitched. I then brought it back on the drive and using bathroom scales and some wood etc I measured the weight with the arrangement set at the same height as when the car was hitched. I then used my Milenco gauge to see what it read. After that I used the Milenco for checking on the drive before a trip as I “calibrated “ it against the bathroom scales over the range 60-80 kg.
I did do some checks on whether noseweight changed when we returned from a trip but it hardly varied as we are quite disciplined in how we stow stuff and fluid loading in the flush tank.

Also when I checked the noseweight unhitched I always have the brake off and wheels chocked.
 

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