Avondale Mayfair 510/5 suspension

[smuir00]

Hi,
I have a 2001 Avondale Mayfair 510/5, I have not long returned from being away over easter and noticed that the off side of the van is sitting about 2" lower than the near side. My measurement is based on the height of the caravan wheelarch trim against the wheel rim.

It looks like it may be related to the suspension ?

Do you know if this can be adjusted so its level again ? or am i looking at a replacement axle ?

Any help and thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Bearing in mind the age of the caravan, and their propensity for them to be subject to damp problems, Id guess there is almost an equal chance of it being suspension related or possibly body failure. Your best action will be to have the caravan inspected by an engineer who can actually look at the problem and diagnose it.

 

[Raywood]

I hate to say for your sake, it but I do tend to agree with the Prof that this could easily be that the body has moved. From what I found out on another case on a later model, the body is located on the floor by screws through the side of the wall, if these are badly inserted then the body will eventually drop but it could also be damp in the floor causing this to rot. I would get an engineer to look at it, this should not cost a lot more than £50 if it is limited to this point.
I think it is unlikely to be the axle itself, but it might just be the suspension which would be less of a problem.
If you need help the Avondale Owners Club might be worth trying.

 

[Dustydog]

You beat me to it Ray!
Definitely deja vu from my friends Avondale a few years back B)

 

[audiorob]

I suppose that the other best advice would be not to take it on the road until you know what is going on - a 2 inch difference (as pointed out by others) is more likely to be major rather than minor, and I think more likely to be body rather than axle issues. PC Mag this month again contains the list of mobile techies, so that might be of help.
Good luck with it anyway!

 

[Raywood]

You will find an alternative list on the NCC website.

 

[smuir00]

Hi, thank you for the feedback already received. We have only been caravanning for about 18 months and know enough to know that we have a lot to learn !
Given that today was lovely and sunny based on the comments received i went for a more detailed look.
The distance between the main spars and the ground are the same on the near side and the off side (6") at the point it is joined to the axle, so based on this im inclined to think its not the suspension.
The other comment that had been made was about damp and had the body 'slipped'. When i look underneath i see that the base of the body is fitting where i would expect to see it with respect to the caravan floor, ie the edge of the caravan wall is not hanging lower than the flooring which is what i think i would have expected to see. The floor looks dry (even after 2 very wet weeks away in Norfolk after Easter).
So, having a bit of a head scratch as to what may be the cause may be, even to the point of looking how im taking the measurements. I guess I want to satisfy myself there is a problem before calling in the help.

Thank you for letting me know about the Avondale club, am taking steps to join.

 

[Raywood]

Given you seem to have eliminated the main potential problems I would get a mobile engineer to look at it.

 

[Hutch]

I seem to remember a long time back, before , before, that someone had an Eriba with a similar problem and it was the design "Thing" with the right hand wheel arch being lower than the other side.
I might be total wrong but just a thought. .