Caravan Wheel nuts check Tq

[Grahamh]

Had the van serviced today. I got the owners manual out to get it stamped and also looked up the torque settings for the wheel nuts. I noticed that the advice in the handbook (2014 Elddis Xplore 530 ) advises me to " check the torque settings after 32Km (20miles) and EVERY 50Km (30Miles) THEREAFTER hmy: It's going to take a long time to get to Cornwall.
The good news is that all the damp readings were good. :cheer:

 

[Hutch]

Had the van serviced today. I got the owners manual out to get it stamped and also looked up the torque settings for the wheel nuts. I noticed that the advice in the handbook (2014 Elddis Xplore 530 ) advises me to " check the torque settings after 32Km (20miles) and EVERY 50Km (30Miles) THEREAFTER hmy: It's going to take a long time to get to Cornwall.
The good news is that all the damp readings were good. :cheer:

Was it printed 1st April 2014.

 

[Brasso530]

The wheel nut torque is printed on the sticker by the door?is on mine.

 

[Hutch]

The wheel nut torque is printed on the sticker by the door?is on mine.

But not every 20 to 30 miles. :woohoo:

 

[Damian]

Quote " (2014 Elddis Xplore 530 ) advises me to " check the torque settings after 32Km (20miles) and EVERY 50Km (30Miles) THEREAFTER"

Its called covering your back, or words to that effect !!!

The problem is that some folk will slacken the bolts off and then retorque but that is the same as removing the wheel, so they should be rechecked, hence the continual checking.

In the real world, as long as the bolts are correctly set in the first place, a subsequent check after about 30 or 40 miles should just be a check, not a complete slack and retorque, after that they should not need touching.

In all the time I have had a van, and all those I have worked on, not a single one has suffered a wheel coming off after a wheel off situation.
Probably due to doing the job correctly in the first place.

 

[benshepherd]

I am fairly obsessive about checking torques on my cars, truck and caravan and I am always taking wheels off for various reasons for many many years. I always check after 20-30 miles driving, but never once has there been any signs of them being loose, so I wonder why I bother rechecking them at all. However, I know that some caravans have lost wheels so I will keep on doing it.

 

[steve2019]

Check them once, its usually because if a wheel has been removed and refitted it can sometimes 'settle' onto the hub after a few miles, and even then normally its only when the wheel is a bit tight on the hub due to corrosion, this is more so with alloy wheels as alloy and steel dont mix too well and corrosion quickly builds up.
If you are the type that worries about this sort of thing (nowt wrong with being cautious) then you can buy indicators that push onto your wheel nuts (the sort that hgvs have) which are designed for exactly this reason.

 

[Craigyoung]

I was meant to get some of these a while ago and it was a discussion about that before then you just reminded me

https://www.google.com/search?q=wheel nut indicators&safe=active&client=ms-android-samsung&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi2l7ikpbPhAhUjonEKHbMLBo4Q_AUoAnoECAsQAg&biw=320&bih=489

 

[Dodger524]

I was meant to get some of these a while ago and it was a discussion about that before then you just reminded me

]https://www.google.com/search?q=wheel nut indicators&safe=active&client=ms-android-samsung&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi2l7ikpbPhAhUjonEKHbMLBo4Q_AUoAnoECAsQAg&biw=320&bih=489

https://www.google.com/search?q=whe...HbMLBo4Q_AUoAnoECAsQAg&biw=320&bih=489[/quote
Milenco market some, available in caravan accessory places, which I use on my caravan.

 

[Mel]

The person who owned our Elddis before it had done diy indicator job with dabs of nail varnish on the nuts and the hub. Worked very well.
Mel

 

[benshepherd]

The person who owned our Elddis before it had done diy indicator job with dabs of nail varnish on the nuts and the hub. Worked very well.
Mel

I would end up with too many nail varnish dots to be useful. As I use JSB Hublocks, I take my wheels off every time I use my caravan. May look at some of the plastic indicators though.

 

[Anseo]

The person who owned our Elddis before it had done diy indicator job with dabs of nail varnish on the nuts and the hub. Worked very well.
Mel

I will be doing that, thanks Mel.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I am concerned at the trust put onto the push on or varnish nut indicators, All they will show is if the nut has moved, it does not show if they have partially slackened off.

If any nut has achieved it's required torque, but has not fully seated due to corrosion on the threads or between the surfaces being clamped or any other reason, if that cause is later reduced and the nut is not checked, the indicator may not show any change in position but the effective clamping force will have reduced.

Following the loosening of any wheel fastening the rehecking of torque settings after a few miles is still a sensible precaution.

 

[Damian]

I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill over this.
The various methods of marking are an indicator only, they will not stop a nut undoing but they may just allow the user to see a possible problem.

Markers have been used by thousands of users from HGV.s to caravans, to trailers for many years and have given folk a reasonable sense of what is happening.

Many of the problems arise from wheel nuts not being tightened in the correct sequence, and by use of windy guns inappropriately, ie lack of care.

AS for your comment about rust or improper seating, that is down to the person working on the wheel, if they do not do their job correctly ensuring that fastening are clean and mating surfaces are clean that is laziness.

 

[ProfJohnL]

...

AS for your comment about rust or improper seating, that is down to the person working on the wheel, if they do not do their job correctly ensuring that fastening are clean and mating surfaces are clean that is laziness.

Yes exactly, and over the years several comments have suggested this might be part of the problem.

 

[Mandarin]

Our 2014 Bailey manual simply says 130NM when fitting, and re-check after 30 miles, nothing about any checks after that. Whilst regular check are no doubt a sensible precaution I suspect the majority of caravan owners don't even own a torque wrench.

 

[DaveA1]

Maybe this is nonsense but, How many caravaners have thire torque wrench calibrated, at whatever interval is recommended, not many, me included. Had my last wrench a good few years, using it for maintenance jobs on my motors as well as on the van. What I'm thinking of, is that, although it's not in calibration it's say 10 nm out, the fact that all five bolts are tightened evenly, will go along way to prevent the wheel coming adrift. i.e a torque set at 130 nm is actualy 120 nm. So always better to check that not at all.