Jockey wheel clamp

[Pamplona]

After undertaking some fairly strenuous motor mover movements to get on my driveway recently I suffered slippage in my jockey wheel clamp a number of times also taking a lump out of the tyre. I also noted the clamp had gotten bent though not sure if it was all as a result of my maneuvers.

I was somewhat miffed to find that ALKO does not actually sell new clamps, and I had to purchase the nearest thing visually which was not for my individual van.

During my searches it was conveyed to me that I must have lost the pressure pad from the clamp, I had never heard of or seen a pressure clamp and definitely did not have one when I changed the JW.

I bought one of these pressure clamps and surprise surprise I can't get the JW stem in the clamp with the pressure pad present. Does anyone currently use these pads and on what caravan?

Pete

 

[Mr Plodd]

Sounds like you didnt wind the jockey wheel down far enough so it cleared the two cut out segments in the bottom of the post so the assembly couldnt freely rotate, and when you used the mover it placed excessive sideways pressure on the post and bending the clamp because the wheel was being dragged sideways (hence the lump out of the tyre) rather than rotating. Not a lot of use now as the damage is done, but something to bear in mind in the future.

Never heard of a pad in an Alko clamp

 

[Buckman]

After undertaking some fairly strenuous motor mover movements to get on my driveway recently I suffered slippage in my jockey wheel clamp a number of times also taking a lump out of the tyre. I also noted the clamp had gotten bent though not sure if it was all as a result of my maneuvers.

I was somewhat miffed to find that ALKO does not actually sell new clamps, and I had to purchase the nearest thing visually which was not for my individual van.

During my searches it was conveyed to me that I must have lost the pressure pad from the clamp, I had never heard of or seen a pressure clamp and definitely did not have one when I changed the JW.

I bought one of these pressure clamps and surprise surprise I can't get the JW stem in the clamp with the pressure pad present. Does anyone currently use these pads and on what caravan?

Pete

Never heard of fitting a pressure pad as it is a metal clamp. You can buy the clamp from Kartt.

 

[Pamplona]

Sounds like you didnt wind the jockey wheel down far enough so it cleared the two cut out segments in the bottom of the post so the assembly couldnt freely rotate, and when you used the mover it placed excessive sideways pressure on the post and bending the clamp because the wheel was being dragged sideways (hence the lump out of the tyre) rather than rotating. Not a lot of use now as the damage is done, but something to bear in mind in the future.

Never heard of a pad in an Alko clamp

No definitely not the case the JW was wound down but the clamp failed to hold the position, and JW finished up under the chassis on a turn which took a lump out of it.

 

[Pamplona]

Never heard of fitting a pressure pad as it is a metal clamp. You can buy the clamp from Kartt.

I looked at the Kartt clamps particularly as I had bought one of their JW, but as my ALKO is welded to the chassis it would mean a lot of work most people I spoke to said it would utilise the ALKO clamp ok

 

[Pamplona]

This is the clamp pressure pad in question

 

[Mr Plodd]

No definitely not the case the JW was wound down but the clamp failed to hold the position, and JW finished up under the chassis on a turn which took a lump out of it.

Surely if the clamp failed all that would happen is the front of the caravan would drop down as the JW assembly slid up the clamp?

 

[Buckman]

No definitely not the case the JW was wound down but the clamp failed to hold the position, and JW finished up under the chassis on a turn which took a lump out of it.

This happens when the tyre is too narrow for the terrain and it digs in creating resistance and consequent pushing the shaft to one side putting pressure on the clamp. We recently changed our ALKO JW for a Kartt and it is a lot more robust as we found out 2 weekends ago on a wet field. We never changed the clamp.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Logically if the JW clamp slips it can only be one of three things, either the clamp was not tightened enough, the load on the nose is too great, or the JW system is damaged in some way.

 

[Dustydog]

Is your JW side or centrally mounted?
There are a number of different fixings depending on year and make of caravan.
Ive seen one like your photo but can’t say mine has it..
Is yours more like the pic below, usually a centre fitting? Note the pad is a lot smaller than your photo.
That said it has to understand why the JW slid through the bracket. ??
Have you tried contacting Al-ko direct for the missing part?

 

[Pamplona]

Mine is a side-mounted clamp, swing-open variety. The securing base is welded to chassis. Not the same as your picture. I have to assume at this point my weight must have been too heavy, the Karrt JW which was brand new was rated at the higher nose weight but was not their ribbed variety.