Jockey wheel question

[Surfer]

If you have a motor mover fitted, is it best to have the pneumatic or original plastic wheel? Our storage area is loose stone and we found that the plastic type wheel it digs in when the wheel has to swing around, however with a pnuematic it sometimes looks as if the tyre is going to come off the wheel. On soft ground the pneumatic does not dig in and is fine.
Which one would you opt for and why?

 

[Whittakerr]

Surfer
I swapped the original plastic wheel for a pneumatic on and found it much easier to move on all types of surface, concrete, gravel and grass, when using the mover or when moving manually. I have kept the plastic wheel and will put it back when we change the van and put the pneumatic one on the new van.

 

[Sproket]

I use one of these, reason being than when i bring my van in & out of the garden the jocky wheel has to climb the curb & then over the top of the ground anchor post ( it is coverd with alloy plate when laid down ), the van just nods up & down & does the job very easily, without putting undue strain on the 'A' frame.

When i had the old type plastic one i thought that the whole assembly was going to snap off.

I have had no problems with loose gravel or sinking , i think that is mainly due to the width of the wheel being 80mm wide, the wheel & the winding handle are also detachable, it takes two min's to remove it, ( you dont get any grounding out either ).

There is no chance of the wheel going down.

Although it has a built in weight gauge i do no use it.....

I know that it is a expensive jocky wheel, but a repair to the 'A' frame would cost a hell of a lot more

 

[Surfer]

Sproket at nearly £80 I am not sure if I want to go down that route. I asked the question on some other forums and it is almost a 50/50 with a very slight lean towards the pneumatic, however most people said that the issue was it jumping off the rim.

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Surfer
I treid a pneumatic a few years and gave it to my FIL. My jockey wheel retracts into the centre of the A frame. The blow up wheel seemed a bit big for the space and was touching the brake rod. Plus it didn't seem to sit high enough. I went back to the OME which has worked perfectly well for the last four years.
FIL actually suffered a couple of flats so he too went back to the solids.

 

[Sproket]

This is how much room you have when the wheel is removed....

Wheel fully up in centre of 'A' frame.

Wheel removed from holder.

Jocky wheel assembly pulled right up for max clearance.

Wheel & spindle.

No problems with or without wheel for touching the brake rod..........

 

[Willi-Wonti]

I prefer the pneumatic tyres & carry a spare inner tube
Mine also is center mounted with no problems

 

[Surfer]

I prefer the pneumatic tyres & carry a spare inner tube
Mine also is center mounted with no problems

Would you be able to change the spare easily or with great difficulty? Pneumatics roll easier, but do not like being turned around on any surface. Some one has suggested a 4 ply tyre with a 60psi rating as it is stronger than do not have any issues but a search on eBay produces no results for that size tyre. Have to admit I was seaching for jockey wheel as I do not know the exact size of the tyre and the caravan is in storage!

 

[Martin24]

I changed about three years ago to pneumatic because of gravel and have had no problems.