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Jockey wheel up or down when parked?

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Bill.
Just taken a series of pics under the Wyoming.
The scissors action runs on a piece of very thin steel screwed to the floor. The rear runners extend from the very end of the chassis. The front ones are not mounted to any part of the chassis , only the floor but again with thin mild steel strip for the scissors action.
Maybe not all caravans are the same. Personally I would not use the steadies as a primary support but just as steadies with the wheels and jockey wheel taking the main weight.
 
....we are saying the same thing Alan 🙂

I was trying to point out that the front steadies are the weaker of all the points on a caravan that touch the ground......so best to always use the jockey wheel.
You will know that I recently scrapped a 1995 caravan......the floor was 5cms thick, very heavy and sturdy.
Replacement 2011 caravan has a floor only 2.5cms thick and looks much weaker.

Note to self......treat the steadies with kid gloves and use a hand winder.
 
Never realised front steadies could be bolted to the floor, I'll have a look when I get home.

The only reason I questioned it was because my stepfather always raised it, so I did the same, and a friend saw it raised and told me not to.

It's not a totally daft question, I didn't know whether jockey wheel mechanism was designed for holding weight over a long period of time, you wouldn't leave a car on a jack, you use axle stands.

The tyre could deflate over time, and even if it doesnt could form a flat spot. I'm a life long motorcyclist so I'm used to putting them on paddock stands if stored over winter and keeping the tyres off the ground.

Given these rules apply to cars and motorcycles, I just wasnt sure what was best being new to a caravan.
 
colinbal4 said:
Never realised front steadies could be bolted to the floor, I'll have a look when I get home.

The only reason I questioned it was because my stepfather always raised it, so I did the same, and a friend saw it raised and told me not to.

It's not a totally daft question, I didn't know whether jockey wheel mechanism was designed for holding weight over a long period of time, you wouldn't leave a car on a jack, you use axle stands.

The tyre could deflate over time, and even if it doesnt could form a flat spot. I'm a life long motorcyclist so I'm used to putting them on paddock stands if stored over winter and keeping the tyres off the ground.

Given these rules apply to cars and motorcycles, I just wasnt sure what was best being new to a caravan.
Click to expand...

To take some of your points :

It is no good comparing a jockey wheel mechanism with a car jack.

First and foremost there are no hydraulics associated with a jockey wheel, it is all mechanical and is simply a heavy screw through a tube to the wheel itself.

All jockey wheels leaving the factories are of solid plastic normally, some owners prefer to fit a pneumatic tyre to aid with a motor mover as they tend not to dig in as much as solid wheels do, but they are very prone to deflating as they are not very well made and the tyre tends to pull the inner tube causing inner tube failure, as well as sharp objects causing a puncture.

The jockey wheel is made to bear the weight combined with the main wheels, the steadies are just that, steadies.
They are not jacks neither are they meant to bear the weight of the van plus occupants on their own, and all are bolted to the floor in two places with the end of the worm drive supported in the chassis member.

As far as flat spots are concerned, they used to be a problem with cross ply tyres but radial tyres do not suffer the same problem because as soon as the wheel starts turning it is causing the tyre to revert to its round shape which is the way the cords are running.
 
Mine has a pneumatic tyre, no idea whether it was like that from new, it was certainly like that from 3 years old when my parents bought it, and I do have a motor mover
 
colinbal4 said:
Mine has a pneumatic tyre, no idea whether it was like that from new, it was certainly like that from 3 years old when my parents bought it, and I do have a motor mover
Click to expand...

Hi Colin, are you sure its a Pneumatic one there are some very good solid but soft rubber ones available, Sorry I can't find a link to them. Best of both wheels.
 
I think that you should always have the jockeys down. You can get into a right mess if you don't.

Sorry, simply couldnt resist that one.

As everyone else has said, jockey always down. I once watched at Dornafield two old codgers with jockey up, attempting to level the van steady by steady. After watching this performance for about an hour, I went across and offered help, only to be snapped at for my trouble, with the response "I know what I am doing, I have always done it like this"
 
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