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Jockey wheel up or down when parked?

C

colinbal4

As per the title please?
Does it make any difference whether you are on a site for a week or while in storage for 6 months?

Thanks
 
I always park with the jockey wheel down, the main wheels take most of the weight, with the jockey wheel taking about 80 KG. Then the front and back stays, stops the van from shaking about too much, when your walking around inside.
 
Same as Hutch on this one , drop the wheel , always down regardless of where it is pitched ( maybe with a short plank of wood what I would use on the steadies if on a grass pitch and and when it is parked
 
The jockey wheel should always be down as it is one of the three main weight bearing points of contact.
The steadies are just that, steadies, they are not meant to bear the full weight of the van.
 
Damian-Moderator said:
The jockey wheel should always be down as it is one of the three main weight bearing points of contact.
The steadies are just that, steadies, they are not meant to bear the full weight of the van.
Click to expand...

But the rear steadies still have to take quite a lot of weight even when the jockey wheel is down and two adults are standing right at the rear of the caravan. If the rear steadies can do that, so can the fronts. I'm not advocating raising the jockey wheel. I'm just saying that it doesn't make any difference whether up or down.
Don't forget that on soft ground, the load transmitted by the both the steadies and the jockey wheel (if down) can change quite a lot over time.
 
The load that the AlKo Corner steadys can take is surprising, https://www.al-ko.com/shop/uk_vt/stable-form-corner-steady.html. the Premium ones can take upto 1250kg. I suppose where they are fitted to the caravan, to the floor or to the chassis.
 
Lutz said:
Damian-Moderator said:
The jockey wheel should always be down as it is one of the three main weight bearing points of contact.
The steadies are just that, steadies, they are not meant to bear the full weight of the van.
Click to expand...

But the rear steadies still have to take quite a lot of weight even when the jockey wheel is down and two adults are standing right at the rear of the caravan. If the rear steadies can do that, so can the fronts. I'm not advocating raising the jockey wheel. I'm just saying that it doesn't make any difference whether up or down.
Don't forget that on soft ground, the load transmitted by the both the steadies and the jockey wheel (if down) can change quite a lot over time.
Click to expand...

The jockey wheel on ours will always be down as it is the front where us 2 adults and 2 kids are sitting watching telly as for the back-end taking the weight it's only the kids that go up that end where the bunks are so I keep out off that bit !!
 
Surely the issue is which structure in the caravan carries the weight?
The jockey wheel is chassis only . The steadies mostly the floor.
 
I use the jockey wheel to level the van, fore and aft prior to putting the steadies down, so I leave it down as I can't see any point in raising it.
 
Dodger524 said:
I use the jockey wheel to level the van, fore and aft prior to putting the steadies down, so I leave it down as I can't see any point in raising it.
Click to expand...

Precisely as you would only have to lower it again in order to position the tow hitch on to the towball.
 
Craigyoung said:
The jockey wheel on ours will always be down as it is the front where us 2 adults and 2 kids are sitting watching telly as for the back-end taking the weight it's only the kids that go up that end where the bunks are so I keep out off that bit !!
Click to expand...

OK, if it's that way round, but the lounge is at the back of my caravan and it could seat 6 adults.
 
I wold be very surprised if the maximum load applied to any steady (that has been correctly deployed) would exceed 200kg. Bearing in mind the construction of corner steadies is largely the same as that of a car scissor jack the normal loads within a caravan should not troble the steadies mechanism, BUT it all depends on what part of the caravan the steadies are fixed to.

Consequently the safest catachall advice is to use the jockeywheel to share the loads across more points of contact.
 
I have an almost 2 ton Hobby with a rear lounge big enough to seat about 8 adults around the table and we have done exactly that on many occasions. Also a 50 litre onboard tank and a 10 litre boiler plus a very heavy table all at the back end. If you get the Premium model, there is even an external 'boot' at the back which could be full of stuff. (I don't have a Premium though) Can't say that we have ever noticed any problems with that setup and I have never heard of a Hobby suffering with problems due to rear end collapsing. Therefore cannot see why it would be any different at the front end with the jockey wheel up. Saying that, I do leave the jockey wheel down, but solely because I cannot see any purpose in raising it as I would only need to put it down again to hitch up.
 
........the jockey wheel and rear steadies are attached to the chassis and are more capable of supporting a load.
I have never seen a caravan that does not have the front steadies just bolted to the flooring.
The floor is a sandwich of thin plywood and insulating plastic and it's thickness has been much reduced in recent years in order to save cost and weight.

Best to support most of the front end weight on the jockey wheel 🙂
 
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