That sinking feeling

[FrintonMike]

Although the paths at our storage site are asphalt the caravans sit on grass. As the area is tight I use the mover to reverse the caravan in so that the jockey wheel is trailing rather than leading as this usually stop the jockey wheel digging in.
On Monday the site was so wet that the jockey wheel did dig in and went into the ground about half way up. I had to use the car jack under the hitch to raise the jockey wheel so that I could get wood under the wheel so it was on something solid. This enabled me to move the van into position.
I already use wheel grips under the main wheels and in future will use one under the jockey wheel but being a twin axle the caravan is heavy and does tend to churn up the grass if it is very wet.
I recently had to change the jockey wheel from a pneumatic one to a solid wheel as the dealer had no pneumatic ones in stock. Can I have opinions as to whether or not changing back to a pneumatic jockey wheel will help on grass..

 

[NigelHutson]

My experience is that the pneumatic tyres are better on softer ground.

 

[Sproket]

Maybe you could try one of these ?
Easy Wheel retrofit kit
Double jockey wheel to spread the load over soft ground.

 

[otherclive]

I've got a single axle and ballast the van to take weight off the nose wheel which effectively stops it digging in. You could try the plastic tracks that come in pairs and are intended to allow the car wheels to grip as you pull off a pitch. I used mine last summer to stop the nose wheel digging in when coming off a flooded site. The car could not obtain traction so we used the grip tracks combined with the mover and muscle!!

 

[RayS]

Another way to get the load away from the jockey wheel short term is to get SWMBO or other bystander to get in the van and go right to the back (or nearly to the back if the wheel actually lifts off). Then use the mover, having first told them to hang on to something firm or sit down.
I've used this method on very wet grass and it works well, plus it does not involve moving equipment around in the van and upsetting your carefully thought out balancing plan.

 

[FrintonMike]

Thkey wheel as wellanks for all your replies.
Other Clive I already use the plastic grips under the main wheels and will try them under the jockey wheel as well
Sproket, I have never seen the double wheel jockey wheel before and looking at the video it does seem to be brilliant and is now under serious consideration. At approx £59.00 it may be a fairly cheap option time wise as it took over an hour the other day to get the jockey wheel out of the hole.

 

[FrintonMike]

The first line of my reply seems to have become mixed up. It should read "thanks for all the replies"
Too many Christmas spirits on my part I think

 

[Sproket]

Sproket, I have never seen the double wheel jockey wheel before and looking at the video it does seem to be brilliant and is now under serious consideration. At approx £59.00 it may be a fairly cheap option time wise as it took over an hour the other day to get the jockey wheel out of the hole.

If you were to use 'R' clips instead of split pins on the end of the spindle, you could park it up with the double wheel assembly & then rempve them till needed again & just pop the single wheel back in for use on hard ground