wheel came off new caravan

[Lutz]

I did say that unsuitable screw fasteners are liable to shake loose. Conversely, a well designed screw fastener will hold almost forever. However, the design must take into account the tensile strengths of the materials used for nut, stud, and wheel, their surface treatment, the thread size and pitch, thread form, geometry of the mating surfaces, etc. Only so long as all these factors are compatible with one another is a reliable joint guaranteed.

Therefore, it would be very unwise to fit alloy wheels, for example, without getting approval from the manufacturer first. Only he can tell you what to watch out for.

 

[Brum1]

I haven't read all 99 posts on this thread so appologise if it has been said already but here goes....

It is not only necessary to meerly check if a wheel nut or bolt is tight enough by attempting to further turning with the aid of a torque wrench.

If a nut / bolt has been overtightenned (and has stretched from elastic to plastic)it can also cause a wheel to detatch from its hub.

The correct proceedure is to slightly loosen a nut / bolt and then torque to correct setting.

Brum

 

[ShadySadie]

Always ask the dealer to torque the bolts in front of you when collecting, friends got as far as as dealers gates and the wheels had not been tightened when they had their van serviced last month.

 

[Thorpedo]

Well said Colin - Yorkshire.

I'm sure the technical purists will put me right but the fitting of a wheel to a caravan is remarkably similar to that of a car.

Why don't car wheels launch themselved willy nilly all over the M25 in a bid for freedom?

 

[colin-yorkshire]

thanks Thorpedo

that is exactly my point, you get a puncure stop at the side of the road get out the spare wheel scissor jack and wheel brace made out of a bit of bent tube and change the wheel no torque wrench no precision tools nothing and then carry on with your journey after 30 miles the wheel is bound to come off the car yes, well er no it never does nor does it for the next 2000 miles either.

in my 45 years on the road I must have changed a wheel hundreds of times on cars and trailers never used a torque wrench ever number of wheels lost in transit NIL.

I am not saying there is no merit in checking the wheel nuts after a service not because they can become loose but just to make sure the bu**ers have put them on properly.

 

[Dustydog]

Colin

This was the first time ever my wheel nuts on the nsr came undone. I was a sceptic and didn't believe Graham (Ponty) it could happen.

As I said before I watched the bloke set the torque wrench and double check all the nuts. It did happen and apart from Chrisbee and the mechanic in Oban no one else has come up with a credible reason why it happens.

It does happen and no matter what I shall still check bot car and caravan wheel nuts regularly . Believe me it was bl**dy scary.

Cheers

Dustydog

 

[Heethers]

Kenneth post 5th of October, read the article it explains what can cause this fault.

Before l retired l was a maintenance engineer for well known company, l maintained gas turbines, compressors and boilers, after their annual inspections all fastenings had periodic torque checks, with gas turbines nearly all the fastenings were wire locked after being torqued.

l am not suggesting for one moment you need to go to this length but it take only minutes to check wheel nuts with the torque wrench for piece of mine.

Kenneth thanks for the post l read the article and its good explanation what could happen.

NigelH.

 

[vernon]

I see that the new Pegasus has to have it's panel mounting bolts torqued every three years. If the dealers can't torque up a wheel correctly, does that mean that the Pegasus will fall apart 30 miles after a service?

 

[Surfer]

Kenneth post 5th of October, read the article it explains what can cause this fault.

Before l retired l was a maintenance engineer for well known company, l maintained gas turbines, compressors and boilers, after their annual inspections all fastenings had periodic torque checks, with gas turbines nearly all the fastenings were wire locked after being torqued.

l am not suggesting for one moment you need to go to this length but it take only minutes to check wheel nuts with the torque wrench for piece of mine.

Kenneth thanks for the post l read the article and its good explanation what could happen.

NigelH.

You if you have a disability preventing you from tightening up the nuts after 30 miles, it is your fault?

 

[Surfer]

A very good question. I would not want a caravan that could fall apart after a few years. does thsi then force you to have a service on the caravan every year even though the caravan is on a seasonal site 24/7 365 days a year?

 

[Lutz]

Let's not be overpedantic. Safety related screw fasteners should be retorqued after a short while in service. (It's immaterial whether this is 30 miles or 50 miles, but it should be somewhere thereabouts). All other joints do not require retorquing unless specified by the manufacturer. After all, you don't retorque all the other screws on your car regularly, do you?

 

[Dustydog]

Ian

There is no answer to your point other than imo it does happen and if you want to be absolutely safe then a double check of the wheel nut torque seems essential. Until 6 weeks ago I'd not bothered.

My aunt is registered disabled so from now on her son or husband is checking her wheel nuts.

Cheers

Dustydog

 

[Parksy]

Our caravan is in for it's second service on Monday afternoon at Davans in Weston where we bought it from.

We are going to make a weekend of it and return home to the midlands on Monday evening after we pick the caravan up from Davans.

One thing is for certain, I will be taking the torque wrench and giving the nuts on the alloys a quick check when I reach Michael Wood services.

Better safe than sorry

 

[602]

Hi,

What would be the cost of getting a professional to torque your wheel nuts?

How would that compare with making the wheel studs 5mm longer, drilling holes near the end, and fitting R-clips? At the factory.

OK, I suppose that brings centi-thingy forces into the equation.

How long before Plod waves you into a lay-by, produces a torque wrench. Are wheel nuts part of VOSA roadside checks, and if so, how many fail.

602

602

 

[Surfer]

Is this problem only occuring with one brand of caravan or is it general?

 

[Guest]

Sorry missed that you said nearside wheel

Royston

.

 

[Dustydog]

Here's the thread about wheels coming off.

Note Chrisbee's theory.

Cheers

Dustydog

 

[SBS]

Would anyone be interested in a set of wheel bolt indicators for alloy wheels and how much would you be prepared to pay for them?

Mike

 

[Lutz]

For VOSA to include a wheelnut torque check in a roadside check, the torque would have to be documented in the V5c Registration Certificate. How else would they know which is the correct torque?

 

[Lutz]

Is it only alloy wheels that come loose or are there any significant numbers of instances with steel wheels, known to have been correctly torqued in the first place?

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

john well done you. i would have posted earlier but only just seen the thread.

i would still push for some compo, cc vouchers, ccc vouchers or something from the shop as a guesture of good will because your having to wait.

jo

 

[TimM]

25 years as an engineer in the car industry tells me that caravan manufactures are skating on very thin ice with this one. A wheel coming off a new caravan is potentially a huge product liability issue, particularly when the technology clearly exists elsewhere in a similar industry (car industry) to negate the need to retorque wheel nuts.

The "get out of jail" instruction to retorque wheel nuts after so many miles is almost reminiscent of the American car industries attitude to car occupant safety in the 1950s where they argued that if someone had an accident and the car folded up and killed them, as many of the 50's designs would, it was their fault for having the accident. After a series of high profile cases where the manufacturers were sued for huge amounts, the need for manufactures to produce "safe products" became the norm.

Whilst I am sure that caravan manufacturers are legally advised, I think there would be a compelling case for a product liability case against a caravan manufacturer for a wheel coming off on a brand new caravan.

Just as well none of our manufactures are trying to sell their products in North America. They definitely would not get away with this thinking there.

 

[Royston]

It would appear that the nuts are more likly to come loose on the nearside on alum wheels , not sure why as the carry a heaver torque .

With regards to car wheels you have only got to follow a caravan to realize how much more they bounce on the wheel surface compared with the towing car, can this additional vibration be the route cause .

Royston

 

[Lutz]

If there is any evidence that aluminium wheels suffer more from coming adrift than steel ones, then there is a possible explanation. Aluminium, being softer than steel, is more likely to flow under pressure, resulting in a reduction in tension in the stud (or bolt) over time, and hence also a steady reduction in torque. The higher wheel loads of caravans (at least single axles), and often an absence of shock absorbers, result in higher dynamic forces acting on the wheels, thus placing bigger demands on the wheels and their attachment than on cars.

Just a theory. Perhaps someone has an alternative explanation.

 

[jerry4]

Hi there

Having read with interest all these horror stories about wheels coming off, I made a point of checking the wheel nuts on my new Bailey Ranger (collected from dealer last month so have only towed about 50 miles so far)

On removing the wheel cover I was somewhat comforted to see the plastic wheel position indicators all uniformly pointing to the centre of the wheel.

Can I rely on continued observation of these indicators rather than checking with a torque wrench periodically?