I took the caravan in for its 2nd service this morning and after hitching to the car, went to pull up the jockey wheel into the A frame, turned the securing handle and it sheared off , this left most of the threaded part In he clamp!
With nothing to secure the jockey wheel into the A frame , I had to take the jockey wheel apart and remove it completely with it on the back of the car.
I continued on to the dealers who had to get manpower to lift it from the towbar and rest the A frame on axle stands.
Problem is the threaded part of the handle goes into a welded receiver on the A frame of the BPW and not one that is just bolted on , that could have been replaced easily,
I am waiting to hear from the dealer if they are going to be able to sort it easily for collection tonight, but I heard one of the service engineers say they might have to try drilling the thread out, another said we might have to take the head off and take it to a machine shop?
What a load of hassle, the only luck was it was on the back of the car ready to take to the dealer for service and I wasn't on holiday with it!
In all the years of Caravanning and vans hat I have owned , I have never experienced this before, the caravan is just on 3 years old , there is no corrosion on any parts, it has just sheared off ?
Has anyone else had this happen?
Hello Dave. Yes this happened to a mate of mine just as he returned from a trip so luckily was on his drive, I fixed it by drilling out the broken stud. Not too big a job, centre pop the centre of stud and drill first with a small drill probably about 3mm then gradually increase drill size until the stud is freed. When removed, get hold of a 12mm tap and clean out the threads. When completed get a new handle (only a few quid), then replace, WITH GREASE!. Good luck.
Exactly the same happened to me in September last year but mine sheared off at the caravan storage. Deciding whether to continue our journey to York or not I said to my wife I can use the front leg supports just to unhitch the caravan and see if can get a 10mm. bolt as I had some hexagon keys in my tool box. To remove the broken thread is easy and I done it myself on site. If you look at the rear end it is open so the thread goes all the way through and not a blind hole. I sprayed some WD40 into the back of the hole, left it for half an hour then used a hammer and nail punch and slowly tapped it anti-clockwise. Eventually the remaining thread just dropped out and replaced with a new Al-ko locking handle when I got home. Remember to grease the thread first as I think it's this what causes the thread to stretch and cease up over time.
Mine didn't shear but seized up and was that tight I thought the jockey wheel was clamped but slid down while I was towing it to the dealers for a service, had to use a pipe to get the extra leverage to turn it. Needless to say it was replaced at the service, this was a couple of years ago now.
Thanks all, if I could get the van home and up on the drive I would try and get it out myself. Problem is it took 3 people to lift it off the car at the dealers. They have done the service and said they did drill a hole to try ad free it but didn't want to go any more in case the damaged the female thread. I think its more of a case that they didn't want to try it in case it turned into a warranty item.
They said if it didn't work it would probably need a new A frame which he guessed would be about £300, plus around 3 hours labour.
When I said if that happens as I need it for a holiday to Austria in a few weeks that I would have to pay for it and would try to put a claim into Elddis. He then said they couldn't do anything for 12 weeks as they have a full order book and that they can only hold it for a week or so he the went on to suggest I take it to the dealer I bought it from new nearly three years ago!
Talk about unhelpful and this is a Premier Elddis dealer! Long and short of it is they have serviced it and don't seem to care how I go from here.
I only used this dealer because they are part of a large network, wish I hadn't now.
I am going to see if I can get a mobile BPW engineer to go to the dealer to try and sort it whilst at their premises.
Dave, with all due respect they, (the dealers) are just not interested. This broken stud can be removed by any half decent car mechanic/engineer. Cant believe they are fobbing you off like this, get a decent engineer down there and tell them what to do with there dealership. Once they have your cash they are not interested. There thats better, rant over. Good luck mate.
First time I have ever heard of it happening with a LunAr, must be the right old ones
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Quote: Originally posted by Dave11 on 16/5/2014
I am going to see if I can get a mobile BPW engineer to go to the dealer to try and sort it whilst at their premises.
The exact same thing happened to me last week.
I collected the van from the storage unit.
Connected onto the car etc. bolt sheered off.
I put the jockey wheel in the boot of the car.
The owner of the storage site lent me a bolt from another caravan that wasnt going to be used.
I managed to reverese the caravan onto my drive with inches to spare on either side.
I put blocks behind the wheels and put the handbrake on so the caravan wouldnt move.
I used the spare wheel jack to jack the caravan off the car, and then put the front legs of the caravan down.
I started to drill the bolt out and it came loose. By reverseing the drill it actually unwound and i got the broken bolt out and replaced it with the borrowed one.
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Topic: Anyone else have this happen?
