Hi could somebody give me advice on the handbrake of caravan when parked please. Do you chock the wheels or have the handbrake on? Also when parked up for winter is it necessary to take the battery out or just disengage it. Still learning with new little Freedom caravan, not been away in it yet.
My handbrake stays on all the time that it is parked, it is a basic safety consideration, I hate to think of the insurance implications if anything happened and the handbrake had not been applied.
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
I would do differently depending on how long parked. During the Summer and whilst on site I leave the handbreak on. When parked up over Winter the handbreak is left off to avoid breaks sticking. Also remove battery and put on leisure battery charger in garage over Winter.
I was always advised to chock the wheels and leave the handbrake off if parked up for more than a few days. The main reason for leaving the handbrake off is that it can stretch the cables which in turn leads to more servicing etc. It also stops the shoes sticking to the drum as mentioned earlier.
Use good quality chocks or a couple of bricks on each wheel making sure they are tight to the tyre and the van should not move, especially with the legs down as well, which is advisable when in use as well as in storage, having the legs down in storage gives the van more stability in the winter gales etc.
Thank you all for the advice. I think I will do as the majority do and leave it off with chocks during winter storage, then depending on weather conditions and type of pitch I am on for the rest. I have never put the brakes on in my car while it is in my garage, for fear of them freezing in winter and getting stuck, so you have all made my mind up what to do.
Much depemds on where you keep your van over the winter. Inside or outside.
Mine is kept in my workshop. Indoors and on level ground.
The handbrake is on because it has a movement alarm and I don't want that sounding just because it is accidently moved.
I leave the battery in but the electricity is off unless I am working there in which case the battery gets topped up for a few hours every other day.
I use the van as a howf for the odd cuppa and a wee rest as I feel like it.
The main thing is that once a month I move the van so that the weight is not sitting on one part of the tyre all the time.
For some strange and unfathomable reason, all the crud, dust, lost tools and reciepts that I want to keep, make a bee line for the van and hide underneath it and so it is necessary to mave it every so often to clean this area and retrieve these long lost artifacts.
Really Barmar no one set of advice will cover all your circumstances. Look at your own set up and decide what will be best for you.
hi i when our van is at home i put it on axle stands with the corner steadies down it lets the suspension rest and also takes the weight off the tyres, the battery stays connected all the time i just plug it into the mains now and then to give the battery a bit of boost. on site i chock the wheels and leave the handbrake off .if the pitch is very sloping i would use the handbrake as well just to be on the safe side . we also use a cover over winter it works well for us but there are very different opinions about covering caravans
There are two trains of thought on this. It depends how long it is going to be standing. I always pull my hand brake up as it is rarely left more than about 6 weeks. I have known brakes stick on cars when they have been standing but this takes months and months to happen. Even if they did stick, a good thump with a hammer on the wheel will usually free them. Personally I rather risk a sticky brake than a runaway caravan. There is also the risk of the brakes linkage seizing in the off position too, which you may not realise has happened until you need to use the brakes and find they do not work. Most caravans if not all caravans have rods for their linkages rather than cables, so stretching is not an issue either. Personally I think the stretching of brake cables is so minimal as to be negligable, particularly as there is a massive amount of adjustment on the cable. The most common cause of the hand brake cable running out of adjustment as that the shoes are out of adjustment, either due to wear, or because the hand brake has been over tightened and made the self adjusting mechanism in the drums inoperative.
Also, the brakes on a caravan cannot freeze in the winter as there is nothing to freeze. The brakes on a car theoretically could freeze, but to freeze brake fluid would be sub-arctic conditions, cold enough to freeze the engine oil, battery and anti freeze too.
In my years in the motor trade, I found it far more common for a clutch to stick than a brake. There's not much you can do to stop that other than take it out. The clutch is made from similar material to the brakes, but usually has a larger surface area.
On site I put the hand brake on but when the van is sitting on the drive, the handbrake is off. It's hitched to an RSJ concreted into the border & has an al-Ko lock on it so can't go anywhere. I also remove the jockey wheel when the van is on the drive to make it difficult for anyone who may want to borrow it to move it. They've had one from me, they'll have to work to get this one.
I leave the battery on the van during the winter but remove it & charge it now & then. As we're summer onth users only, I also drain everything down, leave taps turned on & we place a large bowl of salt at each end of the van to absorb any moisture from the air. This works a treat & has to be changed regularly.
We leave handbrake off and the legs down to avoid brakes rusting on.We use a car battery instead of a leisure battery because we only ever use ehu but we still remove it in the winter.
------------- Those that danced were thought to be quite insane to those who could not hear the music. Angela Monet
I would ALWAYS use the handbrake when on site for safety reasons - that is why it's there after all! I leave the handbrake off when parked up for long periods at home on our flat driveway, where it is clamped anyway, so can;t move.
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Topic: Caravan Brake when Parked
