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Jockey up or down

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Corona, Caravanner
four green stars
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I have been noticing that many caravans are sitting on site with the jockey wheel raised, which to me is totally wrong. I have been caravanning for 25 years now and never really noticed this before, but am very surprised. Surley the way to park up is remove the caravan from the car using the jockey wheel, then when the car is clear level up front to back with the jockey wheel and then lower the front stabalisers to touch, followed by the rear. Finally check level and wind the stabalisers to give some tension. At this point I would clarify, they are stabalisers, not jacks.

The result is that the caravan has 5 feet on the floor. Also, by default most caravan designs have the seating/lounge area at the front, thus besides the caravan weight there is 4 adults @ say 12 stone = 48 stone of weight at the front. Better 3 load bearing positions at the front rather than 2.

Can anyone enlighten me why they should raise the jockey wheel clear ?

 
paul56, Caravanner
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I like your estimate of 12 stone per adult - if only :-))

I'm not sure how much weight the stabilisers actually take - they are there to stabilise the 'van. Most of the weight is taken on the wheels surely?

 
JRX, Caravanner from Hampshire
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Surely without the jockeywheel down there will be a see-saw affect on the stabilisers if you just rely on the wheels to keep the pressure even on the stabilisers, if 48 stone sat at the front then 48 stone will have to be added to the back to keep the caravan level. Or the added pressure will push the front stabilisers into the floor, especially the older vans with wooden flooring. With the Jockey wheel down it prevents the added pressure on the front stabilisers. Am I missing something here? Janet

 
andybe,
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I agree that logically the jockey wheel should be down to help take the weight. I do seem to remember that our European neighbours have been in the habit of parking up with jockey wheel retracted for some time. Maybe the trend is spreading over here?!

 
Spannerdo, Caravanner From Lincolnshire
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Or the added pressure will push the front stabilisers into the floor, especially the older vans with wooden flooring. With the Jockey wheel down it prevents the added pressure on the front stabilisers. Am I missing something here? Janet

Write your comments here...Didn't know that we had anything else other than wood floors...there might be some polystyrene in it but it is still wood on top and bottom as far as I know

 
Corona, Caravanner
four green stars
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Hope I am not confusing the situation, as in fact assuming the van is perfectly balanced from front to rear then the so called 48 stone is distributed between the wheels and the stabalisers ie:  48/4 = 12 stone each. But not forgetting the van is generally nose heavy. Howevery the bottom line is surely JOCKEY DOWN.

 

 
JayMar, Caravanner from Lincolnshire
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There have been other threads on this subject and it can get quite heated so be warned! After the last on ewas posted I read my caravan's handbook and the instructions only said not to jack up the 'van using the steadies, but it did say to stop, apply the handbrake, unhitch, level with jockey wheel and lower the steadies. Nowhere did it say raise jockey wheel once done.

 
AndyNYorks, Caravanner
five green stars
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The caravan is designed for the weight to be taken by the jockey wheel. The corner steadies are exactly that, steadies and not designed to take the weight of the caravan. Raising the jockey wheel potentially causes damage to both the steadies and the frame therefore invalidating your warranty. The jockey wheel should be down whenever the caravan is unhooked from the towing vehicle.