Jockey Wheel Clamp Sheared

I have only seen a Helicoil used in solid stock, not a folded section such as channel section used in the clamp bracket. I'm also unsure if they will withstand the repeated use of winding a bolt in and out. In a cylinder headstock, a more common application, they are subjected to minimal wear and are highly successful.

Colin

Hi All

Many thanks for responding, I think I’ll try clamping a new jockey wheel clamp on the other side of the chassis. All the local (Dorset) mobile service firms have been most unhelpful, even the Dorset Bailey dealer, (usually pretty good), has not even wanted to inspect the ‘van to see if they could assist

Have you tried a local friendly car engineer, the sort found in back street garages?

Just a thought.

Good luck

Rileyman2

There are mobile engineers like this - https://www.threaddoctorservicesltd.co.uk/ all over the uk.

Never been beaten by snapped studs yet. Most people go for stud extractors and applied heat but I find left hand drill bits and plumbers freeze spray have yielded the best results, drilling down in stages but smaller than the thread size. Most times the final slivers of thread come away with the drill but occasionally they need a cleaning tap run down them.

I say make use of a mobile engineer if access to the stud hole is not impeded. 

I’ve had 2 clamps fail on a Bailey in 18month. On another site it suggested that they are not strong enough to use with a motor mover. I don’t have an option. 
looking at putting a plate  on and fastening a stronger clamp to that. 
Contacted the dealer and AL KO waiting a response. In the meantime I have a caravan that is going nowhere. 

The extractor has a left hand thread so as you screw it in, it tightens and the broken bolt starts to unscrew

Just had the same problem, AL-KO jockey wheel clamp bolt sheared off flush in the clamp assembly and the remaining piece seized in the clamp assembly. After searching the internet I failed to find some idiot proof instructions and so decided to explore possible solutions.

The clamp assembly is on an alko chassis and is welded in position.

First thing I did was remove the fairing from the A Frame to expose the clamp assembly, I could see, just about, that the piece remaining was close against the clamp pressure pad and only allowed a very small amount of movement, it was not possible to remove the jockey wheel.

Second step was removing the clamp pressure pad, to do this I straightened the hook on the pressure pad which allowed me to remove it from the bottom of the clamp assembly (lugs on the bottom of the clamp pressure pad prevents it from being removed from the top of the clamp assembly). It dropped out fairly easily.

This allowed me to remove the jockey wheel from the clamp. The ‘rivnut’ (the captive nut for tightening the clamp with the clamp handle) was now clear of any obstruction and I was able to use a steel chisel to remove the rivnut from its housing in the clamp assembly by bending the lip of the rivet part of the rivnut and allowing it to become free.

The rest was quite simple a new rivnut was attached and the whole clamp assembly put back together.

All I had to purchase was an Alko jockey wheel clamp repair kit and a replacement jockey wheel clamp handle the total cost of these parts was less than £35

Here is a trick that is used to remove the residual broken end of a half-shaft that is broken part way along and cannot be removed along with the differential.  Getting to the sheared end of the clamp bolt will be a lot easier than working inside an axle tube.

The idea is to use an electric arc welder to fuse a length of bar onto the sheared end.  Not the text-book way of welding, but the chap with a back-street garage would probably have a big enough welder for this to work.  The bar is put into the clamp in place of the usual welding rod and brought up into contact with the stud.  Big flash, high current, and the bar should be fused to the stud.  "Home" welders just do not have sufficient current available for this to work.

Another vote for the ‘easy out’. Use the largest sensible size, and drive it into the pre-drilled hole using a hammer. This might mean having to sacrifice the ‘easy out’, but it should get the job done.

👍