Jockey wheel up or down

However, as I recall, Alko say there is no problem either way.

My thoughts as well although I leave jockey down as for me no point in winding up

100% agree Dave!

Can't speak for all but certainly on our van the rear steadies bolt to the chassis but the front steadies only bolt to the floor - given this fact alone there is no way I would rely on the front steadies to support the full (loaded) noseweight of the van which with a fully occupied lounge could easily be several hundred kg.

It can carry a load, it will actually show you what load it is carrying. However, I seem to recall when we had one the instructions said to leave it unloaded, as continued load would affect the accuracy. So we always left it just in contact, so it would have come into play in the event of a steady failure.

Many steadies that I have seen are just screwed into the wooden floor. People can make their own decisions but if they had that arrangement and they are living at the front of the van and moving around then surely common sense would dictate using the jockey wheel to take the bulk of the weight at the front. 

Food for thought.

Im sure that as the designers of the caravan have taken into account the loadings that the floor and steadies can manage. If they incapable of supporting the caravan whilst in use, then I would guess that the chassis would be extended and the steadies mounted to this and not the floor. 

The jokey wheel also has a weight limit like the hitch, so this could be exceeded if it was to take and more than the static nose weight.  

 This is my opinion, so I'm not saying that others or wrong.

I was walking around a Caravan dealer last week and they seemed to have taken all of the Jockey wheels off their caravans and they were open for people to walk around in.

Do you know why they would do that?

Makes it harder to manouvre caravan by hand into a position to hitch it up for thieves I suspect or to stop jockey wheels from being stolen.

A week or two back I did the Caravan Manoeuvring course - a useful Saturday.  The guy running the day mentioned this matter and assured us that the jockey wheel can be left raised as when lowered it does not take any weight.  All the weight is on the steadies according to him.

I agree with the jockey wheel down brigade - for all the reasons stated, and one more......

When I arrive on site and unhitch, the jockey wheel has to be down in order for me to move the caravan and set up.  When I leave the site, my jockey wheel has to be down to help me hitch up etc.  To raise the jockey wheel at the start of our stay and to lower it again at the end is just an extra job, and I can't see any good reason for doing it.  Save time and leave the jockey wheel down!! LOL  

David