Often, we see people wanting to change their jockey wheel to something huge and heavy duty because they’re having trouble pushing their camper or caravan around. Often it’s because people simply aren’t doing it right. If you’re bending your jockey wheel you’ve done something wrong. In this article we explain how to correctly use your jockey wheel.
Looking at a 400kg Alko, it’s designed to take a 400 kilo load, which is absolutely plenty. But what people often make the mistake of doing, is moving their camper or caravan around with the jockey wheel extended. They’re not designed to do this.
Basically, its prime function is to allow you to get your trailer coupled up or uncoupled from your vehicle. They’re not really made to be pushing your camper or caravan all over your grass and your back yard. Simply don’t do it.
So, when you move your trailer, when it’s not hooked up to the vehicle and you want to push it around on the jockey wheel, first thing you should do is lower it as far as it will go and still be able to turn freely at the bottom.
Once you’ve lowered the jockey wheel to a position where you can move the camper around freely, the wheel will still turn and pivot, and the angle will actually help it steer straighter. In this position you’ve got an overlap of the inner and outer tube, making it a very strong unit. At 400 kilos, that’s where it’s supposed to be. That’s where its rating is. Extended fully, forget it. You give away too much leverage. If the wheel stops turning, hits grass, it’s going to try and bend the tube. You’ll wreck your jockey wheel, and that’s not a warranty issue, that’s an owner misuse issue.
An important safety factor is never getting your hands or any part of your body underneath the trailer when you’re moving it on the jockey wheel just in case for some reason it does collapse.
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