Hi all,

A few times here, and on the other forum, I have seen where people had problems unhooking their caravan from the tow ball. Mainly when the ground is uneven. This is due to not having enough clearance to get the jockey wheel in place. So some people run the van up on ramps. But this really just seems to be a clearance/van height problem. Some seem to by a "trail-a-mate" to solve the problem. My problem was the same but also the wheel which in my case is about 8" would slowly sink into damp/soft ground.

I have another solution that I have been using for about a year now. I have removed the wheel and replaced it with a steel plate about 4" x 6" . Putting this on gave me about another 3" of room to get the jockey, now "jack" in place.    As my van is 20 foot I never use the jockey wheel so removing it completely wasn't an issue. However If I want I can put it back in about 5 minutes. Here is my solution and a pic is worth a thousand words. If your handy with a welder its easy peasy.

The standard jockey wheel on my 16.5 ft Jayco Poptop van had 2 locating rings forged into the outer body. They were about 150 mm apart from memory. At times, I was having to extend the screwed section to scary lengths to get the rings to fit into the groove in the clamp on the drawbar.

I set to and ran a ring of weld around the outer tube just near the bottom, and also further up. I now have 4 rings to choose from to mount the jockey wheel. This works well for me, but at times with the very bottom ring, the drawbar is too close to the ground and the wheel jams under the drawbar. Minor problem.

To weld the rings, I used a fairly low current and laid the tube lightly in the jaws of my vice. I started welding with one hand and rotated the tube with the other, laying the weld as it rotated. If anyone is interested, I may be able to post some photos of the mods.

Another mod I did was to insert a shim inside the bottom of the outer tube. This then eliminated the tendency for the inner section to skew at funny angles, potentiall jamming the screw when the wheel was extended out a fair way. I used a steel shim and lightly tack welded it in place at the end of the outer tube.

The problem with the adjustments available with jockey wheels is the reason I got this one. It is longer than most, it has 5 locating rings instead of the usual three. It has the plate foot so it is easy to remove the van when the tugs wheels are in a depression or stepped down from the van site (and you can't get a wheel under the drawbar.) It gives the position adjustment to get good elevation of the drawbar when the site slopes downhill to the road.

No doubt someone will point out the price of it but it is not the usual cheapie short reach model and it is of a higher quality than those.

I mostly bush camp. Quiet often run into the problem of not being able to get the jockey wheel on, or not being able to lower the front of the van low enough to get it level.

My idea is along the same lines as Oldblokes. I cut the wheel bracket completly off.

As you can see in the photo the previous owner attempted to over come the problem by welding a mounting bracket higher up. This only gave 2' which wasn't enough.

I do like the one PeterD has displayed. It would overcome a lot of problems.

Cheers Pete

ALKO make a jockey wheel with a flat plate instead of a wheel.

I rarely use the wheel one because they are prone to sinking and are next to useless on sandy soil.

Although I now only free camp, I have usually found that the ground is in firmer condition in the bush than in a caravan park.
Regardless, I have two clamps on the drawbar and two jockeys. One with a wheel and one with a plate.
Occasionally, when setting up on a site with a severe slope I have had to use both in tandem. One to unhitch and the other to get the drawbar either extra low or extra high.

I just dig a hole & pile up the divot/soil for replacement when I leave.

My tools (hatchet & shovel/trenching tool), are clipped to the front boot wall in easy reach.

Modifying or replacing the jockey wheel never seems to get to the top of the 'To Do' list.   If it does I will review these good ideas.

Eaglemax wrote:

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Firstly thankyou everyone for these posts. My next van I plan to make a fitted plate 2" higher than the bottom of the wheel. Like a ski above wheels of a plane landig on snow. Hard ground wheel is usable.

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 That's a good modification!

Thanks

I have not seen it around lately. There used to be a foot plate that could be added to a 6" jockey wheel. It pivoted on the wheel axle, you flipped it down to use the assembly as a jockey stand and folded it back up above the wheel to use the assembly as a jockey wheel

Has anyone seen them lately?

We got caught out when our drawbar was too low on our second outing in the caravan. I couldn't get the jockey wheel on.

After that I cut the wheel off the jockey and put a foot there. The offset jockey wheel put sideways strain on the whole jockey wheel and clamp,

so I put the plate directly underneath.

While I had the welder out I put the Trail-A-Mate bracket under the drawbar. I don't trust hydraulics so after the drawbar is the correct height I put the original jockey back.

The trail-A-Mate has way more lift & adjustment, it works well.

I carry a car scissor jack as well for those times when the jockey wheel won't lower far enough. they will close to about 4 inches. About $28 at Supercheap and not really a huge amount of extra weight.
I helped someone out who hadn't clamped around the jockey wheel register and draw bar slipped to the ground. Scissor jack did the job.

Yeah some times you need to give that a frame a nudge hard to do with a flat plate instead of a wheel....

In answer to Peter D woudn't be without it.

cheers end-on