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caravan Servicing
Servicing of caravan undercarriages has always been a large part of the Hardings business. In fact the business started 35 years ago just servicing Caravan Undercarriages. Hardings now have 5 special caravan hoists dedicated to servicing all types of single and tandem axle caravans and campers. Our staff can walk under your van and identify the wear and tear points plus change springs and chassis equipment a lot more efficiently than working on the ground.
Our facilities include five hoists for better access
The Hardings Undercarriage Service checklists around 40 different items on your chassis and suspension system. The key areas we look at are:
- Wheels, brakes and bearings stripped, checked and serviced.
- Tyres and wheels inspected.
- Springs and shackles checked for wear, outriggers, chassis rails, cross-members and A-frames checked for damage/fatigue.
- All moving components inspected.
- Full inspection of body components.
- Jockey wheel and jacks lubricated for ease of operation.
- External traffic lights and wiring connections inspected.
- Water Tank mountings and hoses inspected for integrity and protection.
- Handbrake cable adjustment and effectiveness checked.
We have given some detail below to areas of an Undercarriage service where we often delve into*
Solder your wires:
The electric brake assemblies at each wheel are joined together by two wires that find their way back to the trailer plug. Many electric brake systems have wires joined by crimp connectors, screw caps or push in spades as a way to join these wires to the magnets. Although it takes a little extra time our preferred approach at Hardings is to solder these joints and then strap the wires to the chassis.
Jockey wheel bearing:
Beneath the top cylindrical surface is a bearing that carries the down weight of your caravan as you wind the jockey. The bearing has a series of metal balls contained in a plastic housing. When we strip down your jockey wheel for lubrication we occasionally find this housing to be cracked. In this instance we must replace it or you risk a ball bearing jamming down the shaft of the jockey wheel rendering it unwindable.
Change bearings:
An important part of the service is to wash and repack the caravan wheel
bearings. If we find any deterioration in the chrome finish on the wheel
bearing rollers we will ask the question “Are these bearings good
for the next 15,000 kilometres?” Any signs of rust, pit marks, odd lines
or discoloration will be cause for suspicion enough for us to recommend
their change. Don’t expect the same life out of caravan wheel bearings as your cars.
The load per wheel is often greater, and more spasmodic use combined
with long periods of idleness seems to affect their condition.
Suspension bushes:
Some caravan suspensions never wear bushes whilst others require very regular maintenance. Some of the tandem systems require this maintenance to prevent spring breakages. It's an area we can re-engineer to some extent to provide better wear. We’ll also recommend which suspensions we recommend carrying spare springs for unmade road traveling.
Change linings:
Brake linings don’t last as long as you would like them to. They often crack prematurely and whilst this may not render them unroadworthy, it does tend to produce aggressive brakes. Of course once they have cracked, more rapid deterioration sets in so it is best to replace them.
Change magnets:
The electric brake magnets are the hardest working part of your braking
system. Despite that, you can expect to get 30 - 40,000 kilometres from them. They
have depth wear indicators on their faces and when worn to these points it is time
for new ones. We need to replace the magnet and machine the brake drum.
Bad earth on sidelights:
Caravan external marker lights are only basic in quality. Front and side markers are renowned for their intermittent behaviour as a result of water entry. We often need to remove the lenses and clean up the contacts or secure the earth screw for best performance.
Other servicing at Hardings....
Windup Servicing
The windup system most commonly found in Jayco’s is a well proven and reliable system. It does however need maintenance around the 5 year mark. It's not uncommon for a camper that hasn’t been maintained to break a main cable (complete roof won’t wind up) or riser arm cable where one raiser arm won’t go up. These have often lead to a holiday finishing prematurely thus we recommend servicing these systems every 5 years,
A windup service inspects and lubricates the complete windup system. To access the system we need empty cupboards as we strip the internal panels that cover all the windup mechanism. The common areas of interest in a windup service are:
- Condition of the main winch cable.
- Condition of the main winch clutch.
- Condition of the 4 riser arm cables
- Operation and lubrication of the several pulley wheels used to convey the 4 riser cables from the main winch.
- Connection of the pushrods and lubrication.
- Lubrication and condition of the 4 riser arms.
- Ensuring floor plates are still well anchored on pushrod assemblies.
