Search the Community

This one's fairly niche interest! Back in July we had an "interesting" discussion on the types of axle that Al-Ko offer - and who uses what. https://www. caravantalk. co. uk/community/topic/130418-single-vs-twin-axle/?page=4 The consensus seemed to be that the UK manufacturers used the Euro Compact axle and the mainland Europe manufacturers used the Euro Delta. This was backed up by Al-ko themselves, who also said that the Delta axle tended to be the cranked axle beam version. The Delta offers a more stable tow. I was curious to see if any UK manufacturers had switched for 2019 - particularly on their wider or heaviest vans. A random check under a few vans at the NEC showed no cranked axle beams on UK vans. Out of interest and, because once you've got on your hands and knees in front of thousands of people you might as well keep doing it, I also checked under some Adria, Knaus and Weinsberg vans. The result was that Adria's Adora did have the cranked axle but the Adria Altea, Knaus Sport and Fun and Weinsberg caravans did not. I know these represent the budget end of the euro market i was a little surprised given Al-ko's statement to Lutz. Perhaps they are using a non-cranked Delta axle, though that seems unlikely.

I am trying to find out and share details of the problem and outcome from anyone who has suffered problems with an Alko chassis, particularly on a Bailey caravan. We currently have such a problem and are battling it out with Bailey I think that there is a problem which should be covered under warranty, but am being blamed for causing the problem. We were due to pick up our 2 year old Bailey Unicorn Vigo from its service last week. They called us to say it was ready, then called us 10 minutes later to say that it was unfit to drive!!!!! The word 'axle' was mentioned, as were the words 'overload' and 'probably your fault and not covered under warranty' although we had to wait for an Alko engineer to confirm that the arms on the axle are bent to double the angle that they should be, causing the suspension to sink. The good news is that they have discovered the cause of the caravan flooding when we towed in the rain. There is a huge hole in the wheel box caused by the tyre rubbing against it. A huge hole that they didn't find when they went over the caravan with a fine toothcomb to look for the source of the leak at the end of last year! Holes in the wheelbox caused by tyres rubbing is a problem that I found in a 10 minute web search that others have suffered. The dealer said they had never come accross it before. We stand accused of overloading the caravan. Funny, because we tow with a van to carry all the heavy items for the exact reason that we don't want to overload the caravan! But we also weighed every item, even teaspoons, and have a spreadsheet (I know!) which tells us the total weight of everything we originally put the caravan. We were very confident that it was not overloaded! Alko accused us of a 98kg overload. We have been back to the caravan today, emptied it and weighed every single item in it. Unsurprisingly, the payload was under the 1500kg permitted, but the dealer doesn't accept that our scales are accurate enough to account for the nearly 100kg discrepancy between what Alko weighed (caravan + contents) and our contents weight. My husband was formerly a senior fleet manager for an international haulage company and knows a thing or two about loading. It is worth noting that the margin of error on portable weighbridges is plus or minus 100kg! There is also a lot of red tape involved in the calibration of the area where they are used. We have asked for all the supporting documentation. One of Baileys own advertising photos shows a Bailey caravan with a car and a man standing on the roof, claiming a load of 1600kg. I know that the caravan is stationary and not being towed, but there must be a tolerance on the axle that means that it won't collapse if you pop in an extra teaspoon while you are towing! We spoke to an independent engineer who has dealt with several similar cases and he said that it was insulting to our intelligence to suggest that an overload of 98kg would cause the axle to collapse (even though we are now satisfied that it was NOT overloaded!) He suggested that we pursue it through the small claims court - the same advice that we got when we took some legal advice through our insurers. We are starting a warranty claim against Bailey. I believe that there is a problem with the axles that is being avoided by the manufacturer. From the research that I have done on the web, axle problems are not uncommon or unknown, but Bailey and Alko don't want to know. The only way to make them take responsibility is to prove that these are not isolated incidents caused by lots of irresponsible owners overloading their vans. My worst fear is that we will have the repair and be in the same position and accused of overloading this time next year.

Looks like my suspension has collapsed on the near side of van. There is about a 30mm difference in level from side to side and the wheel leans slightly inward at top. Local dealer has asked for the axle numbers to work out a price, I've crawled all over the underside but can't find any numbers either stamped or on a plate. So is there anyone out there with a Compass Liberte 17/4 approx 2004 or an Omega 524, who can give me the details for this axle, please? I have also noticed that the box shaped axle bows in the middle towards the back, is the normal? Doesn't do this on a smaller Eldis I had a nose around underneath! Many thanks in advance for any help. ..

i'm in the process of rebuilding a very rare 1965 Eriba Titan caravan which has an unusual axle arrangement, in that the wheels are offset from each other. The wheel on one side is further back than the one on the opposite side. Here is one of my webpages with an image of the configuaration along with some thoughts http://www. titan. nessworthy. co. uk/december2011. html. Click on the image to see an enlarged view. What I've been trying to determine is why Eriba have done this with the axle and I was wondering if anyone else could have a theory.