So what could go wrong

So what could go wrong...

I wont go to deep into this story other than to say the caravan had been serviced by myself over the years. I have always dabbled with cars and motorbikes, I trained as an engineer and I know my way around most tools! However, I decided I would love to not do it myself for a change and throwing caution to the wind I arranged for a guy I knew to service it for me. He is a Bona Fide caravan service agaent and I knew I could trust him!

Everything went smoothly and all was checked and attwended to if needed. He found my gas pipe from the bottle was out of date, and duly replaced it and I had a faulty black plug to the go into the tow bar. Duly replaced I thanked him and paid him. I was actually very impressed!

The following weekend we got the tintent hithed up and off we set on our first weekend of the year. I like a shakedown run and boy, was this going to be a shakedown run!!

We had gone no more than two miles, we had been doing about 55 mph on the by-pass not two minutes earlier and we started to travers around an island. I was doing all of ten miles an hour having just pulled away and the left caravan wheel parted company with the drum!

I saw the guy torque the wheels up and I could not believe it had happened.

Thankfully the AA managed to get the wheel back on, I found the bolts on the island, all four and they followed us back home.

The service guy and myself were mystified and we agreed to do the work together and split the cost. As I say I saw him work on the van and he did torque the wheels up as I said because I watched him do them both!

Due to the age of the 'van, I had to source kit from breakers yards, repair specialsits and of course main service agent suppliers.

we had a new wheel and tyre, wheel hub and bearing. The inner mudguard,called the wheel box, new bolts and a new outer wheel spat. it took about five weeks to source and fix it all together.

The next journey was a real worry as we went around that same islans I can tell you! A year later I still worry as I approach it and I now check my bolts EVERY journey!

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Memo...

I now keep a 'Torque wrench' in my car at all times to check the bolts if I suspect they need tightening. They haven't so far!
As my 'van is kept on the drive in front of my house, possibly, someone could have loosened the wheel? I doubt it, but, the bolts were replaced with security locking bolts like you have on alloy wheels, just in case.
An old lorry drivers trick that has since become de-rigeur was to paint dots on the nuts and the wheel in line. Then you could see if anything had moved just by looking. I bought a white paint pen and marked my bolts and wheels accordingly. It is but a matter of seconds to pull the plastic wheel trim off and check!
Finally, every now and then I slack off each bolt in turn and re-tighten to the correct torque!

Finally, here are some bolts like mine if you are interested? Mine are for steel wheels, alloy ones are different! Check with your supplier for suitability!

http://www.wheel-solutions.co.uk/SAS_bolt/SAS_bolt.html