Jockey wheel (solid or pneumatic tyres?) or fixed solid jack?

Submitted: Thursday, Apr 07, 2005 at 21:18

ThreadID: 121894 Views:4321 Replies:2 FollowUps:2

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Motherhen & Rooster

Previous owner had dispensed with jockey wheel and fixed a strong and solid jack - ideal for taking the weight off the car when stopping for the night, as well as levelling the van. Hard when re-coupling as there is no movement. We need to move the jack to fit the AT35, and don't really have room for both (if the torsion bars stay). We were going to get a maco mule dual wheel jockey wheel with ratchet. My husband is now on a mission to design a wheel that can be attached to the foot plate on the jack leg to use when re-coupling van. I noticed in Anthony's van specifications (i think it was Anthony's) that he had a solid wheel on the jockey wheel. Pros & cons for all options? What do you think?

Motherhen

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Reply By: Bushtracker - Thursday, Apr 07, 2005 at 22:33

Thursday, Apr 07, 2005 at 22:33

The Lone Ranger at Bushtracker sez:

I have had a Bushtracker longer than anyone.... Proper use of the geared Jockey wheel is an essential for ease of hooking up... Most of the problems encountered appear to be from unintentional misuse... I have a standard one on my van, and will have a standard one on my next van due out in weeks.

Are there better ones available? yes... Are they necessary to spend the additional money on.? That is debatable, but I am not bothering... Learning the proper use seems to be most of the problem... On pumping up the tyre, yes a pain every month or two... So I put a pressure can of tyre leak fix "Flat fixer" and pumped mine up with that, and now only put air in it sort of every 3- 4- maybe 5 months... It adds a stickey latex material to slow any rim leak..

Solid silicone? Not in mine, nice idea, but tooooo heavy... Works well in forklift tyres running over nails, but adds a lot of weight and strain on the shaft of the tube, so I will give it a miss as well..

Now these are grey areas, but I am out and about more than most and longer than most, and that is my analysis...

Cheers, stg at Bushtracker

"The Last Stand In Open Country"

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Follow Up By: Bogger John - Saturday, Apr 09, 2005 at 18:15

Saturday, Apr 09, 2005 at 18:15

Steve,

I got fed up with mine being half flat all the time even at 75 psi and I heard of some blowing off the rim, so I had the tyre filled with silicone. There is no need for the jockey wheel to be pneumatic and I have wondered why they don't simply have a thin solid rubber tyre. I guess they are not available otherwise you would fit them?

John

FollowupID: 844471

Follow Up By: Bushtracker - Monday, Apr 11, 2005 at 18:40

Monday, Apr 11, 2005 at 18:40

Hello John,

Nice idea, but no, there is not solid tyre to fit that. The problem is that the tyre always looks flat, sort of like a radial tyre under load, it always balloons out the sides... I would not pump one up that far... I just ignore the fact that it looks half flat and don't worry about mine. The silicone idea does work well, but for the reasons above listed and structural weight on the tube of the power jockey wheel, I will still not do it...

My new van will still have the standard...
Cheers, Bushtracker

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