Jockey wheel too short.

[Smirke]

hi all,
Now that we have the new beast, we have a tiny problem.......or 2.
The car has had a 2" lift and new suspension so went and tried to hook the van up to see if we needed the polyairbags or not. The van is too short! Our jockey wheel need to raise the van 80 - 100mm higher for the car and van to hook up.
Does anyone know of one that would give a higher lift? Ours at the moment is the standard jayco one which lifts it 790mm. I know some people have that stand type (@bigcol I think you may have one) and am wondering if they lift the hitch any higher.
Moving the hitch on the van isn't an option

 

[dagree]

A trail-a-mate will (should) do the job! Our drive drops down where the jockey wheel is and the trail-a-mate lifts the van up level and more if needed.

 

[dagree]

A trail-a-mate will (should) do the job! Our drive drops down where the jockey wheel is and the trail-a-mate lifts the van up level and more if needed.

The body mounting is adjustable and can lift up to 500mm.

Not affiliated just a happy user!!!!

 

[Smirke]

The body mounting is adjustable and can lift up to 500mm.

Not affiliated just a happy user!!!!

Thanks @dagree, I will google them now.
I did find a 'tall' jockey wheel on the caravans plus site, but wasn't sure if it would do the job so sent off an email. Needing one quick, as I couldn't get the esc lights to light up when plugged van into car even though van lights lighted up and coral bay is just round the corner!

 

[dagree]

Should be available off the shelf at most caravan accessory places.

 

[Smirke]

Should be available off the shelf at most caravan accessory places.

Just saw that repco is a stockist. Luckily there's 2 within 5 km of me!!! Will call tomorrow, as I want to make sure that it can extend more than the 890mm that I need it to. Also read that I need the mkII version as my vans a bit on the heavy side.

 

[Dobbie]

Good luck!

A weekend away is priceless.

 

[dagree]

Would be surprised if it doesn't lift high enough... Clamp it on with the base plate almost on the ground and that will give you 500mm lift.
Also note that the Mark II requires a 60mm clamp as it won't fit the standard 50mm clamp!

 

[Smirke]

Also note that the Mark II requires a 60mm clamp as it won't fit the standard 50mm clamp!

Saw that.......DAMN!

 

[achjimmy]

Problem with a trailmate jockey wheel (and I have a brand new one unused ) is they are another stupid heavy thing that makes you struggle to keep under your payload!

Call Bos370 jockey wheels and speak with Bronwyn.

 

[Drover]

So what is the tow ball and van hitch height now ? Ive got to do a bitof a wood block jack stand shuffle with mine sometimes, a real pain.

 

[achjimmy]

So what is the tow ball and van hitch height now ? Ive got to do a bitof a wood block jack stand shuffle with mine sometimes, a real pain.

The cruisers are a pain. There hitch is mounted up between the chassis rails. Perfect design for strength but unfortnatly not uniform to the AU standards that Jayco follow. Hence you need to raise the hitch or get a stupid drop hitch. If you don't Then your jockywheel ends up to short!

 

[Smirke]

So what is the tow ball and van hitch height now ? Ive got to do a bitof a wood block jack stand shuffle with mine sometimes, a real pain.

the jockey wheel extends to a total of 790mm from ground to very top. The car is just over 80mm higher (at the bottom of its hitch) than that.
Have looked at the BOS, the one @achjimmy mentioned, and sent them an email asking about those, and I will be calling repco about the mkII trail a mate this morning.
Remembering we did have to jack the van up to get it on the back of the patrol when we were in Dubbo, so a new, bigger one is a definite.

 

[Smirke]

The cruisers are a pain. There hitch is mounted up between the chassis rails. Perfect design for strength but unfortnatly not uniform to the AU standards that Jayco follow. Hence you need to raise the hitch or get a stupid drop hitch. If you don't Then your jockywheel ends up to short!

already got the drop hitch and have it at the last holes. I guess lifting the car by 2" didn't exactly help. The ESC went a.w.o.l as well, so not having much luck with this car at the moment.

 

[Dobbie]

This may be of little use but we've had the same problem with getting jockey wheel on and off in varying height condition and have been frustrated by it.

Also, problem was compounded a couple of weeks ago when jockey wheel, on blocks and on sand, looked like toppling off.

With the help of lots of people here, I investigated both Trailermate and Boss as alternatives and wanted to replace jacks in van with something that just might work.

The result:

We're having a plate made ...steel... that the jockey wheel will sit in at times ...the plastic ones we tried just disintegrate...so we'll use that on blocks to get the extra stability and height when needed.

The plate will have an indent for the wheel to sit in.

For lower positions....we're still not sure but will try to avoid that if possible. It's only been a problem once so we tried to avoid overkill.

We decided not to go with Trailermate or Boss on the basis of weight and because extra brackets were needed on draw bar and to use as a jack.

Your issue is different, I know, so I hope you sort it out easily but wondered if you had had time to look into all the factors with the alternatives.

 

[MDS69]

We were having the same issues as you as well as when setting up sometimes due to on site conditions the jockey wheel range didn't cut it.
When we took delivery of our Expanda we still had our CT. The jockey wheel on the CT was the same brand but had 3 rings on it verse the two on the Jayco supplied jockey wheel so I swapped them before I sold the CT as it gave me more options to clamp on. I also carry a bit of treated pine sleeper 200x100x300 but as mentioned above it is not ideal to be carrying all these chocks etc due to weight.

 

[Drover]

I have added a couple of weld runs on my jockey for extra grip but on bad spots it's wind up, fit stand, reset stupid jockey wheel and wind again have been thinking about an air ram, plug in air from ute and up she goes, just haven't found an air ram to experiment with yet........use jack stand to take the weight, jockey wheels too wobbly.

 

[achjimmy]

This may be of little use but we've had the same problem with getting jockey wheel on and off in varying height condition and have been frustrated by it.

Also, problem was compounded a couple of weeks ago when jockey wheel, on blocks and on sand, looked like toppling off.

With the help of lots of people here, I investigated both Trailermate and Boss as alternatives and wanted to replace jacks in van with something that just might work.

The result:

We're having a plate made ...steel... that the jockey wheel will sit in at times ...the plastic ones we tried just disintegrate...so we'll use that on blocks to get the extra stability and height when needed.

The plate will have an indent for the wheel to sit in.

For lower positions....we're still not sure but will try to avoid that if possible. It's only been a problem once so we tried to avoid overkill.

We decided not to go with Trailermate or Boss on the basis of weight and because extra brackets were needed on draw bar and to use as a jack.

Your issue is different, I know, so I hope you sort it out easily but wondered if you had had time to look into all the factors with the alternatives.

No weight issues or extra brackets needed with the bos @Dobbie. I chose to put a HD clamp on mine because I could and they are better, but TBH the bos puts less strain on the bracket than the std jockey wheel IMO. And with the extension pieces and the ability to leave it in situ it makes set up on any height surface. About the only downside is the geared drive although easier to wind requires more cranking due to gearing. Not an issue if you carry a drill and the other benefit with the drill is it makes the setting up of the drop Jacks a 30sec procedure.

 

[Drover]

I just remembered, the other week I saw a fella with a movable jockey wheel clamp, it fitted over and under the draw bar, clamp wise and 2 turn screws secured it with the jockey wheel clamp hanging off it, wish I had taken a pic of it...... I thought it a clever design, which I may copy later on.

 

[Dobbie]

Go back and chase him for the specs!

Another restriction we have is the extra very heavy double bracket that just fitted on the draw bar for the Optitech mover. If a Boss would fit on that, it might be a goer.

I'll check with them.

Thanks Jim and Drover.