Sacrificial nut - corner steadies

[Unknown]

When packing up a few weeks ago and not thinking very straight...

My mover wasn't usable so instead of driving up a ramp to get it side
to side level, I had got it part on the ramp, partly jacked up.

Instead of lowering the jack after the corner steadies, distracted I
lowered the jack first, so the corner steadies were taking a lot of
weight when I came to lower them. The rear one on that side, went
rather suddenly, but it seemed to wind up OK, but failed to tighten
once fully wound up - no problem I thought, I will take a look once
home.

A nice day today, so I crawled under to have a proper look, to find the
problem was the large bush/ nut, which winds back and forth as you
crank the corner steady up and down, had its internal thread stripped.

It's an Alko chassis and they are Alko corner steadies. The nuts are
made from a soft metal so if too much strain is applied to them, the
thread will strip out, rather than damage the caravan or the chassis.
Cleaver I thought.

I just need to source a replacement nut and fit it, or rather work out
what size the nut is. There are two - 18mm and 20mm. Fitting is just a
matter of removing two Phillips screws and bending a chassis bracket
out the way, to install the new nut.

I have written to Bailey asking them to confirm the correct size of nut
needed for my model. I suspect it will be the 20mm heavy duty version.

[Neil]

That's interesting - I've never heard of that either! I wonder how long
that has been a feature of Alko corner steadies?

Neil.

[Unknown]

Neil laid this down on his screen :

> That's interesting - I've never heard of that either! I wonder how long that
> has been a feature of Alko corner steadies?

As you can imagine, I have done quite a bit of research on the subject,
trying find out for sure which size nut I need to order, or how to
measure it to be certain. They are measured across the widest diameter
of the threaded section, as you were drilling a hole in wood for the
thread to just be able to pass through. It is 20mm and a replacement
ordered. I read that two versions can be found, a metal one or a nylon
one which is not as strong.

Replacement ordered, I set about working out how to remove the broken
one. I read of numerous cases of people trying to remove steadies, but
being stumped by the studs through the caravan floor turning, when
trying to undo the fixing nuts - so I first looked at finding an
alternative way to release the threaded spindle. I tried knocking the
roll pin out, I tried bending the inboard support finger bracket, on
the chassis. Neither worked, so I looked again at unbolting the entire
corner steady.

It looked as if it might be welded to the end of the chassis, then
fixed to the floor via two through floor studs. The studs remained firm
and the nuts came off with ease. Rather than being welded to the main
chassis, it was just hooked onto it and the whole steady came away and
onto my bench.

The 20mm nut has 'wings' which fit into the U of the steady bracket,
with phillips screws into the wings at either side. The screws are
very, very tight - I added to use an impact wrench (hammer type) to
release them. The U needs to be sprung apart, to the get the broken
20mm nut out. I had to use a 10mm nut and bolt, to spring the U apart.
A bolt which just fit in the width of the U, then undoing the nut with
a spanner, it pushed the sides of the U apart, enough to get the 20mm
nut out and off the 20mm thread.

The 20mm nut had cracked in several places and looked as if it was made
from cast alloy.

I'm just waiting for the replacement to be delivered now, before
reassembling it all.

[bert]

In article <rjb6ks$jbg$1...@dont-email.me>, Harry Bloomfield
<?.?@harrym1byt.plus.com.invalid> writes

If it's an ALKO chassis got to ALKO.
--
Bert

[Unknown]

bert formulated on Friday :

> If it's an ALKO chassis got to ALKO.
>

Sorted now and much easier than I thought it would be.