Alko Chassis greasing

You will be starving by the time you leave there though, looks like a portion of frites would be good by then, I bet by the time you've read this you'll be Googling "frites near me".
 
You will be starving by the time you leave there though, looks like a portion of frites would be good by then, I bet by the time you've read this you'll be Googling "frites near me".

I wont. Michelle will have something ready when I get home. Salmon fillets and potatoes and salad I think. Should be a good diet day this. :D There is always the manky bit of quiche I left in the fridge. :D
 
My flipping van is still up on the ramp. Thats seven and a half hours now! I suppose you could argue you get your moneys worth! :D
 
If like most garages they do more than one job at a time, some part may need to be made just for your van all sorts of reasons.

Bet you could kill for a nice bacon, sausage, egg n spam sandwich now though with loads of brown sauce the grease running down you chin D :D :D

Bugger I want one now :( :(
 
If like most garages they do more than one job at a time, some part may need to be made just for your van all sorts of reasons.

Bet you could kill for a nice bacon, sausage, egg n spam sandwich now though with loads of brown sauce the grease running down you chin D :D :D

Bugger I want one now :( :(

If I remember rightly it took them this long 16 years ago on the first one. It is a full day job apparently although he indicated it might be a bit quicker as the electrics were easier. Ooooh! Speak of the devil! Here it is!! :D
 
Pictures please...

Later. Back home now. Rack looks good. Very different to my old one and it might take a bit of fettling. They changed the endless ratchet strap system a bit and Im not sure I like it but ill work on it tomorrow when my heads not fuzzy.

I figured out the trip metre, range etc on the van. Its all over the place. I found the average MPG and the current MPG. The second one I would expect to go up and down with your acceleration but the main average was doing that also to a lesser extent. With half a tank it was estimating the remaining range at 270 miles or something like that. So either thats wrong as well or the tank is indeed massive. I think the latter as its not dropped much the entire trip there and back.
 
Later. Back home now. Rack looks good. Very different to my old one and it might take a bit of fettling. They changed the endless ratchet strap system a bit and Im not sure I like it but ill work on it tomorrow when my heads not fuzzy.

I figured out the trip metre, range etc on the van. Its all over the place. I found the average MPG and the current MPG. The second one I would expect to go up and down with your acceleration but the main average was doing that also to a lesser extent. With half a tank it was estimating the remaining range at 270 miles or something like that. So either thats wrong as well or the tank is indeed massive. I think the latter as its not dropped much the entire trip there and back.
My earlier, 2007, Ducato trip meter is hopeless.

The MPG is unbelievably optimistic. I suggest you take the figures with a bag of salt!
 
My earlier, 2007, Ducato trip meter is hopeless.

The MPG is unbelievably optimistic. I suggest you take the figures with a bag of salt!

I wonder if I reset it and it was working itself out. I will maybe break the man rule and read the feckin manual. Nobody will ever speak to me again though if I do that. :D

Only way to test will be brim to brim and a calculator.
 
My 7m Hymer A class is a 2015 model with 2.3L Fiat 6 speed euro 5 engine and Alko chassis at 3850 kg and usually loaded to about this.
It has a 90L tank and has consistently over 8 years (reg new 2016) done 53,000 miles and gives 10 km per Litre or between 28 and 29 mpg, so range is about 900 km or 550 miles.
Regarding the Alko axle greasing, wheel off the ground and pump until pressure builds, between 5 and 10 strokes if done annually. Any more and I am told you are simply filling the axel tube.
PS fuel is brim filling and mileage reading over the years. No electronics to wonder about.

Davy
 
My 7m Hymer A class is a 2015 model with 2.3L Fiat 6 speed euro 5 engine and Alko chassis at 3850 kg and usually loaded to about this.
It has a 90L tank and has consistently over 8 years (reg new 2016) done 53,000 miles and gives 10 km per Litre or between 28 and 29 mpg, so range is about 900 km or 550 miles.
Regarding the Alko axle greasing, wheel off the ground and pump until pressure builds, between 5 and 10 strokes if done annually. Any more and I am told you are simply filling the axel tube.
PS fuel is brim filling and mileage reading over the years. No electronics to wonder about.

Davy

Thats pretty good. Same engine by the sound of it although your A class might well be more aerodynamic than my Swift with a Luton cab. Our weights might be about the same I guess. Wont know until I weigh it full with the bike on. I like the idea of a 550 mile range though. It will be what it will be, just interested really.
 
My earlier, 2007, Ducato trip meter is hopeless.

The MPG is unbelievably optimistic. I suggest you take the figures with a bag of salt!
Yup mine too I've seen 42,8mpg on ours :) :) But it mostly shows In the low 30s if I reset it every day.
 
I took a photo just now, couldnt see really well and its not a good photo but it looks like there are axle nipples. One on the other side as well I think

I was told that you have to jack it up so wheels are off the ground & pump until it pushes out at the joint
 
I was told that you have to jack it up so wheels are off the ground & pump until it pushes out at the joint

Seems opinions are divided. Some say both wheels have to be jacked up at the same time, others say that is actually a bad idea, some say one wheel jacked up at a time but one of the guys at Armitage trailers yesterday who greased it says it doesn't matter. None the wiser really.
 
As i understood it the 3 torsion bars will be virtually straight inside the axle tube when the vehicle is lifted with the wheels still on so the grease will be able to travel along the torsion bars easier and get everywhere it`s needed.

When the vehicle is still on the ground the torsion bars will already be twisted thus making it slightly harder for the grease to to travel along them.

I just posted the regime that i followed having read the original ALKO paperwork that came with our motorhome from new and it must have been ok because we`ve done 103,000 miles of trouble free motoring including lots of Pyrenean / Rhone Alps adventures.

The only problem we had at one stage was strange uneven tyre wear on the rear axle i.e. inside edge wear on 1 tyre and outside edge wear on the other tyre.

Several places told me i needed a new ALKO axle which turned out to be a load of bollacks because it was actually only the ALKO shocks at fault.

They turned out to be the very expensive heavy duty shocks with 16mm bolts which they use on static caravans and not the cheap Octagon Black ones with 12mm bolts that eveyone thought they where.

Best deal i could get on the was from Westfied Caravans, Blackpool. who had to order them in and if my memory serves me right they where the thick end of £300 a pair and quite an easy job to fit.

 

I suggest you consider carefully the above web page.

As manufactured the single nipple fails to direct grease to where it needs to go. In addition the bushes are badly designed.

I had my axle overhauled which in addition to a much better design of bush adds a further nipple to ensure that grease does go where it should to ensure axle longevity. The advice from Fraser Brown is to grease the axle much more frequently than AlKo recommend - ideally at 1,000 mile intervals which I have been doing since the overhaul.

In my case, as referenced by @TJBi above, a mistake during the reassembly process was made. This was determined several years later and having established this fault, Fraser Brown are going to strip the axle down again and rectify any resultant excessive wear. This is happening later this month free of charge. (I am combining a visit to their workshop with a Scottish tour.)
 

I suggest you consider carefully the above web page.

As manufactured the single nipple fails to direct grease to where it needs to go. In addition the bushes are badly designed.

I had my axle overhauled which in addition to a much better design of bush adds a further nipple to ensure that grease does go where it should to ensure axle longevity. The advice from Fraser Brown is to grease the axle much more frequently than AlKo recommend - ideally at 1,000 mile intervals which I have been doing since the overhaul.

In my case, as referenced by @TJBi above, a mistake during the reassembly process was made. This was determined several years later and having established this fault, Fraser Brown are going to strip the axle down again and rectify any resultant excessive wear. This is happening later this month free of charge. (I am combining a visit to their workshop with a Scottish tour.)

1000 mile intervals! You could do that in a couple of days on a long European trip! That seems excessive. There must be literally thousands of motorhomes trundling around blissfully unware of their axles needing greasing. I bet most of them have never been done.
 

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