Caravan faults

mick my Aframe snapped just two feet from the coupling and it landed on the groung hard i do have fotos im very very lucky

Met one guy in Adelaide 2002 who had a Supreme 15ft(?) offroader a year or so old, and had travelled a fair bit up Burketown way on pretty ruggard roads, stated he had A frame fail twice, breaking thru just behind the coupling where the support strap underneath the A frame was welded, 1st time it was repaired, next time they replace the A frame, said they told him there was a problem with the way the support strap was originally welded and it had weakened the A frame metal at the at point. No problem after A frame replaced when I last spoke with him in 2002.

BOB

its the most frightening experiance when the A frame just snaps and crashes to the ground

John hope they fix it for you Im not having much luck with mine and out of warranty its not an insurance job but a damn manufacturing fault.

I think you might still have recourse under fair trading laws- manufacturing (design) faults are often covered beyond normal warranty as I understand it....
Talk to your states 'consumer affairs department.

John,
I'm doing the strzelecki / Oodnadatta tracks and Mereenie loop road in June next year towing a Jayco Outback Finch and my father will be towing a 18foot OFFROAD caravan .It will be our first off road trek , could you give a couple of novices some tips from your recent experiences (how did you break/fix the shockie brackets ?)

Shannon
Sorry, been offline for a few days. We only got from Maree to William Creek before we got 10mm of rain and had to make a dash straight across to Coober Pedy or we would have been stuck at William Ck for a couple of boring days waiting for the road to dry out. Oodnadatta track was really good. Sat on 70-80km/h with no problems. Just to clear up some comments. I towed an offroad camper trailer. It was my friend who had the 22ft van. We also had a 13ft on-road van which survived very well only ripping the electric brake wires off, because the cable ties holding it to the axe were cut by stones. DON'T EXPECT CABLE TIES TO DO ANYTHING ON THESE ROADS. The Offroad Jayco Penguin which also came only lost its overhead cupboard. Those few screws didn't do the job on corrugations. Mereenie had the worst corrugations near the Kings Canyon end but generally was ok. Dropped tyre pressures about 4psi as everyone recommends. Drive at a speed you are comfortable with and at the best speed for the corrugations. We found around 80km/h. Don't make your days of driving too long. The shockies on my mates Golf did not break all at the same time. He has 2 each side. Got them fixed at Coober Pedy and Alice. Just took it easy when he noticed what had happened. Also suspect he had the airbags pumped too high. Tried to raise the van to prevent stone chips but made the suspension too firm. I'm planning to do the Strzelecki next August. I'll ask you how it went in July hey?

G'Day John,
Just wondering what time of year you were on the Oodnadatta track to get 10mm of rain?
I was told May till October is the best time to go, (dry season) is that correct?

Sorry Shannon, I'm a bit slack again.
I was led to believe Winter is a good time. We left Brisbane on 2nd August, Birdsville 5th August, William Creek 9th August and that's when it rained. We had glorious weather until then. Mind you, 10mm of rain is normally nothing to dampen a holiday. It was a steady drizzle all night. The next day it was overcast all the way to Coober Pedy, with no more rain, but the damage had been done. Perfect weather the rest of the trip apart from a brief storm at Kulgera on the 12th August. The nights weren't even cold like I was expecting. Certainly hot enough for a swim at Ellery Creek Big Hole. In fact some days were still a little bit too hot for lengthy bushwalks. Especially when there was no wind about. I've only pushed back my trip next year to the middle of August so the wife can go to the Ekka early August. In my opinion definitely the time to go West (if you live East that is).

Cappa..
.what make of van??

I agree with Graham- What make of Van?
You're only telling facts so no manufacturer can get upset with you for stating the truth...
But it may help somebody else who has a similar make...

No problem mate, do what you have to do....but legaly I dont see any problem as long as you just state the facts...ie my xyz motor car had a wheel fall off... but dont allocate blame or cause... ie by stating xyz didnt have the use right studs or didnt do up the nuts etc... but you could say it would appear that the nuts came off maybe they we're not tightened correctly....but meanwhile do what you have to do to get it fixed by warranty.

Any chance of a link or e-mail some pics?
please ?
As I'm sure you're aware, if you only post facts, no blame, nobody can get upset.
I have a van which is just at the end of it's warranty period and I have issues too, though not A-frame-....... that I know of ????
What I DO have is totally scrubbed tyres with less than 7,500 klms!
ALKO made the axle- THEY are saying underinflated tyres is the cause, despite
1. tyres are scrubbed on outside only (just maybe "toe-in" IMHO)
2. tyres have always been at maximum recommended pressure
3. van has never been loaded to max gross weight and never been off road.
guess what my wheel alignment guy says!
Funny- he agrees with me!
I can give you an e-mail address and then phone number or whatever.

David, out of interest have the wheel alignment guys put the van up & measured it up & printed out the angle alignment to show to the van dealer, normal car places possibly can't do this but truck & bus alignment places CAN!
friends had a problem with a horse float with independant suspension, kept scrubbing tyres on one side, all sorts of ideas put around no one could fix the problem everyone was getting carried away until. we took the tow vehical & trailer to the truck & bus guys who measured the hole thing up. the axles was perfect except they hadn't got the things "square" to the thrust line of the trailer ie the axel mounts where not fitted in the correct alignment to one another with respect of the thrust line of the trailer. after showing the pictures and the report to the manufacture the thing was repaired, a new set of tyres supplied and the fload was good

ok everybody the make of the caravan is ROMA Elegance 2000 model and the chassis was built by A.E.D. which it was liquidated in 2002 so now i just wait and see what happens and the. and its pretty bad when u spend over 50g and this happens.. not happy ...........

Thanks - if you could email to my address i would be very gratefull.

sparkydn@yahoo.com.au
Hope you get somewhere with your claim. Cheers

fotos on the way

Hey thats sound like a good idea we certaintly see some manufacturer and any other caravan affiliated bodies really see what goes on after they get the money ????

I agree there robert its not so much QC it the question of how many we can put on the road its the ol saying lay down and take the chance after all they got the money

I agree there robert its not so much QC it the question of how many we can put on the road its the ol saying lay down and take the chance after all they got the money