jacking 82 15ft viscount

Hi/ I have an old '89 Coromal 17'6" van with no jacking points, and I simply use the chassis immediately behind the axle (independent suspension on the Coromal). I am really sold on using a trolley jack for this, on the grounds of stability, and they are quite cheap these days. I use a heavy ply plate under the jack.
Does this help?

Hi,
In those old viscounts you need two jacks.

One under the axle to lift the tyre off the ground and another under the chassis to lift the caravan away from the axle.

If you only jack under the axle it just drives the tyre up into the wheel arch and you can't get the wheel out.

Just pick the strongest looking point on the chassis somewhere behind the axle.

Geoff

I don't know if this will help. We haven't towed for quite some years.

On one occasion I had to do the following;

I took the towbar off the car but left the chain attached. I then let it go as far down as possible on the trolley jack. Then I wind one side (the side with the flat) stabiliser leg down as far as I could. Then wound the trolley jack up again as far as possible. This moved the body far enough away from the tyre so that when I jacked the wheel up iI could get it off. Only needed to do it once thank heavens.

Luckily it was only the one time I had to do this.

Maybe you should conside a getting high lift jack and get some lift points installed on the van. Also extremely helpful for the car. Very helpful part of a recovery kit in any event. I have one now.

Just an idea.

Phil

Hi Kman
On some caravans you need to jack up the axle and instead of trying to move the tyre out from the top try moving it under the axle at the bottom this works on a lot of vans.
Two jacks one under the chassis and second under the axle will work but be carefull to put timber under the chassis jack.

Regards
Ted

Most people carry various blocks of wood to level up the van/trailer when camping.

When you need to change a tyre, run the flat tyre up on a couple of blocks of wood to get extra height under the van. You will have lost a few inches, (sorry, I am an old bugger, I should say centimetres) with the flat tyre.
By the time you have pulled up with a flat or buggered tyre, another couple of feet running up on blocks won't matter.

That way, you have more height to play with and you don't even need a special jack.

Works for me.

Dave

Seems to me if you place jack under axle or spring shackle plate you will only jack wheel up into wheel arch and won't be able to get wheel off.

Just put a block of wood between the axle and chassis first.

If you purchase a Trail a mate jack they come with mounts that can be welded to the chasis. These are a great jack as I use mine as a jockey wheel as well and also a high lift jack for the Nissan


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Where does everyone get the idea that jacking on the axle lifts the wheel into the wheel arch.
It doesn't
Consider this, when the weight of the van is on the wheel, attached to the axle, and supported by the spring onto the chassis the arch clearance is whatever it is.
Jacking the axle does not alter the load on the spring/axle combination and no spring deformation occurs as a result of jacking..(There is NO load change)

Depending on the tyre and rim size on your Viscount, it is possible to remove the wheel by pulling the bottom of the tyre/rim assembly toward you and sliding the top of the tyre down over the brake drum. Replacement is a reversal of the same operation.

My '82 Viscount 16" poptop has 195x14 LT tyres fitted (185x14LT are standard, according to my owners handbook) and I have no trouble changing tyres just by jacking up on the axle.

Hope this helps.

Disco.

I was thinking tandem load sharing,one wheel up other goes down.

Thanks a lot to all for your responses they have been a great help.
Katcha kman1