Why is my trailer's jockey wheel so darn hard to wind up?

[Xanthoria]

I had a Brenderup for 10 years and it was a dream to hitch/unhitch. Now I have a new EquiTrek Show Treka and when I put the jockey wheel down to unhitch off the truck, I can do the first few turns easily, one handed. The rest require both hands and all my strength to yank the handle around. It's awful!

I called EquiTrek and they suggested disassembling the jockey assembly and greasing it - did that last night and greased with white lithium spray on grease ( https://www.autobarn.net/crc-lithiu...OIzix2BFi_SlNeN8ZZ51oICKTH6NN_cAaAoaGEALw_wcB ). No change at all.

It's killing my will to live - any suggestions?

 

[Equi]

Give it a kick, complain about sore toes, then spray some WD40 on it.

 

[Xanthoria]

Tried that, then went to plan B (lying in bed with wine) and even THAT didn't help!

 

[Equi]

Tried that, then went to plan B (lying in bed with wine) and even THAT didn't help!

Sorry but there is only one thing that will help now, as much as im loathe to say it...get a new horsebox! (cause thats just an awful thing to have to do!!!! )

 

[Tronk]

Is it bent? I had this problem after I bent mine. Replacing the jockey wheel & shaft (ooh er!) did the job, it’s now easy! Best money ever spent.

 

[Xanthoria]

Well it shouldn't be bent - it's BRAND NEW! Although now I'm gonna go out and look more carefully....

 

[ester]

Well it shouldn't be bent - it's BRAND NEW! Although now I'm gonna go out and look more carefully....

It is also an equitrek

*hides*

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

It is also an equitrek

*hides*

There's your answer then!

 

[Xanthoria]

are they really that bad?

 

[dominobrown]

My trailer is pretty bad, i get that grease stuff from a garage which helps. My trailer is about 10,000 years old though....

 

[thetroublesomecob]

I think that is just how it is supposed to be. My Star Treka (which ok is bigger and heavier than the show treka) has around 200kg on the nose. Consequently it takes two hands and a reasonable amount of force to wind up but that is the nature of the trailer being larger and longer than a standard horse trailer. The axles are placed under the horses since they are the single heaviest part and a lot of the weight of the living is supported by the nose of the trailer. By contrast an Ifor 510 has around 80kg on the nose.

 

[rabatsa]

I think that is just how it is supposed to be. My Star Treka (which ok is bigger and heavier than the show treka) has around 200kg on the nose. Consequently it takes two hands and a reasonable amount of force to wind up but that is the nature of the trailer being larger and longer than a standard horse trailer. The axles are placed under the horses since they are the single heaviest part and a lot of the weight of the living is supported by the nose of the trailer. By contrast an Ifor 510 has around 80kg on the nose.

Surely this must put too much down pressure onto the tow vehicle?

 

[Reacher]

My jockey wheel gripe is when we are manually turning the trailer around, quite frequently the screw slips (even when we’ve checked it’s tight) and it nosedives onto the floor. It’s a Bateson. Didn’t have the problem with the old cheval liberte as it didn’t have a screw. Sorry not sure what the technical term is. Must look into replacing it before someone gets injured

 

[madamebonnie]

I had this problem with my Cheval Liberte, initially thought it was stiff as had been out of use for a while when I bought it. On a sunny day my BF took it apart...there was a washer that has broken and essentially grinding down the sides! No wonder it was so hard! There could well be a broken part somewhere. Have you hitched up the front and taken the whole thing off? If we couldn't fix it we eyed up replacement jockey wheel, less than £100 I'm sure.

 

[ROG]

Can of spray grease

 

[Keith_Beef]

Well it shouldn't be bent - it's BRAND NEW! Although now I'm gonna go out and look more carefully....

If it's brand new, it's under guarantee, so it's the responsibility of whoever sold it to you to sort out the problem or to give you a partial refund.

You mention that you can wind the wheel up or down a few turns one-handed... is this is when there's no load on it? Or does it become stiff after a few turns, even when there's no load?

If it is only difficult under load, you could use a farm jack to lift up the nose to the height you want, taking the weight off the wheel while you wind it up or down, while waiting for the thing to be properly fixed.

 

[merlinsquest]

It is also an equitrek

*hides*

Last Wednesday my pony, dog & I were involved in an RTA, I was stationary with my Show Trekka waiting to overtake a parked lorry & a car accelerated into the back of us. The impact was massive. The trailer chassis stopped the car which was embedded underneath, pony walked out with a scuffed hoof. Had we been using a smaller rear load trailer the story would have been very different. I will never put her in one of those little trailers ever again.

 

[tda]

Is the screw thread damaged?

 

[9tails]

It sounds like it's cross threaded. You shouldn't need to exert that much pressure to wind it up.

 

[Keith_Beef]

It sounds like it's cross threaded. You shouldn't need to exert that much pressure to wind it up.

I can do the first few turns easily, one handed. The rest require both hands and all my strength to yank the handle around. It's awful!

If it was cross-threaded, I would expect it to be difficult all the time, not to become difficult after the first few turns.

 

[ester]

Last Wednesday my pony, dog & I were involved in an RTA, I was stationary with my Show Trekka waiting to overtake a parked lorry & a car accelerated into the back of us. The impact was massive. The trailer chassis stopped the car which was embedded underneath, pony walked out with a scuffed hoof. Had we been using a smaller rear load trailer the story would have been very different. I will never put her in one of those little trailers ever again.

Pleased to hear you were all ok .

I don't think it alters the point that I was making that because it is new it won't be bent when an awful lot of equitrek trailers and lorries have issues out of the factory. A few friends have them and every one has had issues when new (and subsequent appalling customer care).

 

[9tails]

If it was cross-threaded, I would expect it to be difficult all the time, not to become difficult after the first few turns.

If it's cross threaded further up it will be fine then turn difficult. Surely you've come across threads that have been damaged and have cross threaded as a result?

For instance, this bolt would be fine to thread for the first few turns then would become difficult.

https://i.warosu.org/data/diy/img/0010/80/1478550925156.gif

 

[Keith_Beef]

If it's cross threaded further up it will be fine then turn difficult. Surely you've come across threads that have been damaged and have cross threaded as a result?

For instance, this bolt would be fine to thread for the first few turns then would become difficult.

https://i.warosu.org/data/diy/img/0010/80/1478550925156.gif

I would just have called that a bolt with a badly damaged thread.

Any idea what kind of thread is cut on these jockey wheel shafts? I would hope that it's something like an acme thread.

 

[Kate23]

Mine is tricky now - After hitting a a HUGE hole covered by grass and bending it......

 

[9tails]

I would just have called that a bolt with a badly damaged thread.

Which is exactly what cross threading does. But you obviously have the answers, I'm just trying to help someone with a problem but you're more interested in proving me wrong. Jeez.

 

[Alibear]

Mine became bad after my trailer went for a little walk in high winds and bent the jockey wheel; replaced it with a new one for about £40 and it's now awesome. Its only now I realise it was stiff even before the trailer went AWOL. Yes I religiously chock the trailer every time I park it up now too.

 

[McFluff]

Last Wednesday my pony, dog & I were involved in an RTA, I was stationary with my Show Trekka waiting to overtake a parked lorry & a car accelerated into the back of us. The impact was massive. The trailer chassis stopped the car which was embedded underneath, pony walked out with a scuffed hoof. Had we been using a smaller rear load trailer the story would have been very different. I will never put her in one of those little trailers ever again.

Gosh, that sounds horrendous. Glad to hear that your pony walked out, it could have been much much worse. Hope that she is OK to travel again in the future.

 

[merlinsquest]

Pleased to hear you were all ok .

I don't think it alters the point that I was making that because it is new it won't be bent when an awful lot of equitrek trailers and lorries have issues out of the factory. A few friends have them and every one has had issues when new (and subsequent appalling customer care).

You didn’t make that point, just stated that it was an Equitrek. I’ve had mine since new in 2009 & travelled thousands of miles with no problems at all. No way would the pony have walked away from a rear load little trailer, mine took a huge shunt & saved us all & I will replace it with another one.

 

[merlinsquest]

Gosh, that sounds horrendous. Glad to hear that your pony walked out, it could have been much much worse. Hope that she is OK to travel again in the future.

Thanks. The police closed the road & she then loaded with no problems straight into my friends mums Equitrek. The vet told me she would have sustained serious head & neck injuries had she been travelling forwards. It could have been so much worse & we were all very lucky.

 

[ester]

You didn’t make that point, just stated that it was an Equitrek. I’ve had mine since new in 2009 & travelled thousands of miles with no problems at all. No way would the pony have walked away from a rear load little trailer, mine took a huge shunt & saved us all & I will replace it with another one.

I quoted the post I was responding to which said it shouldn't be bent it was brand new, I've now clarified what I was saying based on my experiences so there should be no further confusion .