Correct mounting location for jockey wheel

[Franknstein]

Hi

I have a 23ft maxum, which came with a double axle trailer. Entire rig is probably over 3 tonnes, not sure exactly, but its fairly heavy.
Anyhow, It came with an indespension jockey wheel attached I'd say perhaps 2m forward of half-way of the trailer. Seems its been in that position a while though, perhaps even when the trailer was built.
Now, the wheel axle collapsed when launching the boat in the spring, and has now I suspect bent the shaft or mechanism internally as it no longer wants to wind up or down.

My thinking is its mounted too far back, and should in fact be right up at the front on the tongue.... As it would have less weight to lift at that location. But I don't know enough about it to say that that is the case, perhaps its further back for a specific reason I've overlooked. Can anyone tell me if moving it way more forward is a good move?

Also looking for a jockey wheel that wont break, bend, have tyres delaminate or burst (I constantly have jockey wheel problems for some reason, they all seem to be rubbish). So perhaps someone could recommend a good jockey for my setup, that can also cope with trailer launching at the ramp with long rope etc and using the jockey as a third wheel to pull up and down the ramp.

Any thoughts most welcome.

Thanks

 

[gjgm]

Hi

I have a 23ft maxum, which came with a double axle trailer. Entire rig is probably over 3 tonnes, not sure exactly, but its fairly heavy.
Anyhow, It came with an indespension jockey wheel attached I'd say perhaps 2m forward of half-way of the trailer. Seems its been in that position a while though, perhaps even when the trailer was built.
Now, the wheel axle collapsed when launching the boat in the spring, and has now I suspect bent the shaft or mechanism internally as it no longer wants to wind up or down.

My thinking is its mounted too far back, and should in fact be right up at the front on the tongue.... As it would have less weight to lift at that location. But I don't know enough about it to say that that is the case, perhaps its further back for a specific reason I've overlooked. Can anyone tell me if moving it way more forward is a good move?

Also looking for a jockey wheel that wont break, bend, have tyres delaminate or burst (I constantly have jockey wheel problems for some reason, they all seem to be rubbish). So perhaps someone could recommend a good jockey for my setup, that can also cope with trailer launching at the ramp with long rope etc and using the jockey as a third wheel to pull up and down the ramp.

Any thoughts most welcome.

Thanks

Try calling Trailer Tek; they have dozens of types of jockey wheels and can probably advise if you send them a photo of the trailer (or brand)

 

[Beamishken]

moving the jockey wheel to the front will help as you rightly say it will reduce the load however there should only be 50-75 kg on the jockey wheel anyway

it could be your leaving the jockey wheel in the raised position after jacking off the tow vehicle try lowering the jockey wheel as far as is practical to put the weight back on the front axle of the trailer

if you leave the jockey wheel jacked up the weight of the rig is spread between the rear axle & jockey wheel which is not what the jockey is intended for

hope this helps

 

[sarabande]

definitely, the jockey wheel is not a load-bearing wheel.

If you have to use it as a load bearing wheel, you have the boat in the wrong position fore and aft on the trailer.

Even a 3k Kg load will need no more than 75Kg on the ball hitch (+ or - a few Kg).

 

[Franknstein]

Thanks for this.

So a few questions:

1. So, with the jockey wheel completely removed, my understanding it the entire rig should actually remain level, ie, the hitch should not touch the ground as the weight *should* be correctly distributed across the two axles causing the rig to remain balanced. Is this correct?

2. What if I wish to elevate the front to a level where the water in the bilge completely runs out the drain, and doesn't stagnate as its doing now, all I could think of at the time was to use the jockey wheel for this.

3. Is the jockey wheel purely to get the trailer on and off of the tow-ball then? Or do they have other uses?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but I'd like to get to the bottom of these problems.

 

[Beamishken]

1)you should find that with the jockey wheel removed the trailer will naturally drop to the ground but should at this stage be fairly light ie relatively easy to lift to almost level again

if you find you cant manually get the trailer off the ground then you have too much nose weight
The easy way to check nose weight is find a block of wood long enough to support the hitch at exactly the height of the tow ball of the vehichle when unloaded set the block on a set of bathroom scales & you should read 50-75kg the height is critical as if its too high your tranfering the weight to the rear axle too low your on the front avle

2) easiest & safest way to elevate the front of the trailer to drain the bilges is to jack up the front & set the front of the trailer onto wood blocks you can use the jockey wheel to get the height but best to take the weight off it long term

3)basically yes & to aid manoeuvring once off the vehicle however if you have lots of nose weight as soon as you try to move the rig you will damage the jockey wheel the trick is to lower the wheel once jacked off the vehicle to reduce the load if you try to move with any sort of load on the jockey your going to damage it

hope this helps

 

[sarabande]

the screw threads inside the j wheel are notoriously susceptible to corrosion unless you take it to pieces and grease it heavily. Usually a roll pin holds it all together, so quite easy to do and worth the effort.

I can't imagine any two axle trailer dipping its nose to the gound if you wind the j wheel up, unless it is far far too nose heavy. The postion of thebaot needs adjustment backwards.

KN is correct: If you want to leave the trailer and boat tilted so that they self-drain, then use wooden blocks under the ball hitch AND the front of the trailer, so that no weight is taken by the j wheel, which has merely a friction lock.

For security reasons, I'd also take off the wheels, and then grease/oil all the trunnions and joining pieces of the brakes. Tyres don't like being left in sunshine and not being used, so store them inside in the dry. Grease the wheel studs, also.

 

[hartcjhart]

the possible reason that the jockey wheel was in that position is to help lift the front axle clear of the ground therefore making it easier to 'turn' the trailer when moving it by hand

 

[davidej]

the possible reason that the jockey wheel was in that position is to help lift the front axle clear of the ground therefore making it easier to 'turn' the trailer when moving it by hand

If that is the case you will certainly be overloading it as you would be transferring all the weight taken by the front axle onto the jockey.

the clue is in the name "jockey" - thereto help you steer it when unhitched - not to take a significant part of the load