Autosleeper Windsor Coachbuilt - rear wheel removal to clear body - How please ?

[mike 202]

Just an update on the wheel removal and reverse light fault.

 

The body work looks well away from the wheel but the inner wheel arch on my wagon is only 1 inch clearance from the tyre. Ford main dealer swopped wheels @ £35.

 

Reverse light failure.

 

Fault was that the Autosleeper wiring too tight as mentioned by other owners. The wiring chaffed against the chassis and eventually rubbed through causing an intermittant short circuit dependant on position of van i.e. uphill or downhill, this then caused the failure of the reverse switch in gearbox. So new reverse switch fitted, wires soldered, re-insulated and re-routed at a cost of £130, which considering the time to find the fault and rectify it was reasonable.

So well done A/S and other owner just be aware that your wiring could also be a bit tight.

[spospe]

mike 202 - 2012-12-19 5:29 PM

 

Just an update on the wheel removal and reverse light fault.

 

The body work looks well away from the wheel but the inner wheel arch on my wagon is only 1 inch clearance from the tyre. Ford main dealer swopped wheels @ £35.

 

Reverse light failure.

 

Fault was that the Autosleeper wiring too tight as mentioned by other owners. The wiring chaffed against the chassis and eventually rubbed through causing an intermittant short circuit dependant on position of van i.e. uphill or downhill, this then caused the failure of the reverse switch in gearbox. So new reverse switch fitted, wires soldered, re-insulated and re-routed at a cost of £130, which considering the time to find the fault and rectify it was reasonable.

So well done A/S and other owner just be aware that your wiring could also be a bit tight.

 

mike 202

 

Could you not ask AS to contribute to your costs? After all the problem(s) must have been caused by their poor design / construction. The wiring problem especially must be due to poor construction and is the sort of thing that would not be obvious to normal scrutiny by even the most observant buyer.

[pepe63xnotuse]

..and out of curiosity,what "procedure" was used to get the wheel off in the end?.... :-S

[mike 202]

Pepe, the finding of the fault was taking a considerable amount of time by a main dealer, so that when I got a bill for 1 hour plus parts I was so relieved that I only remembered to ask the mechanic about the electrical fault and of course give him a nice drink for Christmas.

However I have I looked underneath and saw witness marks on the chassis just in front of the rear spring. On that basis I think it is safe to say that the body was lifted to allow wheel removal.

I have just rung the dealer to confirm the wheel removal technique but the fitter who did the job has gone out sick. So sorry no absolute answer at present.

I have had "Punctureseal" injected so fingers crossed I will not have to call a rescue service out either UK or Europe or have to DIY it.

Mike

 

Sospe,

On the separate subject of A/S contributing, I fully understand and agree with the comment re a 50/50 deal, but I have had enough agro in sorting out the problem that any stress trying to conclusively prove any liability would push me over the top.I am just going to put it behind me and look for.ward to enjoying my Wagon.

 

Happy Christmas to all on the forum, with a special thank you to those of you who have given me good advice on this subject.

Regards Mike

[pepe63xnotuse]

mike 202 - 2012-12-20 4:08 PM

 

....I have just rung the dealer to confirm the wheel removal technique but the fitter who did the job has gone out sick. So sorry no absolute answer at present......

 

Regards Mike

 

..let's just hope he didn't put his back out,whilst trying to change your,pig-awkward, wheel eh? (lol) (lol)

 

Glad you're all sorted..

 

Merry Christmas to you and yours....

[peterjl]

Hi

 

thankfully i have never had to change a wheel on my m/homes/PVC's however i thought that i had read that the best practice was to drive the flat tyre up a ramp to give an initial lift before deploying a jack. Has anybody else heard or tried this?

 

Peter

[Derek Uzzell]

This is a well-known ploy to aid changing a flat tyre on trailers/vehicles with twin axles, though its effectiveness will depend on the type of suspension involved. The principle is demonstrated here

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Trailer-Aid-Jack-Stand-Chock-Flat-Tire-Ramp-YELLOW-Free-Shipping-/380522543296

 

Regarding 'single-axle' vehicles, it could be necessary to use this technique if the vehicle with the flat tyre had sunk so close to the ground that it proved impossible to get a jack under it. (I recall, back in the 1960s, the journalist Denis Jenkinson complaining that this had happened with a Ford GT40 he was testing.) But I can't see this being the case with a motorhome.

 

There might be some advantage driving the flat-tyred wheel of a motorhome up, say, a large levelling ramp if one were using a scissors-type jack that will be more difficult to operate when closed than when partially open. But, if it's possible to get a jack under the vehicle and the jack proves capable of lifting the vehicle, it's hard to see what genuine benefit trying to drive a flat-tyred wheel up a ramp would provide.

 

I mentioned earlier that my Herald and Hobby motorhomes both (for different reasons) presented a challenge when changing a rear wheel using a single jack. However, neither vehicle presented any difficulty for the motorhome dealership that removed the vehicles' wheels to check the brakes as part of the service procedure. This, of course, is because the dealership doesn't employ spindly Ford scissors jacks or inexpensive bottle-jacks aimed at DIYers. They use professional-standard trolley-jacks (and, if one jack isn't enough, they'll use two) or will put the vehicle on a hoist that will allow all four wheels to be raised clear of the ground simultaneously.

 

Mike asked originally how to DIY-change a rear wheel on his Windsor if he needed to. That a Ford dealership has now done this for him and (apparently) lifted the motorhome by jacking beneath the chassis, won't necessarily help Mike in an emergency.

 

If I were a Ford technician with a full armoury of garage equipment, I'd do the obvious thing and lift the Windsor's rear wheel clear of the ground using the rear axle's jacking-point, and then use a 2nd jack under the chassis to gain sufficient wheel-arch clearance to allow the wheel to be withdrawn horizontally off the hub's studs. But, if that's the technique required to remove a Windsor's rear wheel, it's unlikely to be a methodology Mike will be in a position to employ if he's in a remote area of Europe and wants to DIY a rear-wheel change.

[Dave Newell]

Rear wheel arches obstructing the removal of the wheels is not a new situation on motorhomes. One of our regular customers has a Moncayo motorhome and to remove the rear wheels is a real chore even with it on my 8 tonne lift. The only solution in this particular case is to inflate the air assisters to max pressure, jack up the rear axle as high as possible then release the air from the side opposite the wheel you want to remove. Remove the wheel bolts and tilt the bottom of the wheel inwards while fiddling the top of it past the stupidly close wheelarch. Then you have to repeat the procedure for the other wheel. I see lots of similar wheel removal problems.

 

D.