Corner steadies?

[skottle]

Hi, I am after some advice please. I currently have a motorhome with no corner steadies,for weekends this is fine but for longer stays I would prefer them.

I have been told you can now buy lightweight jacks for this purpose as apposed to fitting permanent steadies. Does anybody use these and are they any good?

Thanks

[vicwo]

Hi Skottle

 

Is this what you are looking for?

 

http://www.fiammastore.com/jacks.htm

 

I dont bother with mine, not one drop of wine lost yet. Hic

 

vicwo

[Derek Uzzell]

skottle:

 

There has been previous forum discussion on corner steadies on:

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=8529&posts=19

 

Other than the storage space they will consume, I can't see any real drawbacks with using Fiamma-type 'jacks' rather than permanently-mounted 'steadies'. Certainly a lot cheaper to buy and no fitting-hassle necessary.

 

You'd (obviously) need to ensure that the jacks' range of lift was sufficiently long and that there were sturdy and convenient spots on your motorhome's underside for the jacks to butt against.

[puerto]

hi matey, i purchased a set of the alluminium fiamma corner steadies from the york show, i had only been away for weekends and such so never had the use for them as over a couple of days on pretty even ground the van is good enough. but i have just done a few weeks on the continent and stayed in the same spot for a period of time where i used them for the first time and they did actually work a treat. they did exactly what they said on the tin. so to sum up, if you are only going away for a weekend then i personally wouldn't bother, but for a week and over, then they are worth every penny.

p.s we chose the alluminium over the plastic as they are good for lots more weight and can assist slightly in levelling (but i wouldnt trust completely)

[Guest Tracker]

I guess we all have our likes and dislikes and long may it continue but in over 35 years of motor caravanning I have only ever used the corner steadies a couple of times although every van I've had has had them fitted.

 

The one time they would have been really handy was in the far North of Scotland on a windswept mountain side in a violent storm - but it was too wet and windy to venture outside on such a triviality!

 

Have you tried a van with steadies? If not why not nip to your local dealer and try one because, whilst they do help, they don't completely stop the van from moving unless you have them on all four wheels.

 

You probably already know that they are not meant to be levelling jacks - but that said you can use them to adjust the back end slightly for height and level as long as you do not try and lift the van off it's suspension.

 

If you lift too high you can cause structural problems including excess body movement leading to doors not shutting and maybe even water ingress.

 

Good luck with your search and I hope you achieve your goal of a steady van.

[Mel E]

Fitted corner steadies of the 'wind-down' or 'flip-down' type do make the rig more rigid on site. But they have one major problem - even when stowed, they are at the extreme back of the rig and hang down slightly, reducing clearances and making it easy to ground them, beding and twisting them and whatever they are attached to. Avoid unless you are sure there is adequate clearance.

 

The jacks should be OK PRIOVIDED they are fitted under a chassis member and not close to its extreme. Many modern motorhomes have floore that protrude behind the chassis extension bolted to the original van chassis and if you pout the jacks under the floor you are liable to do serious damage. Likewise if you put them near the back end of the chassis extension because of the leverage involved.

 

Mel E

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[skottle]

Hi,

Yes, we had a Dethleffs with corner steadies and found them very useful, I just did not like the idea of drilling the van anywhere to fit some more, hence thinking of the portable ones.

Thanks for all your advice.