Grey nomads are being reminded to have their caravans regularly serviced following a surge in issues compared to previous years.
South Australia motoring organisation, RAA, says it attended 31% more caravan breakdowns in 2023 compared with the year prior … and these higher levels have continued so far in 2024.
Common problems that can cut a trip short include suspension faults and bearings failing – both issues that can be easily inspected during a caravan service at an RAA Approved Repairer.
RAA Manager of Approved Repairers and Future Technology, Simon Halford, said caravans should be serviced at least once per year or every 10,000 kilometres if they’re doing long distances.
There are more caravans on the road ... and more caravan breakdowns. PIC: Cizza
“Caravan servicing is akin to a heath check and can help proactively identify problems with your caravan,” he said. “In the past four years RAA has attended more than 1100 caravan breakdowns, and we’ve seen a real increase in the last two years in particular.”
Mr Halford said the RAA recommended that anyone who hadn’t had their caravan serviced for a while should book it in and get the peace-of-mind that everything is working as it should.
“Servicing checks on a wide variety of caravan aspects, from brakes and safety to general wear and tear, and can maintain both roadworthiness and safety,” he said. “It’s imperative to maintain regular checks to ensure your caravan is functioning correctly, because minor problems can escalate into major issues.”
The RAA has recently launched a new Caravan Servicing Approved Repairer Category to encourage caravanners to have their home-on-wheels serviced to maintain roadworthiness and safety.
There are currently 61,075 caravans registered in South Australia – with caravan ownership in SA surging by 62% since 2010.
We had our caravan fully serviced eight months ago.
I also had new tyres fitted around the same time.
If the caravan manufacturers started fitting quality wheel bearings instead of the inferior Chinese bearings that they currently use then there would be a lot less breakdowns.
My van has Chinese bearings and has only done a few thousand kilometres from new and one hub is running hot already. They are rubbish !
Yes mate trucks and trailers on the highway get at least 100,000 ks out of there bearings
These days, even once highly respected brands of wheel bearings are made in China.
Not too hard to look where it is manufactured
Cheap bearings, and undersized wiring almost universally used throughout the industry. Miss aligned axels is another problem area. About half of all caravans I’ve seen have evidence of miss alignment. A towing course should mandatory.
Yep, replace the 12 volt wiring to your fridge with at least 4mm csa wire for a start but watch out for the tricky earth wire. Some local manufacturers use the yank standard of black for + 12 volts and white for -12 volts (earth). Should be made a legal requirement to stick with red and black like everywhere else in electrical works.
Yes, I agree. My dual axle caravan scrubbed out its front tyres in about 15,000 kms. When I got an alignment done at a truck and trailer specialist it was found that the axles were out of alignment by a whopping 11 mm! No wonder the tyres didn’t last.
Yes please
Japanese bearings are best
Simple solution. Is change them out to a Japanese made bearing set. They are relatively cheap easy to do yourself, last longer and you have confidence in their performance.
Totally agree with the cheap Chinese rubbish. Refer to my story above.
I replaced my bearings with Timken brand. Top quality.
In nsw they are checked every year before registration, all cars, caravans, trailers….
Usually by a box ticker !!!
The worrying thing is that on caravan forums one quite often see the comment, I just had my van serviced and a wheel came off or the bearing are now running hot. The quality and expertise of people working on vans in dealerships is suspect. I wonder what qualifications some of these Gomers have and what oversite there is on the operators.
Had a service done this time last year by the dealer who sold the van. Only one side of van was greased, they forgot to do half the job.
shortage of mechanics,who know what they are doing
No apprectices taken up trades in EVRYTHING
As one of those former “Gomers” I have to totally agree. There is no formal training whatsoever & is a case of learning from your fellow colleagues who are equally unqualified. We were constantly expected by the dealer to perform LPG & 240V work (including installation/repairs of ovens, fridges & air cons yet not one of us had a formal trade or license to do so. In the end I refused to do these jobs knowing full well it is illegal. The whole industry needs a total overhaul. Watch 50% of manufacturers disappear overnight if that ever happened…which it won’t. Hence why I left.
Hi Charlie the caravan industry does have an apprenticeship scheme running to train, qualify technicians who will get a trade certificate in two different aspects of rv work. One undertakes the safety, road, running gear of a caravan the other is a repair certificate they get inspected and have to perform tasks in front of the teacher. Not every body trashes the job lightly
I was in the industry for nearly 10 years & apprenticeships at dealer level is near on non existent.
We do a long trip every year, so pretty much get a brakes & bearings service annually. This year we also got a wheel alignment and are booked in to have our shockies upgraded for our Gibb River Road trip next year.
We had our first service for our new van at the end of October this year. No problems found and any defects we found were rectified
Regular servicing is not an overall panacea for reliability as many external causes can/will create failures at a random time. re; wheel bearings, the normal interval is around 45,000 Km for repacking grease, although the brake linings will need adjusting more often. Often electrical faults are induced randomly while connected to often overloaded van park reticulation circuits which often suffer surges etc.
The term servicing should also reference “inspection” where the quality depends on the competence of the mech’. I have been involved with a relatives travails getting their almost new vans multiple faults rectified over a period of 18 months by the local dealer. Quality was not there in all of their work as many jobs needed to be done more than twice. It’s been a harrowing “journey” for all. I use a known competent local mechanic for any repairs I can’t undertake myself.
Nearly all wheel bearings are now made in China that is not the problem. The problem is not packing bearings correctly. My brand new caravan turned up with little or no grease. Spent a couple of hours packed them correctly and no problem since.
just put the caravan on blocks off the ground not in use,
On the flat bearings,tyres FLAT SPOT on the road BIG PROBLEMS will happen.
I had our caravan serviced five years ago, and have not been away since.
Hopefully next year.
Another moneymakers scheme. Basic checks should be performed every day. After a drive check always your bearrings. If hot get it checked or do it yourself. Always put a hand on the tyre. Warm ok but hot tyrepressure. Keep an eye on your wearpattern as wel. Only a few pointers. Also your brakes assist. controller has to be adjusted for this. Brakes too hard excessive wear of pads or shoes is the result.
Get my 12 year old Windsor serviced every 10,000K or 12 months. Last service found the bearings were overheating and the caravan mechanic found the issue was the settings on the electric brakes. The regular service is also a good time to upgrade any issues such as replacing the hot water lines with the new white lines which were regularly failing. Also had new tyres fitted which were no longer compliant .
I have the van serviced once a year by a qualified mobile mechanic. Cheaper than the dealers, very thorough, and he comes to our property I don’t need to hook up and tow it to the dealer, win, win all round for us.
After nearly 10 years of performing pre-delivery checks & repairs on caravans (now retired) I can attest to the poor quality bearings & lack of bearing grease on brand new units rolling into our yard. We were the circuit breaker between the manufacturer & customer ie: rectifying these problems. I personally witnessed leaf spring bolts missing or not tightened as well. Even with this knowledge & due diligence with my pre-trip inspection, we too fell victim of a broken/collapsed leaf spring which allowed the whole rear axle of our tandem to pivot under the van. Thankfully it was repaired under insurance. My advice is to not assume it has been done correctly & check twice.
In 2019 after our trip, and we haven’t been away since, hopefully next year.