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Thread: Trailer and camper maintenance

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    Patrol God threedogs's Avatar
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    Trailer and camper maintenance

    Just wondering what sort of servicing ppl do with their caravans /campers/trailers.
    I have bearing buddies and give the Obrien tow coupling a squirt of grease every now and then,
    thats pretty basic. Im thinking what about water tanks or brakes. Surely they have service intervals
    as well, Hopefully Ill be fitting an 82 litre water tank under the back of my camper to help balance it out.
    Its atad front heavy for my liking at the moment
    04 ST 3lt auto, not enough Mods to keep me happy, but getting there

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    Patrol God BigRAWesty's Avatar
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    I usually do a 12 month service..
    Check wheel bearings, suspension bolts. A pump or 2 of grease in the treg hitch.
    But I'll also be doing a canvas treatment to aid in water proofing..
    Cheers
    Kallen Westbrook

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    Patrol Guru TimE's Avatar
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    On my old Kimberley Kamper the wheel bearings where repacked, brake pads checked, treg hitch greased and nut and bolted every 10k. Never had an issue with the vital bits. Only real problem was a seam on the stainless steel water tank started to weep, a 4WD club mate who could weld stainless fixed that up for me in a few minutes.
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    At the moment our brakes and suspension get serviced by Vehicle Components in Brisy as part of the warranty but after that I will be doing it all, I did it to our campertrailer and this is really no different, just a little bigger. I usually go around and check everything before and after every trip or at 12 months. When we bought our van I went around and did a, I suppose you could call it a "pre-failure maintainence program" and checked what needed to be replaced or fixed to "my satisfaction" and there were a few things on that list too.....

    The water tanks should be cleaned out every 12 months, I leave them full in between trips though, and depending on the time between trips, either I will drain and refill with fresh water or leave the water in there. Every 12 months I clean the tanks out with a little bleach (you can use milton as well), I use about 50mm of pool chlorine per 100-150L of tanks, drain the tanks a little and using a funnel tip the chlorine in, top up with fresh water, go for a drive to slosh it around, let it sit for a day then drain the water out (I also run a bit through the pumps and pipes to help clean them out too), fill it back up and slosh it around again, drain it out, re-fill with fresh water, this you may have to do a couple more of times depending on how much chlorine you have used, I flush ours about 3 or 4 times to get rid of the taste, but I think I may have used a little too much chlorine this time around. I only ever use proper food grade water hose for filling the water tanks on the van and I use an inline water filter from supercheap (explore). Never use a standard garden hose to fill the tank, the water will be tainted by a plastic taste and it can be very hard to get rid of it.

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    Patrol Guru TimE's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gregs View Post
    The water tanks should be cleaned out every 12 months, I leave them full in between trips though, and depending on the time between trips, either I will drain and refill with fresh water or leave the water in there. Every 12 months I clean the tanks out with a little bleach (you can use milton as well), I use about 50mm of pool chlorine per 100-150L of tanks, drain the tanks a little and using a funnel tip the chlorine in, top up with fresh water, go for a drive to slosh it around, let it sit for a day then drain the water out (I also run a bit through the pumps and pipes to help clean them out too), fill it back up and slosh it around again, drain it out, re-fill with fresh water, this you may have to do a couple more of times depending on how much chlorine you have used, I flush ours about 3 or 4 times to get rid of the taste, but I think I may have used a little too much chlorine this time around. I only ever use proper food grade water hose for filling the water tanks on the van and I use an inline water filter from supercheap (explore). Never use a standard garden hose to fill the tank, the water will be tainted by a plastic taste and it can be very hard to get rid of it.
    Here in Canberra our tap water comes chlorinated, so don't see the need to add extra to the tank.

    My routine is to always leave the tanks full of Canberra chlorinated water, bugs won't grow in it (hopefully). If I have added water to the tanks from anywhere else, I drain and refill when I get home.

    If the camper has been sitting for any length of time (ie months) I will also drain and refill before a trip.

    As you say always use food grade hose.
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    Quote Originally Posted by threedogs View Post
    snip... Ill be fitting an 82 litre water tank under the back of my camper to help balance it out.
    Its atad front heavy for my liking at the moment
    Trying to balance the Trailer with water can cause it's own issues.
    If you put the tank too far back from the axle you may get trailer sway.
    If the tank is empty (IE your on the way home) you are back where you started anyway.
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    G’day @threedogs John Mate

    In addition to all the Excellent Advice kindly posted above we do like to fully inspect our trailers undies whenever possible



    Currently upgrading springs/guards/axle to a heavier 6 stud share pattern with its little old tug and have fortunately uncovered an extra days worth of chassis crack starting attention needed too thankfully before a hopeful NT work departure



    Structural checks too should be added more regularly than we currently do, especially prior to anyone’s adventures on Australia’s perfect roads


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    Quote Originally Posted by MB View Post
    G’day @threedogs John Mate

    In addition to all the Excellent Advice kindly posted above we do like to fully inspect our trailers undies whenever possible



    Currently upgrading springs/guards/axle to a heavier 6 stud share pattern with its little old tug and have fortunately uncovered an extra days worth of chassis crack starting attention needed too thankfully before a hopeful NT work departure



    Structural checks too should be added more regularly than we currently do, especially prior to anyone’s adventures on Australia’s perfect roads


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    Nice work mate, What is that trailer used for? i note the ramp on teh back but also the lack of any real chassis. There aint much trailer there. My homemade Tandem (made by another guy) is very much like that and disappointingly light under the tray.
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    Daily Lurker rusty_nail's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MudRunnerTD View Post
    Nice work mate, What is that trailer used for? i note the ramp on teh back but also the lack of any real chassis. There aint much trailer there. My homemade Tandem (made by another guy) is very much like that and disappointingly light under the tray.
    It's his kanga trailer mate, probably loaded with an 800kg machine? Maybe slightly less?

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    Trailer and camper maintenance

    Apologies, was typing a novel in another thread
    Yes, it’s the original Kanga brand trailer purchased 25 years ago to help carry our then new G520 little hole digging machine to the market ….still going strong to this day and is coming to NT off the back of the Acco and back on its trailer
    3.0T silly 65mm round elecy drum braked new 6 stud axle going under with 2.5T 10 pack bushed leafies larger guards for up to 33” if needed and extra steel undies galore for up to and under 2,000kg total gear strategically stacked on/around/under old faithful Kanga

    EDIT: Not total “gear” atop, meant total ATM (GVM) as is plated at 1,950kg ATM

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    Last edited by MB; 30th June 2021 at 08:53 PM.

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