Stepwise Guide to Caravan Wheel Rotation

One thing of your caravan that is on a constant streak of wear and tear is a tyre. Your caravan tyres are all the time in contact with the terrain, irrespective of what kind of terrain it is; gravel roads from the outback, smooth highways or a heated asphalt road on a summer camping trip.

The constant wear and tear, fluctuating load (of the caravan) and the weather conditions take a heavy toll on your caravan wheels, and it becomes extremely important to take the right care of them. Rotating the caravan tyres every once in a while is a great way to elongate their lives.

 
Follow these steps to rotate your caravan wheels in the best way.

1. Jack up- Jack up your van with sturdy jack stands. Ensure the van doesn’t move. Now remove the torque wheel nuts. In case you do not have an electric torque wrench, you should loosen the torque nuts (using a manual torque wrench) before jacking up the van. Once it is jacked up simply switch the van into any gear so that the tyres get locked and then remove the torque nuts completely.

2. Inspect- Once all the tyres of the van are out, inspect each one of them carefully. Look for feathered edges by running your hands over the surface of the tyre. Wears such as centre wear, shoulder wear, spot wear and others can be easily spotted by having a good look. This kind of wear and tear affects the wheel alignment of the van. In case of shoulder wear, the rotation could be a good option, on the flip side, a centre or a spot wear needs a tyre replacement. Brush the tread of every tire well to remove the dirt, small pebbles, rocks from the tyre.

3. Missing balance weights- If you find the balance weights missing, take the rims to a tyre outlet and get them rebalanced. The unbalanced tyres can cause ride disturbances and may also result in a wobbling steering wheel.

4. Check for replacements- As you have all the tyres removed, it is a great opportunity to thoroughly check each one of them for wear and tear. If your tyre hasn’t irreplaceably worn out, you can still check if it's time to replace it, as every tyre has a life of about 10 years. The date of manufacturing is embossed on the tyre in a 4-digit code i.e. month followed by the year.

5. Rotate the wheels- It is time to swap the tyres. The best way to do is to switch the tyres to opposite sides.
You should re-torque the lug nuts of your caravan tyres every 100 Kms. To get more such interesting guides and tips on caravan maintenance, check out https://www.xtendoutdoors.com.au/blogs/news