Warning

Just to remind everybody that vehicle condition and safety is the responsibility of the driver at all times.

I always on every trip before climbing into the cab walk round to do my visual checks. Everything from lockers locked to tyres wheels and locking nuts. My wife, who has a bus licence, does the same.

When I caravanned I used to be a bit paranoid about checking wheel nut torque on the caravan wheels. Much less so now I have a motorhome. However, not quite being able to get out of past habits, I always check the torque settings when the van has been in for any sort of work. 

What has happened to the OP might not be as isolated as some might think. Years ago one of my sons purchase a very old VW Beetle thinking he would do it up. I said I would pay for it to be serviced at the local independent VW specialists. Coming home from the service he had just turned into the estate and the car went one way and rear wheel the other!!!

David

If ever we take our caravan in for service or repair, they alway torque the wheel nuts in my presence.  I'm surprised they don't do this with motorhomes.

David 

We had a similar incident 40 years ago so it certainly isn't new!

Master cylinder went on a Sunday. Car taken to garage by recovery vehicle. When it was repaired several days later. Collected and driven back to Newquay where we were staying, breakdown was on opposite coast. Not driven again until we left for home and on joining the M5 were ?lucky? enough to feel the wobble and got to the hard shoulder before it came off.  Very scary 😲.

Just a word of caution for those of us who have had the need to change wheels after a puncture. If your running wheels are alloy and your spare is steel make sure you swap to and use the correct nuts for the metal type of rim. The consequences of not doing so could be catastrophic.

Interesting you say that because the last couple of Swift Caravans I had came with alloy wheels but a steel spare. The Swift instruction said to use the same wheel nuts? This might be down to the type of wheel nut seating?

David

I guess the message is check and check again that those nuts you are about to use are compatable with the type of rim. My last motorhome had alloy wheels and a steel spare. The spare came with its own nuts and a very specific notice warning that under no circumstances to use those bolts holding the alloy on. To my eye both the shaft length and the fiction collars were different but other differences may have been evident to those in the know.  

Well! Many years ago when the kids were young, we had a small bailey. I had taken the wheels off to repaint them. Friends were coming round for the evening and the caravan looked sad withiut its wheels, so I put them on and hand tightened up the nuts!!

A week or two later we set off from the farm where we lived for Poole to catch the ferry to Cherberg! Two miles from home, we heard a noise as we drove up the country lane. It was getting louder and worse. I got out to find both the caravan wheels nearly off and four of the nuts had come off. My wife walked two hundred yards back down the lane with our ten year old daughter who retrieved them. I tightened up those still in place, refixed those that had come out and off we went for three weeks in France. 

I learned a lesson that day, just in time!!!