Alko atc locked brakes after uncoupling

jackeade replied on 19/03/2019 20:57

jackeade

Posted on 19/03/2019 20:57

Hi all

Please excuse my ignorance but it is down to the total lack of experience. I bought my first ever caravan on Sunday and am delighted with it and cant wait to get out there and hopefully meet up with some of you around the sites

I drove the caravan home from the dealers which is a Bailey Olympus 462 which is fitted with an Alko atc system. It went great on the drive home however after reversing it into my driveway, I uncoulpled it but then decided to move it a bit further back with the motor mover. When I tried to move it however the wheels had completely locked up. I re-coupled it to the car and I still couldn't move it forward or backwards as the brakes appeared to be locked up

In fairness to the dealership, they sent a technician out first thing this morning, however I was not there to see him as I had gone to work. My wife said he took less than 10 minutes to fix the problem but she was able to put the technician on the phone to me. He told me that what had happened was that when I reversed the caravan, I should have moved it forwards slightly before I uncoupled the caravan because if I didn't, the atc unit would lock the brakes up. He said it was especially so if reversed up or down a slope

My questions are, if you are able to help me:

Is this totally correct and that I need to make sure that I always move a little forwards again after reversing and uncoupling
I am going away to my first CL site this weekend and very nervous that it may happen again being such a novice. If it did, and considering how quickly the technician fixed the problem, is it something that I could reset myself

I just don't want to get away from home somewhere and find out that I cant move the caravan again after it is uncoupled

Apologies if I am being really naïve but I am trying to learn all I can and don't want to go and do anything really stupid

Thanks in advance

Jack

1 person likes this

15 replies

ValDa replied on 28/03/2019 21:33

ValDa

Caravanner

Posted on 28/03/2019 21:33

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PilleyJohn replied on 26/08/2020 14:01

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PilleyJohn

Caravanner

Posted on 19/03/2019 20:57 by jackeade

Hi all

Please excuse my ignorance but it is down to the total lack of experience. I bought my first ever caravan on Sunday and am delighted with it and cant wait to get out there and hopefully meet up with some of you around the sites

I drove the caravan home from the dealers which is a Bailey Olympus 462 which is fitted with an Alko atc system. It went great on the drive home however after reversing it into my driveway, I uncoulpled it but then decided to move it a bit further back with the motor mover. When I tried to move it however the wheels had completely locked up. I re-coupled it to the car and I still couldn't move it forward or backwards as the brakes appeared to be locked up

In fairness to the dealership, they sent a technician out first thing this morning, however I was not there to see him as I had gone to work. My wife said he took less than 10 minutes to fix the problem but she was able to put the technician on the phone to me. He told me that what had happened was that when I reversed the caravan, I should have moved it forwards slightly before I uncoupled the caravan because if I didn't, the atc unit would lock the brakes up. He said it was especially so if reversed up or down a slope

My questions are, if you are able to help me:

Is this totally correct and that I need to make sure that I always move a little forwards again after reversing and uncoupling

I am going away to my first CL site this weekend and very nervous that it may happen again being such a novice. If it did, and considering how quickly the technician fixed the problem, is it something that I could reset myself

I just don't want to get away from home somewhere and find out that I cant move the caravan again after it is uncoupled

Apologies if I am being really naïve but I am trying to learn all I can and don't want to go and do anything really stupid

Thanks in advance

Jack

Posted on 26/08/2020 14:01

I have a LUNAR QUASAR, purchased in 2019. It is fitted with ATC (braking system) Recently I pitched up and after uncoupling I went to apply the hand brake and instead of lifting it under control, it slipped and completed the manoeuvre under its own momentum. What I later found out, was that the rod attached to it, instead of going into its cylinder, it ended up missing the cylinder and and catching on the lip of the cylinder. This rendered my brakes unusable and locking the brakes. I couldn’t move the van either forwards or backwards. Called out an engineer and he took less than 15 minutes to jack the van up and hammered the rod back inline and thus fixed the problem. Apparently not an uncommon problem. Good luck !