Jacking your van for Wheel Change

My first reaction is that I would never, ever contemplate changing a wheel on a motorway hard-shoulder.  It's far too dangerous with traffic speeding past at 70mph just feet away from where you're working. That's what I pay Mayday cover for.

Personally, I have a Lock 'n Level air bag and have used it to change a wheel in the past on our TA Barcelona and would recommend it as a safe and effective way of jacking the van - especially as we have AWD motor movers fitted and it is impossible to get a conventional jack anywhere near the jacking points. Even on a TA, with a deflated tyre, the 'van settles down and with ours you wouldn't get a bottle jack underneath anyway.

Another advantage is that it doesn't matter what sort of ground you are on - soft or hard - it is equally effective with no danger of the van falling off, once jacked up. The only downside is that you need a means of inflating the air bag and that might mean having the car alongside, allowing your air pump to be connected to the battery but there are ways around this.

We have an Alko side lift jack as, like you, we have a twin axle with a motor mover fitted to front wheels only.   The jack is made to fit into the jacking points on the caravan and it does lift it safely.  Is it easy to use? Not really!!  It does require some scrabbling around underneath to get it into position and I have a small piece of wood to help stop the jack from sinking into soft ground.  It would be easier to use if I had three hands! We use it regularly to fix the Alko lock to the second wheel.  Would I recommend it, probably not as it's a real faff, but it works and fits securely.

Our twin axle caravan came complete with an Alko side lift jack. I tried it while on my drive. I can only suggest that it's used as a chock behind an opposite wheel while you use a proper trolly jack to lift your caravan. It's not even as much use as an ash tray on a motorbike. A small trolly jack can be bought for very little from machine Mart/etc

You beat me to it, MM. The Alko jack doesn't even make a good anchor.

A trolley jack every time.👍🏻

We have a single axle c/van  with fitted Alco jacking points and jack which we have used to line up wheel lock, and it has been fine quite easy to use with wooden "pad" to stop sinking,do not know about TA use,but as Alko say do not jack under chassis members the only other place is under the axle plates which are not easy to access 

Little Jack, my advice would be to always keep your 'van' attached to the car when jacking up. It will be held tight and stop movement forwards or backwards, helping to prevent slippage.

the only jack I would use would be a trolly jack, I woudn't even use the alko jack as if the van tries to role the jack will role over.

I don't carry a jack, I would call Mayday if I was on the road

There are some times in life though that it's best to stand on your own two feet. I'd  never wait for recovery for a simple wheel  change. You could be where you wanted to be before recovery turned up. I do take the point 're your safety on a hard shoulder but you could also argue that you could be on your way sooner rather than later doing it yourself ...... a flat bed with flashing lights isn't  going to prevent  40+ tonnes of HGV from hitting you.

common sense demands that a motorway breakdown requires the presence/assistance of an experienced breakdown operative.The saving of 20/30 minutes is not nearly as important as the saving of your life!!!!!HOWEVER....if you must....then a trolley jack is the only answer.

Anyone trying to change a wheel on a caravan especially on the offside on a busy motorway needs to think again, call Mayday!