We have just taken delivery of a new 542 van. Neither I nor the wife have any experience of forums and such like and would appreciate some advice. For instance is there a particular jack recommended and wheel brace, do I need to buy a torque wrench and if so which one. We have just sold our motor home and are waiting for the rain to stop. Any advice would be well received.

Hi and
Regards Chris and Keith
p.s. can't help you with jack etc but someone will tell you soon.....

. Ellen

from us 2 Jen & Gray

The jack you need is a VW type sometimes known as a Bilstein, I used to carry a breaker bar with the appropriate sockets and a torque wrench which I've had for years by Snap On. I hope that helps a bit

Nice to have you in here the friendly forum which will become evident soon when your queries are answered by more learned gentle souls than me.
Good luck from Derek and Carole

Hi welcome to the forum ,you must be very pleased with your new purchase and I bet you can't wait to get going there's always the drive way to try every thing out and not too far to go if you find you have forgotten some thing important .
Caz and Paul

Torque wrench - absolutely essential in my view as we read all too often of vans losing a wheel. Any reputable make is going to suffice but do ensure that it is advertised as having been calibrated and never ever use it to undo bolts.

Jack - if you can pick up a Landrover bottle jack on ebay or at an car boot sale somewhere then in my opinion these are just the job because the jacking part fits snuggly under the axle and being a bottle jack, doesn't take up quite so much room as the usual trolley jack.

Landrover jack.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Lots of different changes to the Eribas over the years will mean different advice, I have had a 1993 Puck that had a tubular axle which meant that the land rover jack with the curved cradle would have been ideal.The VW jack is compact and neat however as like the old British Leyland cars that had a jack that inserted into a sill section they are only suitable when the car/caravan are structurally strong, on a 20 year plus vehicle/caravan I would be very nervous to use one.
I have a 2015 Familia 320 and it doesn't have the old box section jacking point or a tubular axle, there is a bit of exposed box section but it is only couple of centimetres wide and will not fit the VW jack, my Familia has an ALKO axle which you will also have and this is square so the land rover bottle jack is also not suitable. I have a standard bottle jack which I keep in the front locker and is only for emergencies and not for maintenance work.
Personally I have a trolley jack for home use and carry out all the normally safety precautions before jacking, I.e. chock wheel, jockey wheel and handbrake on .
If I ever need to change a tyre whilst on the road I will be ringing the breakdown service Mayday as the caravan is inherently unbalanced when jacking and in my view dangerous especially in a roadside environment, I would only contemplate a tyre change as a very last resort.

As regards the torque wrench they are essential piece of caravan kit to avoid losing a wheel, my torque wrench is identical to the one in Rogers AKA Randas link but I got mine from Aldi when they make a guest appearance a few times a year.

to the 'Friendly Forum" !

I have a Puck L which has the point which I can fit a Bilstein (VW) type jack - I have a Transporter Type which allows for a higher lift - I'm always cautious using this point, as I am aware that it is not an 'official jacking point' although very easy to use ! There is no doubt that the safest part to use is the axle and therefore a good bottle jack that fits the axle curve securely is I think the safest option.Always best to have the 'van secured to the towing ball of the vehicle if emergency jacking is needed - it is very unstable when on just the jockey wheel, even when the brakes are on and the wheels chocked !

As previously recommended a good 'breaker - bar' (to undo the bolts) and a torque wrench (to do them up) are certainly desirable :)

Can't help with any of the technical stuff as I leave it all to Neil but what everyone else says sounds good

Hello all you Eriba people. Never tried any of this forum stuff before but willing to indulge. It's nice to see that the wife and I are not alone out their with our new baby. Waiting for this weather to ease before heading out with our new van and new car. Thanks for the reply, Regards, Charlie Brown.

Like Poptop320 I already own a trolley jack so bung it in the car boot before every trip.

Zitat

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Wheel brace

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You should have a brace to wind up and down the corner steadies on that should be a wheel nut sized socket at the other end, yes I have a torque wrench as seen in the other topic linked too above.

Hi Randa.

Thanks for your reply, I found it most helpful. Yes, I think our 542GT may well be the first in the U.K. can't wait to get started. How do I thank all the other people who replied with such useful help? Do I have to reply to each post? I was amazed that so many people bothered to reply. Don't really know my way around the site yet but will keep trying.