Alko Rear Axle Maintenance and Replacement

[Sidney]

This is a start...

 

[Sidney]

and there's a YouTube video here

 

[Sidney]

So I'm guessing that the Al-Ko torsion suspension is a rubber suspension system?

Link Removed

 

[g8ysn]

g8ysn

there seems to be two different rear axle 1/ round [alko] 2 box [standard fiat]
1 appears to have torsion bars - grease nipples
2 appears [like mine ] to have box section, spring-leaf , no grease nipples
question/puzzler - my log book states my engine is a 2297 - tjd,no engine no on logbook but on my drivers side wing i have 160 multijet logo, on a chausson allegro 96 /2009,
the information on the front grill in relation to the engine reads, MOTORE F1CEO481D
looking on fiat engine site it logs my engine as a 3lt multijet,my dilemma is that my i am afraid insurance may be void,as it is not what is on the logbook,already been in touch with dvla,
asked me to verify correct engine size,also e mailed trigano for confirmation, give away is if i can confirm the engine has a cam chain instead of belt, any photo,s
geo - help

 

[ciderman]

and here is the kicker some of the axles do not have grease nipples and are greased for life or until the seals go so you have no choice. my tag axle does not have the said nipples.

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[Lenny HB]

Hi.

Most motorhomers are not aware of the alco suspension system. I would not have been, but was lucky to find an alco manual with our tag burstner. Once a year I take a few hours to jack up the rear of the M/H remove all the road wheels grease the axles, and put some grease on the handbrake linkages, I put about 40 pumps of grease into each nipple. So far so good.

steve & ann. ------ teensvan

Crikey 40 pumps, Al-Ko recommend 5-7 pumps, I've read some Al-Ko info (of course can't find now) that is important not to over grease the axle.

Quote from Al-KO web site:

"Should I grease my AL-KO axles?
Yes. We recommend greasing your AL-KO axles every 20,000 Km, or once a year whichever comes sooner.
Ideally jack the motorhome so both wheels are off the ground. The grease nipples are situated on the axle tube.
5-7 pumps of a hand grease gun for each side should be sufficient, until resistance is felt. Excess greasing could break the seals and fill the torsion tube.
We recommend 3 greases: Shell Retinax LX, Co. Kluber GL 1501 and Co. CONDA 3746 SP.
Failure to grease regularly could result in a requirement to replace the axles."

 

[WAG2CRU]

I have a Hymer on an Alko Chassis, on the service check list of the Hymer dealer who does the Hab service (they don't do mechanical servicing), is an item marked "Alko Chassis, grease axel". However, I made a point of asking and, they didn't do it because I hadn't ask for it to be done specifically. I have it done by the local chap who does my mechanical servicing, at least I know its been done properly.

 

[Deleted34567]

Don't overgrease.... Can push out the seals to the outer of the needed rollers.
Same system in peugeot partner vans, (not Alko) but don't have grease nipples fitted.
On new vans we supply for a local courier company our workshop have drilled and tapped and fitted nipples and they have run them to 200,000 miles without replacing axles. Normally replaced by 80k otherwise.
Grease is cheap.

 

[mickymouse]

I have a Hymer on a alko chassis and the workshop manager [here in Spain] told me it was greased when I had water ingress and habitation check done! when I checked the grease nipples they still had spray paint over covers and had not been removed, I purchased grease from and brought a grease gun, I went to my local tyre depot and had them jack up the van and greased them myself, now I know they are done.

 

[JockandRita]

Peter Hambilton Link Removed expressed the need to grease the axles at least annually. He was telling me that he had a Tandem axle Hymer arrive at his place on the back of a low loader, with one of the rear axles stuck in the raised position. He couldn't free it, and had to replace it at great cost to the owner.

My pal who does any heavy work on the MH for me, greases the axles every year, and we are doing less than 6000Kms.
They take a fair few pumps every time, so I'm not sure where all that grease is going, but it's certainly not coming past the seals.

He's a proper commercial vehicle mechanic (not a fitter) of some 30 years, and even he wasn't aware of the requirement to jack up the body, and grease the axles, until I showed him the ALKO literature.

Cheers,

Jock.

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[tonyidle]

As stated in the previous post the axle has to be unloaded with both wheels off the ground similtaneously when greasing the AL-KO axle.
If anybody requires a PDF copy of the AL-KO chassis & axle manual they can download it from here - The maintenance requirements are on page 18.
in low resolution - 1.8MB http://www.filefactory.com/file/a20g...andbook-lr.pdf
or high res - 14MB http://www.filefactory.com/file/a1f8...4_Handbook.pdf
244 02-06 Ducato owners manual can be found here 4.2MB - http://www.filefactory.com/file/a2e8...book_04-05.pdf
244 Ducato Blaupunkt CD Radio owners manual 7.5MB -
http://www.filefactory.com/file/a2e8...dioCD_User.pdf
02-06 244 Ducato eLearn WSM ISO compressed in a rar file 113MB -
http://www.filefactory.com/file/a2g8222/n/02-06_eLearn_Manuale_Tecnico_D_officina_-_Fiat_Ducato.rar
Just go to the bottom of the page concerned & click on the "DOWNLOAD NOW with file factory basic" button. Then on the next page again at the bottom wait till it counts down from 30 then click on "Download now with file factory basic" again.
Then save to disc.
There are also PDF versions of the X250 owners manual & X250 AL-KO chassis handbook as well if anybody requires them.

:thumb:

Burstnerite posted a quote above:

"The Castrol LM grease can be used with a hand operated grease gun (this is what we recommend not a pressurised gun) . You will need to raise the wheels clear of the ground; this then allows the grease to circulate around the swing arm journal. By raising the wheels one at a time will allow the grease to reach the correct areas."
I can't see the point in lifting both wheels together as the suspensions are not connected across the axle in any way.

May I also suggest the use of the Moly-based Castrol grease? It is the same as LM but with added molybdenum disulphide. Wonderful stuff for limited-movement bearings.

 

[iceclimber]

This is the grease I have used on my Burstner, I do it once per year & yep it usually take 5 - 6 pumps of the grease gun. …… I've see it mentioned in one of the posts above.

 

[SIFTA SAM]

Burstnerite posted a quote above:

"The Castrol LM grease can be used with a hand operated grease gun (this is what we recommend not a pressurised gun) . You will need to raise the wheels clear of the ground; this then allows the grease to circulate around the swing arm journal. By raising the wheels one at a time will allow the grease to reach the correct areas."
I can't see the point in lifting both wheels together as the suspensions are not connected across the axle in any way.

May I also suggest the use of the Moly-based Castrol grease? It is the same as LM but with added molybdenum disulphide. Wonderful stuff for limited-movement bearings.

I can confirm that only one wheel at a time needs to off the ground for the reasons you give in that there is no internal mechanical connection to the two suspension units.
My info is from the AL-KO engineers at the recent NEC show.

 

[f6c]

Thanks very much Sifta Sam.

 

[Deleted34567]

Well the axle saga continues.
We decided to take a trip this weekend and thought I would jack up the MH and grease the Alko axle. 2 trolley jacks under the axle mount points, van clear of the ground and notice grease on the nipples, so had been greased somewhat recently.
Previous owner had new axle fitted (£1550 bill to prove) and I knew it was something else I won't have to worry about....... WRONG !
Noticed while under the van that one of the shocks was misaligned so decided to inspect and see why.
My god, what a bodge of a fitting exercise. The fitters fitted the top shock eye with a M10 bolt with threads right up to the top of the shank (should be m12 with proper 'grip length' bolts) and used washers for spacers with a 14mm hole. I could not believe what I was seeing, the shock bush spacer actually was able to travel through the washers they used for spacers and left the entire assemble loose.
I removed the shocks and got 2 x m12 x 100mm bolts (10.9) and locknuts and machined up 2 proper spacers and necessary washers to fit properly.
Unbelievable poor engineering practice from a supposedly top agent, a complete sham and something I will take up with them.
Would have zero faith in ever using them for anything ever again.

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[f6c]

Thats BAD if not dangerous.

 

[Techno]

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/alko-axle-greasing-is-not-at-all-difficult.93021/

 

[Techno]

What I find disappointing is how many in this OLD thread are now read only

 

[JockandRita]

My concern of only jacking up one rear corner at a time, is the amount of body flex this causes before the wheel clears the ground, especially on a tandem axled MH. My chap uses 2 x 5T trolley jacks, and jacks up the rear of the MH, so that all four wheels clear the ground, before greasing...................as per the ALKO instructions.

Well the axle saga continues.

Sorry to hear that Jonkil, but pleased that you have been able to rectify the shoddy workmanship. Who was responsible for that?

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[pappajohn]

and here is the kicker some of the axles do not have grease nipples and are greased for life or until the seals go so you have no choice. my tag axle does not have the said nipples.

Maybe back in 2009 when this thread was active they didn't have the sealed for life axle.

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[TheBig1]

Maybe back in 2009 when this thread was active they didn't have the sealed for life axle.

still plenty of the old axles still in use and failing due to no maintenance

 

[Melvin]

Hi all ,I've only just come across this thread and I was surprised that just because a couple of torsion bars break a new axle is needed .On the old V W s that I used to own you just needed to replace the broken ones.

 

[Wildbill]

This is a old thread was wondering are bother axels braked on a tag axial
Bill

 

[JockandRita]

This is a old thread was wondering are bother axels braked on a tag axial
Bill

Absolutely Bill.

It's drum brakes on ours, although more modern ALKO tandem axle chassis's may be on rear disc brakes. I'm really not sure on that one.

We've recently had to replace our tandem axle brake cables, even though the blooming brake shoes are still the originals.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Badknee]

At least with both tag axles up in the air there will be enough room for my racing snake physique to get under to grease the brake cables.

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[JockandRita]

there will be enough room for my racing snake physique

Yeah, right Paul.

to grease the brake cables

Never mind the cables, just don't forget the "all important" nipples.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Badknee]

Yeah, right Paul.

Shush you.


[QUOTE="JockandRita] Never mind the cables, just don't forget the "all important" nipples.

Cheers,

Jock. [/QUOTE]

As the actress said to the Bishop

 

[138go]

You could try http://www.fraserbrowneng.co.uk/index.php?c=al-ko-axle-repair .. There is a video showing you what they do .. They collect and deliver back to you in about a week.

It's not lack of maintenance that kills the axle but the fact that the grease cannot get to the bearings in the first place.

 

[JockandRita]

You could try http://www.fraserbrowneng.co.uk/index.php?c=al-ko-axle-repair .. There is a video showing you what they do .. They collect and deliver back to you in about a week.

It's not lack of maintenance that kills the axle but the fact that the grease cannot get to the bearings in the first place.

But if enough grease is applied under pressure, (felt at the point of capacity) then surely it must be getting to the bearings? My mechanic pal (HGV & PSV time served) keeps pumping, until he can feel solid resistance at the grease gun. Often, that takes many pumps of the lever, which indicates that an awful lot of grease has been injected into the axle tube. When he releases the gun from the grease nipple, there is always an excess amount of grease worming it's way from the nipple.
Each year he does this for me, (but goodness knows where all that grease goes ) and in 12 x years of ownership, we've not had a problem with either of the rear tandem axles.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Figaro]

Humm, that`s a lot more than the 5 or 6 squirts recommended that I read in an earlier post

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