Well, after today's episode I reckon that I have to be a bit of a goose.
For years SWMBO has been complaining about the terrible squeaks that come from the corner steadies as I wind them up or down. They seem particularly noisy as we prepare for an early blast off, no doubt waking up or annoying our neighbours.
In the past I have had several goes at fixing them, using copious amounts of WD40 spray over the whole winder mechanism & even putting grease on the winder worm. All to no avail.
Today as a passing thought after fixing another issue on the Van I decided that I'd have another go at the squeaky corner steadies. As I went in to the workshop to get a few things I spied the red oil can that had been hiding in the corner for years. Gave it a few pumps & surprise, surprise it worked well.
I intended to spray oil on the worm drive but I noticed a small hole about in line with the end of the mechanism. So I put the oil can nozzle in to it (a perfect fit) and gave it a few squirts. Another squirt on the other end of the worm rod & wound the mechanism down with my electric drill.
Buggar me ... it was quiet as ... I even got SWMBO to come downstairs to watch & listen. Of course she was full of praise at how clever I was. I could only agree & hope that she didn't ask the obvious question "Why didn't you do that years ago?"
So there you go, after a decade or so of cursing & spraying WD40 & grease all round the place I have finally fixed them with a little thought/luck and a small squirt of the good oil!
What a Goose I've been.
(I'll have a look on the AL-KO web site to see what they say about corner steady maintenance. )
You are right about no user manuals. I put that down to most caravans being low volume and a little bit different with improvements, fashion, availability of fittings, custom items added (or deleted), etcetera. I purchased a new van in 2017 and we were given a folder full of user manuals, warranties, etc for most of the fitted items, but nothing that encompassed the whole caravan. Being new to caravanning, we were given a three hour demonstration of how everything works and I videoed the demonstrations/explanations as we went. That was a very useful thing to do.
It took a year or more to find out what that switch beside the top of the door did - it switched on/off the outside loudspeakers. We also had some minor electrical problems, but nothing resembling a circuit diagram at all to help fix the problem. Fortunately the manufacturer was able to assist with instructions over the phone and honoured all warranty requests without quibble.
It would be an expensive proposition for a manufacturer to produce manuals for all their various models, but in my view it is long overdue for such expensive, complex items as caravans.
When I picked up my brand new Jayco Westport some 20 years ago I too got a big bag of appliance user manuals & a Jayco Owners manual that had very little info except for a bit of a sales blurp on servicing. A token effort at best.
Over the years I have produced wiring diagrams, circuit diagrams & a complete Owner Manual for any (unlikely) next owner.
I do the same thing for every house that I have owned & on-sold over the years.
A marked difference to the Owner Manual for my Mazda3, which is an excellent booklet.
