# Help Jacking up and greasing Argos 747 Alko Chassis probs



## Snunkie (Mar 21, 2011)

Today hubby jacked up our Argos 747 to grease the ALKO chassis

He says that he put around 70 pumps in and emptied the gun and there was no sign of it being full? 

Can anyone tell us what the grease does?
How much should go in?
Will we know when it's full?
How does it affect the chassis?
What's it's purpose?

It would be great to have an insight of exactly what we're doing and why.

Any help would be gratefully received

Oh and, what type of jack do you all use to jack it up. It is so heavy! We tried trolley jack and bottle jack. Not a chance with the Fiat jack included with the vehicle, we bought a 3 tonne bottle jack but had to use a combination of jacks to lift it


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

He has done a good job of filling the whole axle with grease. It is made from hollow tube and you will need a lot of grease cartridges to fill it. 8O 

The instructions tell you to just pump the handle a number of times. This puts grease into the area where the torsion bars are working. Any extra is just a waste of grease.


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## Snunkie (Mar 21, 2011)

Where will I find the instructions?

Our ALKO handbook is in German so I looked at the English one online but it just says it needs greasing every 20,000km or every year, whichever is soonest. I couldn't see any instructions for the amount of times to pump it?


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Taken from another forum (extract from alko instructions)

Braunston

I have just had a look in my records and the following is a direct quote from the Alko Service Manual.




3.6.2.1 Greasing the torsion bar
suspension axles
Greasing interval:
- every 20,000 km,
- or at least once a year

NOTE
The maintenance intervals are to be shortened
where the vehicle is used under difficult
conditions (e.g. use for short journeys, driving
in dusty areas, mountain trips, trailer operation
etc.).

All non-maintenance free torsion bar
suspension axles are fitted with 2 grease
nipples on the bottom of the axles (Fig. 13).

Permitted grease:
- Made by CONDA: Cardex 3746 SP
(Order no. see chapter 9)

Procedure:
1. Relieve rear axle completely (i.e. tyres have
no ground contact).
2. Open grease nipple protective caps.
3. Insert grease from the hand lever grease
gun using 5 - 7 strokes for each grease
nipple (Fig 14). An adequate quantity of
grease has been inserted when resistance
is felt.
4. Put grease nipple protective caps in place.
5. Apply load to rear axle again.


I hope this helps.

Ken


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## Snunkie (Mar 21, 2011)

Thank you Ken, that is of great help.

My worry is that he was only able to jack one side up, not the whole rear end and he has greased one side only so far. He's gone off to get more grease so I will explain the above to him when he gets back. I think he's probably put far too much in one side!


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## hogan (Oct 31, 2006)

Re the jack
You will need at least a 6 ton bottle jack to make jacking easy. 
My motorhome is 5 ton and I bought a12 ton bottle jack. I suggest you bin the fiat jack it's just not man enough and dangerous.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

This ALKO guide might be of help (Thanks Erneboy);

http://www.alko.com.au/vehicle/tech_literature/AMC_Handbook.pdf

from this interesting thread;

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-825873.html#825873

Dave


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## rayc (Jun 3, 2008)

Snunkie said:


> Thank you Ken, that is of great help.
> 
> My worry is that he was only able to jack one side up, not the whole rear end and he has greased one side only so far. He's gone off to get more grease so I will explain the above to him when he gets back. I think he's probably put far too much in one side!


I do not think there is any problem in doing one side at a time. It is only my personal feeling and others may have different opinions. I cannot of course quantify my personal feeling as I cannot see inside the axle.


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## rrusty (Sep 15, 2007)

Hi, does it need done if it has air assisted.


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## HarleyDave (Jul 1, 2007)

If the air assist was fitted initially as part of the Al-Ko axle then - No

If a retro- fit then - Yes

See this from a previous post on the matter...


Note: The rear axle must be greased when the rear axle is not loaded.

If the vehicle is fitted with AL-KO Air Suspension, Air Premium the axle is maintenance free.

Air suspension specific data is to be found in the Instructions of Use - AMC Air Suspension Handbook.

Note: The permissible trailer load or permissible car and trailer weight can be taken from the vehicle logbook

Cheers

Dave


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## rrusty (Sep 15, 2007)

Thanks for that, how can I tell from looking if it was retro or factory fitted.


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## HarleyDave (Jul 1, 2007)

OK

Look at it another way

If it has grease nipples - grease them

If it hasn't - don't bother

Simples

Cheers

Dave


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## HarleyDave (Jul 1, 2007)

Sorry rrusty - I didn't mean to be flippant - The heat is getting to me

Based on your post here 
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftoptitle-81747-got-a-new-arto-74l-at-the-nec.html 
and because I assume you were/are the first and only owner, you will know whether you subsequently fitted air assist suspension - I guess not

Your detailed spec on your original post identifies levelling to all 3 axles (inc. the TAG axle) - I would imagine this is AlKo air assist fitted at build.

I would therefore conclude that you will not need to grease your rear axles - but don't blame me if you don't and you should have...8)

Cheers

Dave


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