Alko 2004 would not release from car towball WHY?

[brianr]

Hi, had the Alko 1300 unit on caravan when purchased new, but I was not satisfied with it so upgraded to a new Alko 2004 which is now one year old. Arrived this weekend on (my first) five star caravan site and the Alko 2004 would just not release from car towbar. Tried all I could to release it (car forward/backwards, "handle" from side to side. Just nothing would release "it". Had a "cuppa" and then Alko 2004 just separated as if it was the first time it had been used. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Rod_5041370]

Does your car have self levelling suspension?

 

[DJM]

Hi Brian,

Do you have a Alko hitch lock? If so, try the locking ball in the hitch and see if you can release the ball easily or not. When you place the ball in the hitch and drop the handle the ball should lock in position and the safety indicator should be green. Is it doing this ? If not then I would make a visit to your dealer asap.

 

[Lutz]

If the coupling is either fully extended or fully compressed it will always be very difficult to separate. You first have to make sure that the system is relaxed and the caravan has at least some degree of free fore and aft movement relative to the car before trying.

 

[AndrewWimborne]

Hi. I have had exactly the same problem and the solution for me is what Lutz says. Either pull forward a fraction or reverse a fraction and you should be ok.

Andrew

 

[ValA.]

We've had the same problem - and found that pressing down hard on the boot of the car added enough 'force' to dislodge the car from the van. We helped out a couple in France who were having a similar problem - and it worked for them too. We have a Ford Mondeo estate, they had a Citroen C5.

 

[Lutz]

Similarly, lowering the jockey wheel can help lift the coupling off the towball if the joint is not too tight.

 

[brianr]

Hi, thanks for ideas, Grimbo, do have the Alko hitch lock and when ballhich is in place the safety indicator shows green (unit is only a year old). Lutz, Andrew & ValA taken note of what you have said. Thanks for your input. Read on an early thread during the winter to raise the Alko "lever" when checking in on site allows the friction pads to cool prior to releasing? Any thoughts on this?

 

[vernon]

I should have thought that there is enough metal in the towball and hitch to dissipate any heat the pads generate.

 

[ValA.]

Do you mean the 'stabiliser' part of the hitch? We always do this anyway on arrival at reception, to make sure there's no trying to reverse on to a pitch with the stabiliser still on.

 

[ChrisUK]

Do you mean the 'stabiliser' part of the hitch? We always do this anyway on arrival at reception, to make sure there's no trying to reverse on to a pitch with the stabiliser still on.

I'm new to this type of stabaliser on my new van, why do you release it for reversing ? I would be worried I'd released it too far and have the thing dropping off!

Mine's the winterhoff version, arriving home on Monday it too had stuck but relaseing both handbrakes (level surface!) fixed it. My old Adria had the same problem with its much simpler coupling.

Chris

 

[Chrisbee]

We've had the same problem - and found that pressing down hard on the boot of the car added enough 'force' to dislodge the car from the van. We helped out a couple in France who were having a similar problem - and it worked for them too. We have a Ford Mondeo estate, they had a Citroen C5.

On my C5 I just lower the suspension. Why would you want to jump on the bumper?