alko tow ball

[terence1]

this is my first post and i have a question,...having found out that my present 500mm tow ball is unsuitable for my alko hitch i orded a extended one which arrived today,however it looks like it has been painted or powder coated so what do i do,..do i remove this or leave it alone;...i am tempted to leave it as it looks extremely smooth and glossy ready to go strait on

 

[JTQ]

The ball must be clean bare metal, before it is used as otherwise it will both contaminate the friction pads in the AL-KO stabiliser and the stabiliser will not function on the "finished" surface.

Trust its only a 50mm ball 🙂

 

[Clive-Cardiff]

Don't use it until you have removed the paint from the ball and the top part of the stem.

The paint will contaminate your friction pads in the Alko hitch.

A rub over with fine grade abrasive paper will do the job.

 

[terence1]

The ball must be clean bare metal, before it is used as otherwise it will both contaminate the friction pads in the AL-KO stabiliser and the stabiliser will not function on the "finished" surface.

Trust its only a 50mm ball 🙂

50mm it is,..i don't knoww my mm from my cm

 

[terence1]

thank you both for your quick replies,..your advice is been carried out now

 

[Parksy]

To add to the advice Terence I'd also advise you to always fit the towball cover when the towball is not in use. Buy an aerosol can of brake cleaner so that if your towball becomes contaminated with road film, grease or oil a quick squirt and a wipe with a clean rag will ensure trouble free operation of your stabiliser. I use brake cleaner before every trip to avoid stabiliser friction pad contamination.

 

[terence1]

just thought i would let you know that i have just come back from the garage and job done,.i started off with some used 150 grit and finished off with 600 grit and the ball looks good,..now all i need to do is take parksy's advice and get some brake cleaner then i am ready to go later, so once again thank you all very much in your advice

 

[Johnnie70100]

I can absolutely see the need to remove paint from the towball to avoid contamination - no probs.

Can't get my head round why AL-KO on their website state AL-KO supplies a black painted towball as part of every boxed UK stabiliser sold .

 

[Sproket]

For more imformation on AL-KO towballs take a look here

 

[Parksy]

Well Done Sprocket! You did it then, the link is self returning!

Johnnnie the reason for the black paint could be to avoid the possibility of rust forming on the towball before it is sold by the retailer.

When the towballs leave the factory Al-Ko have no control over where the towballs are stored by the retailers. Rust acts as a contaminant just as grease or oil so to cover all eventualities the towballs are coated in a thin coat of water based paint which is easy to remove.

 

[machighlander]

i actually asked te very same question over the ball being painted and then the alko instructions tell you it must be paint free !, i suppose it will be down to cost when they are spraying the individual items, would be too much invovled to mask them off.

at the end of the day, the paint comes off no probs with minimal effort.

 

[Sproket]

I think the reason the are painted is to give them some protection, if they buy 50 tow balls it might take a few years to sell them all, would you buy a rusty one, i certainly wouldn't due to the amount of metal being taken off to get it ( shine'y ) again for use, that few thousands of an inch you are taking off every time will ultimately add up & reduce the size of the tow ball, i only use scotchbrite to clean mine & a wipe with brake cleaner.