frightening experience.

[Traore]

A couple of weeks ago we set off for a few weeks caravanning in Dorset with a midway stopover in Tewksbury. The last part of the journey to Tewksbury was on the M5. If my speed edged up to 61/62 mph the van started to snake. I had to change down and up through the gears on moderate Inclines which I would normally do in top gear. I stopped at the services and checked the van and everything seemed in order. I proceeded to the site at 55 mph. On arrival I couldn’t uncouple the hitch. I had to remove the alko stabiliser from the van and detach the towbar from the car. A local service centre managed to separate the towball and hitch One friction pad had dislodged and was jammed in the release mech. The top one had broken in two. When I re-attached the tow ball I noticed the the towbar was loose. I took the car to the nearest JLR dealership and on inspection they could see the bolt holes in the chassis had elongated. The rear bumper would need to be removed and plates welded to the chassis. At some point the tow hitch had locked up and when going around bends the van was was effectively trying rip the tow bar off the chassis. If I carried on the bolts might have sheared and the caravan come adrift. The break away cable wouldn’t have activated.

I drove the car home and had the caravan recovered. I have previously been caravanning for 10 years without incident.

When I set off all of the hitch and stabiliser indicators were green. The ATC light was solid green.

Learning points. (1) Always make sure the hitch is precisely lined up with the tow ball. (2) Gently lower the hitch onto the towball using the the jockey wheel.
(3) if you notice any changes to your usual towing experience, stop, unhitch, check the friction pads are in place and that there is zero movement on the tow bar. . (4) re check the nose weight and load distribution.

 

[otherclive]

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear of your experience, glad there were no injuries. What caravan were you towing and what car. Was it a new outfit or have you been using it for sometime.. Any idea what may have provoked the snake?Do you suspect the tow hitch was the initiator?

 

[Traore]

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear of your experience, glad there were no injuries. What caravan were you towing and what car. Was it a new outfit or have you been using it for sometime.. Any idea what may have provoked the snake?

Jaguar epace. Bailey Pegasus grande Brindisi. Been towing with same same setup for two years. No issues. I suspect the snaking was a combination of speed and the the fact that the hitch was locked up by the dislodged friction pads.

 

[Traore]

The service centre was of the opinion that the dislodged / damaged friction pads is due to heavy handedness in hitching. Eg if the van is on level tarmac and hitch is lifted and dropped onto the towball.

 

[Traore]

The towbar was fitted by Whitter in their workshops in Chester.

 

[Traore]

Pic of insert wedged into release mech. No movement in hitch side to side or up down.

 

[otherclive]

Thank you for the feedback and photographs. Thats a most unusual failure, it must have been hair raising but pleased that that the “snake” was controlled without wrecking the outfit, or causing you and your passengers injury.

 

[Hutch]

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for your write up. Never heard of that fault before, glad all was safe and no incedent happened.

 

[Beachball]

Welcome to the forum never heard of the fault but pleased everyone is safe from the outcome

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'm relieved that no one was hurt in all of this. I have never previously come across a similar experience, so it does seem to be a very unusual event.

I can only speculate, but from your description of events, I do wonder if the couplings friction pads may have been damaged such they were not providing as much damping as usual, which explained your outfits sensitivity. Then possibly because of the now broken or dislodged friction pad, the coupling became jammed, resulting in much reduced articulation, which in turn transferred much more force whilst negotiating bends on your journey through the coupling to the towbar and it's fixings.

I have to assume this all happened on this particular journey, because the tow bar fixings should have been visually checked during your last MOT.

One other point which occurs to me, and it's something I'd advise you do look into, is the fact you noticed some onset of instability at around 60mph when presumably the coupling was not providing all its damping, does suggest your outfits stabilisation was reliant on the damping. It's advisable to try to have a setup that is naturally stable at normal towing speeds, as stabilisers should not be there to make an out fit towable, their job should be only to catch or assist when an extreme situation arrises, rather like seatbelts.

I hope you can get everything sorted soon, and back to safe towing.

 

[otherclive]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'm relieved that no one was hurt in all of this. I have never previously come across a similar experience, so it does seem to be a very unusual event.

I can only speculate, but from your description of events, I do wonder if the couplings friction pads may have been damaged such they were not providing as much damping as usual, which explained your outfits sensitivity. Then possibly because of the now broken or dislodged friction pad, the coupling became jammed, resulting in much reduced articulation, which in turn transferred much more force whilst negotiating bends on your journey through the coupling to the towbar and it's fixings.

I have to assume this all happened on this particular journey, because the tow bar fixings should have been visually checked during your last MOT.

One other point which occurs to me, and it's something I'd advise you do look into, is the fact you noticed some onset of instability at around 60mph when presumably the coupling was not providing all its damping, does suggest your outfits stabilisation was reliant on the damping. It's advisable to try to have a setup that is naturally stable at normal towing speeds, as stabilisers should not be there to make an out fit towable, their job should be only to catch or assist when an extreme situation arrises, rather like seatbelts.

I hope you can get everything sorted soon, and back to safe towing.

The OP also describes that the caravan has ATC so even without the stabiliser and pads giving stabilisation I would have expected the ATC to have kicked. if the fault had been residual the ATC would have probably been intervening for a while, and probably noticeable to the driver. So in my view this seems like a quick event. When the snake occurred the ATC would have activated and no doubt helped stabilise the outfit.

 

[ProfJohnL]

The OP also describes that the caravan has ATC so even without the stabiliser and pads giving stabilisation I would have expected the ATC to have kicked. if the fault had been residual the ATC would have probably been intervening for a while, and probably noticeable to the driver. So in my view this seems like a quick event. When the snake occurred the ATC would have activated and no doubt helped stabilise the outfit.

Regardless of the ATC, I still suggest the OP would be wise to review their caravan loading to improve its unaided stability.

 

[Dustydog]

There are two specific issues here.

The JLR Dealer fitted towbar has clearly been fitted incorrectly. There are number of quoted cases of JLR towbar chassi failures. I suggest the OP investigates this further on the JLR Owners website. Elongated holes in the “chassis” is indicative of a serious issue.

The failed Al-ko hitch is not unknown. Usually caused by the incorrect fitting of the friction pads. There are very special oem Al-ko o rings which hold the pads in place as the release handle is moved. A lot of people change the pads without realising the existence of these o rings. Or they do change the o rings for ones that look the same from the Aldi box of a thousand o rings? Big mistake.
The oem rings are circa £5.00 a pair. Spoil the ship for a h’penny of tar🤪🤪

 

[Raywood]

I cannot see that his was anything to do with the tow car nor the tow bar fitting. The problem there looks to be more the result of the hitch locking up. The tow bar was a Witter and I suspect farmed out to a specialist company rather than the makers standard model.
The problem seems to be that the pad in the hitch detached and this locked up the hitch. Never heard of it before and it looks like a one off but very dangerous if it happens to you. The suggestion that it was heavy handed hitching seems to me a weak excuse, my wife finds it had to believe the car is hitched unless it clonks down and ours has survived plenty of that.

 

[Traore]

On the issue of loading I have done several thousand miles uk and Europe with this set up. Always loaded the same. No stability Issues. Checked nose weight before setting off. 70 kg. The van wasn’t snaking wildly. It was more like when a wagon overtakes closely but with no vehicles nearby. I reacted immediately by easing down the speed otherwise I am sure it would have started snaking

I cannot see that his was anything to do with the tow car nor the tow bar fitting. The problem there looks to be more the result of the hitch locking up. The tow bar was a Witter and I suspect farmed out to a specialist company rather than the makers standard model.
The problem seems to be that the pad in the hitch detached and this locked up the hitch. Never heard of it before and it looks like a one off but very dangerous if it happens to you. The suggestion that it was heavy handed hitching seems to me a weak excuse, my wife finds it had to believe the car is hitched unless it clonks down and ours has survived plenty of that.

I bought the car new from JLR stock so it couldn’t have a factory fitted. It was a new model and no after market towbars were available. Whitter designed a towbar to suit. I watched the guy at Whitter designing the electrics on his computer. It was fitted in their workshop. This design was then taken into production in their factory in Poland.

There are two specific issues here.

The JLR Dealer fitted towbar has clearly been fitted incorrectly. There are number of quoted cases of JLR towbar chassi failures. I suggest the OP investigates this further on the JLR Owners website. Elongated holes in the “chassis” is indicative of a serious issue.

The failed Al-ko hitch is not unknown. Usually caused by the incorrect fitting of the friction pads. There are very special oem Al-ko o rings which hold the pads in place as the release handle is moved. A lot of people change the pads without realising the existence of these o rings. Or they do change the o rings for ones that look the same from the Aldi box of a thousand o rings? Big mistake.
The oem rings are circa £5.00 a pair. Spoil the ship for a h’penny of tar🤪🤪

The van is only 2 years old. Serviced by main dealer last month. Tick in box stating friction pad wear check. These pads would have been fitted by ALKO.

 

[Dustydog]

The M5 heading South towards Tewkesbury is a steepish long downhill. Loads of advisories to towing vehicles , slow down. There are open gaps with high crosswinds too. Maybe you were just a tad too fast in the prevailing conditions? Well I think all the previous posts were sound in advice . If none solve your experience then clearly there must have been another intervening factor. IMO, sorry to say May be speed 😉

 

[Jcloughie]

Like Raywood said, I don't think it is simply heavy handling. We also always like to hitch with a reasuring thud. The pads should be in recesses when hitching, and only brought onto the ball when the lever is lowered. I wonder if one of the pads had not fully retracted so got damaged as it was hitched up. Perhaps due to a failed ‘O’ ring or a broken stem.

The elongated holes on the assembly is inexcusable and I would go back to the fitters for an explanation. Perhaps it was not fully torqued up or they did not use nylocks.

Odd that the ATC was not felt as too much of a coincidence to have so many issues.

John

 

[Hutch]

On the issue of loading I have done several thousand miles uk and Europe with this set up. Always loaded the same. No stability Issues. Checked nose weight before setting off. 70 kg. The van wasn’t snaking wildly. It was more like when a wagon overtakes closely but with no vehicles nearby. I reacted immediately by easing down the speed otherwise I am sure it would have started snaking

I bought the car new from JLR stock so it couldn’t have a factory fitted. It was a new model and no after market towbars were available. Whitter designed a towbar to suit. I watched the guy at Whitter designing the electrics on his computer. It was fitted in their workshop. This design was then taken into production in their factory in Poland.

The van is only 2 years old. Serviced by main dealer last month. Tick in box stating friction pad wear check. These pads would have been fitted by ALKO.

Thanks for the feed back, I

The M5 heading South towards Tewkesbury is a steepish long downhill. Loads of advisories to towing vehicles , slow down. There are open gaps with high crosswinds too. Maybe you were just a tad too fast in the prevailing conditions? Well I think all the previous posts were sound in advice . If none solve your experience then clearly there must have been another intervening factor. IMO, sorry to say May be speed 😉

Dusty Dog, I don't think so. Nothing wrong really and also the O rings as a problem is a no for me.
Correct attachment of the fore and aft Friction pads are important. Probably the screw came loose.
Hands on inspection is the only way to know.

 

[Dustydog]

Hutch which screw are you thinking of?

 

[Hutch]

I have fitted two Whitter tow bars to my cars, Vauxhall Vectra and also Hyundai Santa fe, both cars have had problems on Fitment. Badly designed for Hyundai. and after two years to get sorted.

 

[Hutch]

Hutch which screw are you thinking of?

The one that goes through from front to the back. Pull the black cover back and go through there to the rear friction pad. If the friction pad is worn out so is the retaining screw, allowing the pad to come forward as in the OP's photo. Easier to show than explain at this time of night. 🍷

 

[Traore]

The M5 heading South towards Tewkesbury is a steepish long downhill. Loads of advisories to towing vehicles , slow down. There are open gaps with high crosswinds too. Maybe you were just a tad too fast in the prevailing conditions? Well I think all the previous posts were sound in advice . If none solve your experience then clearly there must have been another intervening factor. IMO, sorry to say May be speed 😉

If speed or cross winds were the cause of seized hitches and tow bars coming loose. I’m sure a lot more people would be reporting such instances. I tend to keep behind HGvs and only overtake just before inclines because the heavier ones slow down a lot. When driving my car on the motorway seldom go above 65 and on many occasions at this speed I have been overtaken by caravans.

 

[Dustydog]

The one that goes through from front to the back. Pull the black cover back and go through there to the rear friction pad. If the friction pad is worn out so is the retaining screw, allowing the pad to come forward as in the OP's photo. Easier to show than explain at this time of night. 🍷

I was thinking of the side two. I think we may have a Marie Celeste here 😉Another long discussion at the Coachman Inn😎

 

[Traore]

I was thinking that the seized hitch caused the towbar to work loose. Maybe it was the other way found. The loose towbar perhaps caused the pad holding to fail.

 

[Jcloughie]

I was thinking that the seized hitch caused the towbar to work loose. Maybe it was the other way found. The loose towbar perhaps caused the pad holding to fail.

If the hitch had locked to the extent that is put so much lateral forces on the tow bar that it distorted the cars body I am sure you would have felt it and known about it.

If it was the other way round, and the bar had been moving lateral. I think you would have felt and seen that also.

Year's ago I had a trapezium tow bar which are designed to allow the van to move lateral in relation to the car. This was easily spotted in the mirror.

John