grease or not????

[warbulator]

just got an aging (1985) 13foot cotswold windrush tourer, when we were kids the towball grease was always on dads trousers!!!. ive seen threads on here saying hitches have pads?? am i not supposed to use grease on the hitch?, it was fairly greasy when i got it 2nd hand but not to say last owner was correct.

thanks folks

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Richard,

Good question - and an easy answer - there are two classes of trailer coupling:

1. Traditional caravan coupling - like the AL-KO 160 and 300 models - that require a lightly lubricated tow-ball. A dry tow-ball will cause the coupling head to wear because of friction with the tow-ball.

2. Modern stabiliser tow couplings - like the AL-KO 1300 and 3004 - that are fitted to most modern caravans. These use the combination of a carefully cleaned tow ball and mini friction pads inside the coupling head to stabilise the towed vehicle. Grease and other contamination destroys the stabilising effect.

If you've got a 20+ year old van, then it pre-dates coupling head stabilisers (unless someone has retrofitted one), and if your coupling head does NOT have red levers on top or alongside - then the tow-ball requires greasing.

And you can always buy a new pair of trousers, Robert

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Richard,

Traditionally the tow hitch was designed to allow considerable freedom of movement that enable the car and trailer to manoeuvre around bends and over undulating ground. The hitch was greased to reduce wear and corrosion. One of the down sides of the system is that the outfit is easy to turn and was quite 'floppy' and this allowed the early onset of instability when towing.

When instability occurs, the trailer usually starts swaying from side to side. This translates to the hitch rotating on the ball. Instability can be reduced if you can resist the free rotation of the hitch on the ball.

Early attempts used blade type stabilisers. These were usually an additional arm that was fixed between the car and the trailer, and they provided a reaction friction pad that made it more difficult to turn the caravan. Many are quite successful, but they can be difficult to apply.

Alko approached the solution in a different way. They created a caravan hitch that was designed to grip the tow ball. There is sufficient grip to add resistance to rotation. This will only work if the tow ball is free of grease.

So if you have an Alko stabiliser hitch, there must be no grease on the ball.