Newbie hitching help

[Yossarian]

Hi folks, we just got ourselves our first caravan, a 2004 Elddis avante with a winterhoff stabiliser. I am having trouble engaging and releasing the arm on the stabiliser/hitch. There is clearly a knack to this which I haven't figured out yet. The lever seems to have two positions, one to release the stabiliser and one to release or attach to tow bar. Attaching and releasing the tow bar is tricky. If anyone can explain exactly how I should do this I would be very grateful.

 

[Hutch]

I have found the biggest help to removeing the caravan from the car, is to ensure there is no fore and aft load on the tow hitch.
Get the caravan in to position, place the vans handbrake on, let the car relax so that the hitch can be "wiggled" easily. And then lift the hitch handle and wind up the hitch on the jockey wheel.
Good luck.

 

[Mel]

Winterhoffs can be a do and so when unhitching. For unhitching, you need to lift the handle, it will seem to want to stop, but then lift it further so it is as vertical as it will go and then hold it as you wind the hitch off the tow ball. If you have just reversed, it also helps to pull forward slightly so the hitch is not compressed.
Hope this makes sense.
mel

 

[Jcloughie]

H and welcome to the forum.

You may find this useful, but there are lots of other YouTube videos.

View: https://youtu.be/RQsIbHlPVPM

Personally I would add to use the jockey wheel to test the van is securely hitched. And I prevent the cable trailing by usingban elastic shock cord from the top of the jockey wheel.


John

 

[Mel]

Been looking for a video of a Winterhoff hitch and unhitch for you. The procedure with Alko is slightly different as they have a hitch handle under the stabiliser whereas Winterhoff is all in one. Could only find this one. Sadly in Dutch but the video is self explanatory. You will see the double lift at unhitching that I was on about
Hope the link works

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IL8LSvdACZU


mel

 

[Buckman]

We had the Winterhoff stabiliser on our 2016 Elddis caravan. We also had issues with it releasing. To get around this, we would wind down the jockey so that it lifted the front of the caravan and also the rear of the car if connected. I would then start the car and most times, it would release. If not either a little reverse or a little forward resolved the issue.

 

[Yossarian]

Thanks everyone that is very helpful, I shall have a go later

 

[audiorob]

Also worth cleaning all paint off the ball part of the hitch and as the stabilser pads are fore and aft in the hitch head using some break cleaner to clean the surfaces. If you have a flange towball ensure that you have the 'alko' compatible ball which has a longer neck (left - standard right):

 

[Yossarian]

Ive got it now, turns out the part that locks the tow bar in place was a bit stiff. Thanks for the help, much appreciated. Awning next, wish me luck lol