Noisy ALK S stabiliser, quick fix

[JohnandNic]

I'm sure all the experienced posters here will have come across this before, but for those who haven't this may prove aneasy and cheap fix in some cases.

We recently bought an 08 Bailey with Alk S stabiliser, used it twice no problem. Picked it up from storage on Saturday to find dreadful groaning noise when turning at low speed. Went on our way thinking "oh no the friction pads have gone, dissapointing as we've not done many miles, but these things happen". When on site there was a mobile engineer working on a static van, so being a cheeky so and so I went to ask his advice. He suggested that the tow ball may be a bit rough and had a look and suggested giving it a light rub with a bit of emery paper to smooth it off. Lo and behold noise disappeared, best couple of quid I've spent for a while. Now going to keep a bit of emery paper or similar in toolkit

John

 

[David_374469452]

Hello John! Alko recommend always cleaning your towball before use, generally a wipe with a clean rag will do it. It always helps to keep the towball covered when not in use, either with a proprietory towball cover, or even an old tennis ball with a slit in it. And of course never use any lubricant on the ball as this will contaminate the friction pads! Best wishes, David

 

[Clive_374342604]

Befre starting any journey I rub the tow ball with Scotchbrite, a light abrasive pad,and then clean the ball with a solvent such as brake dust remover and also clean the pads on the Alko hitch.

This works for me.

Clive S

 

[vauxhall2]

to keep your hitch head clean of dust buy a good brake cleaner spray.now and then just spray inside to remove dust from the pads.

 

[xtrailman]

No way would i use emery paper on my towball, unless i was prepared to replace it regularly, causing premature wear may zero sense to me.

My tow ball is 5 years old, and i have never had to do any cleaning to it, all i do is keep it covered with the alko cover, never cover it wet, and so no rust.

Its the alko pads that need cleaning occasionally, just my thoughts, do what you want.