hi I am thinking of trading in my caravan, and the one's I have been looking at have the ALKO HITCHLOCK dose this meen that I have to change my tow ball on my car.
Kind regards
Mick
Kind regards
Mick
TOW BALLS/HITCHES
- Thread starter Grandad Mick
- Start date
Hi Michael, if you get a van with the Alko hitch you will need to change your towball to the Alko extended neck ball. The Alko hitch will foul a standard ball when it pivots and turns.
Hi I am a newbie so apologies if this has been covered before.
I have just bought a nearly new Peugeot 4007 4x4 which will have to have a detachable tow bar fitted be cause the tail gate comes in 2 pieces one that lifts up as per a conventional hatch back and a small bottom section that hinges down to make a table etc.
Unfortunately the Bailey Senator Indiana that my wife has set her heart on comes with an Alko hitch.
I have looked at the Alko website and I cannot see a detachable tow ball on their product list.
I do not want to lose the fold down tail gate facility on the 4x4 so is there a way round this?
I have just bought a nearly new Peugeot 4007 4x4 which will have to have a detachable tow bar fitted be cause the tail gate comes in 2 pieces one that lifts up as per a conventional hatch back and a small bottom section that hinges down to make a table etc.
Unfortunately the Bailey Senator Indiana that my wife has set her heart on comes with an Alko hitch.
I have looked at the Alko website and I cannot see a detachable tow ball on their product list.
I do not want to lose the fold down tail gate facility on the 4x4 so is there a way round this?
Hi I think Julian is referring to the old "imperial" towball.
I have a detachable swan neck towball fitted onto my 4x4 which is fine for my Bailey. As long as the towball is the modern EU Standard 50mm then you will not have a problem.
Easy solution, seeing your towbar is "detachable" is to take it along to the dealer and hitch it into the Senator. Puts your mind at rest?
I have a detachable swan neck towball fitted onto my 4x4 which is fine for my Bailey. As long as the towball is the modern EU Standard 50mm then you will not have a problem.
Easy solution, seeing your towbar is "detachable" is to take it along to the dealer and hitch it into the Senator. Puts your mind at rest?
Michael. You can just fit a 1/2 inch spacer behind your existion ball if you want to save the cost of a new ball.
david, You can get a tow bar from loads of different places e.g. towsure.com. i'll be amazed if you can't get a detachable one for your car. but surely the bottom part of you tailgate would be well above tow ball hight when dropped flat?
david, You can get a tow bar from loads of different places e.g. towsure.com. i'll be amazed if you can't get a detachable one for your car. but surely the bottom part of you tailgate would be well above tow ball hight when dropped flat?
Gareth,
Why bother? By the time he's bought a spacer and two new extended high tensile steel nuts and bolts he may just as well buy the real thing.If they are buying new caravans the new Al-ko towball is normally provided FOC or if it's second hand from a dealer they should get the dealer to throw in the new tow ball foc.
Cheers
Dustydog
Why bother? By the time he's bought a spacer and two new extended high tensile steel nuts and bolts he may just as well buy the real thing.If they are buying new caravans the new Al-ko towball is normally provided FOC or if it's second hand from a dealer they should get the dealer to throw in the new tow ball foc.
Cheers
Dustydog
Dear All,
The Al-Ko stabiliser hitch still uses a 50mm towball, but needs extra clearance over that offered by a standard bolt-on towbar to allow space for bulkier hitch head to swing as the caravan turns behind the car.
The standard 50mm bolt-on towball is made to standard Type A50-1. The Al-Ko towball standard is Type A50-X. If you want to check your bolt-on towball, you need 60mm between the centre of the towball and the flat section of the neck below the ball.
For swan-neck (removable) towbars, they have a tapered design, so the clearance between the centre of the towball and the neck of the bar is not generally a problem. What you need to check is the distance between the centre of the towball and the nearest point of contact with the car horizontally - usually the bumper. I think the clearance required is 68mm but I will check that and get back to you.
I hope that helps
Nigel Donnelly
Editor
Practical Caravan
www.twitter.com/pcaravan
The Al-Ko stabiliser hitch still uses a 50mm towball, but needs extra clearance over that offered by a standard bolt-on towbar to allow space for bulkier hitch head to swing as the caravan turns behind the car.
The standard 50mm bolt-on towball is made to standard Type A50-1. The Al-Ko towball standard is Type A50-X. If you want to check your bolt-on towball, you need 60mm between the centre of the towball and the flat section of the neck below the ball.
For swan-neck (removable) towbars, they have a tapered design, so the clearance between the centre of the towball and the neck of the bar is not generally a problem. What you need to check is the distance between the centre of the towball and the nearest point of contact with the car horizontally - usually the bumper. I think the clearance required is 68mm but I will check that and get back to you.
I hope that helps
Nigel Donnelly
Editor
Practical Caravan
www.twitter.com/pcaravan
To my knowledge, all detachable swan neck towballs are already extended to provide adequate clearance for an AlKo hitch. Only the bolt-on variety needs to be exchanged if it's a standard 94/20/EC Class A 50-1 one.
Good point, But i had a spacer kiking about & mu bolts were long enough.
I suppose if you went out & bought them you'd be into
l had a witter detachable swan neck fitted last year and was told the swan neck is compatible to accept the ALKO Hitch lock.
Nige
Nige
Wow! It really was worth signing up to this site.Thank you to everyone for your comments and advice.
Since my first post this morning I have bought the caravan and been assured by the caravan dealer that the the Alko towhitch will fit the swan neck towball that Peugeot are fitting to the 4007 I bought yesterday.(I have made it a condition of sale that if it does not then I can void the purchase and the caravan dealer is confident that won't happen)
As a belt and braces move I went back to the Peugeot salesman and he showed me the blurb from the Peugeot accessories brochure stating that the swan neck detachable tow bar they are fitting is designed to fit all caravans made since 1998.
The posts on here in answer to my query have put my mind at rest on that issue.Phew!!
The next issue I need to address is the dual electric connection from car to caravan.
The one on the 'van is a SN? 7 pin so I will check with the Peugeot dealer's service manager am tomorrow that what they are fitting is compatible with that and not the more modern ones with more pins.
As I said to the Peugeot salesman - I am undoubtedly fretting way above what is a reasonable level and that everything will be fine.I hope....
Thanks again everyone.
Since my first post this morning I have bought the caravan and been assured by the caravan dealer that the the Alko towhitch will fit the swan neck towball that Peugeot are fitting to the 4007 I bought yesterday.(I have made it a condition of sale that if it does not then I can void the purchase and the caravan dealer is confident that won't happen)
As a belt and braces move I went back to the Peugeot salesman and he showed me the blurb from the Peugeot accessories brochure stating that the swan neck detachable tow bar they are fitting is designed to fit all caravans made since 1998.
The posts on here in answer to my query have put my mind at rest on that issue.Phew!!
The next issue I need to address is the dual electric connection from car to caravan.
The one on the 'van is a SN? 7 pin so I will check with the Peugeot dealer's service manager am tomorrow that what they are fitting is compatible with that and not the more modern ones with more pins.
As I said to the Peugeot salesman - I am undoubtedly fretting way above what is a reasonable level and that everything will be fine.I hope....
Thanks again everyone.
DAVID!
You do know not to grease your new tow ball don't you? The stabilising hitch needs a good dry grip to be effective.
If the dealers do grease it , clean it with a solvent before you tow the caravan.
Hope i'm not telling Granny about sucking eggs here
gareth
You do know not to grease your new tow ball don't you? The stabilising hitch needs a good dry grip to be effective.
If the dealers do grease it , clean it with a solvent before you tow the caravan.
Hope i'm not telling Granny about sucking eggs here
gareth
Parksy
Moderator
Further to Gareth's point about cleaning the towball
In some instances brand new towballs are supplied with a layer of protective paint.
It is vital that any paint, grease,rust, road film or any contaminant is removed from the towball before use. Remove any paint with emery cloth and clean the towball with brake cleaner otherwise the abrasive pads in the AlKo hitch will be damaged.
In some instances brand new towballs are supplied with a layer of protective paint.
It is vital that any paint, grease,rust, road film or any contaminant is removed from the towball before use. Remove any paint with emery cloth and clean the towball with brake cleaner otherwise the abrasive pads in the AlKo hitch will be damaged.
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