towball problems - nay advice greatfully recieved !!

[andrew_374236293]

I have a 3/4 tonne trailer with a standard hitchhead which hooks up to my standard 50mm greesed towball on my witter towbar and all is well !!(or it was!!)

However i am about to but a Swift Celeste which is three years old and has a hitchhead stabiliser which is great but i have just learnt needs an ALKO none greased towball !!

I rang witter who could not suggest a solution and said i would have to change towballs everytime i change what i am towing - which is completly impracticable - and expensive as i would need a huge torque wrench...

i thought about a removable pin towball so i could have two pins - one greased and one not greased with a spacer bar in to give enough clearance for the stabilizer but was told these are not supposed to be put on cars (i have a 2003 406).

i would really like to but this van as i have got a good deal and it's a great match for the car and my family and don't want to be put off because of the stabilizer...

any thoughts ?? i really am at a dead end...

thanks for your time in advance

andrew

 

[Danny_5134221]

Andrew,

If I were you I would use the same ball for both purposes, just make sure before you use the caravan give the ball a good de-grease with brake/clutch cleaner and a light rub with fine emery paper.

Hope this helps

 

[BrianStAlbans]

Or you could have the correct Alko ball fitted and cover with one layer of heavy duty cling wrap when using the trailer.

Brian (",)

 

[antrimboy]

Hi Andrew,

Like yourself, I tow a 15 cwt. trailer, and a caravan with an Al-ko hitch/stabiliser, and just use the same tow-ball, as mentioned in the two previous posts. I just use petrol and fine emery to clean the ball before I hook the 'van on.

 

[Lutz]

If you don't have to swap trailers often you can follow Danny's suggestion. The cling wrap that Brian mentions wouldn't last more than a hundred yards before it's shredded to pieces.

The best, but of course most expensive, solution would be to fit a detachable towbar and have a second towball head. That would be easy to exchange and you wouldn't need any tools to do so.

 

[Damian]

Andrew, many people use the towball for towing more than just a caravan, where one use requires the ball to be greased, and the van, not greased.

The AlKo towball is different to normal towballs only in as much as it has a slightly longer neck which places the ball a little further away from your bumper to allow for the extra bulk of the stabiliser hitch.

I would fit the Alko ball, and as Danny says, just make sure when you use the caravan that you fully degrease it first, using brke/clutch cleaner or white spirit, and if it has any rust on it, remove it with a fine emery, then clean again.

 

[gary]

You will need to swap to the Alko ball with the extra clearance and from there as said you can de-grease the ball for use with the van.

Or you could get a Alko stabiliser hitch for the trailer so you don't need grease at all!

Or you could put a standard hitch back on the van so both use grease and then use a blade type stabiliser for the van

 

[vauxhall2]

hi,i had the same problems as you with towball and grease.for the trailer i put on a new towhitch with no gease.the only way forward is to clean each trip.engine cleaner i find is best,not as good as petrol but thats dodgy stuff.it has been suggested the a small plastic bag placed over the ball before fitting the hitch stops some grease but not all.

 

[andrew_374236293]

thanks everyone for the suggestions which worked out well as i spent one and half hours crawling over the van today and decided to buy it !! - knocked him down

 

[Martin_374307534]

I'm new to caravanning and have just bought a 1994 Esterel Top Volume folding caravan,chosen because they are supposed to be better to tow,less affected by cross winds etc. As it is so much lower than a rigid caravan when towing, do I need to fit a stabiliser? Also I've read about greased/ungreased towballs.What's the difference and how do I know which to go for?

Probably pretty dumb sounding questions to an experienced caravanner, but we all have to start somewhere.

 

[Martin_374307534]

Think I've just discovered the answer to the grease or not to grease to question.Seems if you've got a hitchead stabiliser, it's no grease.If there's no HHS, grease the towball.Am I right?

Still need advice on the stabiliser question though.

 

[Lutz]

Yes, you're right about the towball.

Regarding the stabiliser, nobody actually needs a stabiliser but it's useful to have that bit of extra safety margin. It's like other pieces of safety equipment, ABS, airbags, etc. - you don't need them until a critical situation arises. As you say, a folding caravan is not as sensitive to instability as a regular box on wheels so you're automatically less likely to get into trouble, but even then some risk, however small, remains. How important it is to you that you reduce even this remainder, is something that only you can decide for yourself.

 

[sparkes]

Just a suggestion but can you not change the tow head on the trailer to match the caravan?

 

[Rubix]

I thought the ALKO hitch/stabiliser coupling also required a smaller hitch ball ?

 

[Cockovan]

Hi Rubix,

The ball is a standard 50mm whatever you hitch to it. If you use an Alko or Winterhoff stabiliser hitch head it just has to be completely grease free but can be used for any other hitch.

 

[Rubix]

Alan,

I honestly thought that the ALKO hitch stabliser has a different ball size (ooerrr ) as people have been told (on here no less) that they need to buy a different tow-ball when changing to that hitch. If it were just grease, a tow-ball change surely is not necessary (just a good clean).

Me is in-experienced in these matters, so a pinch of salt is necessary.

Unless i am getting mixed up with something else ?

 

[gary]

The larger Alko stabiliser hitch head needs more clearance vertically and below the ball for the head to move without jamming. This is in one or two acute situations, in all other situations a standard towball is ok clearance wise.

However, most if not all standard towballs come zinc plated, this must be completly removed from the ball,(impractical), as does the paint finish of Alko's ball and many swan neck/detachable balls