Towbar Noise Again

[Tony_374371542]

Until recently, I towed with a Saab9-5 with a fixed towbar without any groaning at all. The caravan has a standard Alko dry stabiliser.

I changed the car to a Honda with an extended neck detachable towbar.

From the very beginning, the towball/stabiliser groaned. Initially I tried the useual things like cleaning and degreasing the pads. This did'nt work so I replaced the pads. Still no joy, the towbar still groaned.

I checked the diameter of my original Saab towball and as near as I can tell, it is 0.2mm smaller than my new one. This does not seem a lot to me so I don't think it's that.

My thoughts at the moment are that it may be something to do with the extended neck towbar (Witter).

The towbar fitter has never heard of the problem and couldn't offer any solution.

My next step will be to contact Witter to see if they can offer a solution.

Tony

 

[xtrailman]

Are you sure the hitch is the problem?

Try lifting the handle so the friction pads are not in contact, see if you still get the same noise.

The witter bar on my last xtrail worked loose on the cross bar bolts, giving a groaning noise now and then.

 

[Lutz]

Was there any paint on the towball of the Honda? If so, it should have been removed first.

 

[busman1]

I had this problem before, tried all the usual suspects and ,sorry about my technical terminology, cleaned the underside of the button inside the hitch, that indicates whether the caravan hitch is properly attatched to the ball (the one with the green collar)gave it a good rub with fine emery cloth and it cured the problem

 

[Tony_374371542]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I will try cleaning the underside of the hitch to see if it makes any difference. The towball was shiny metal but I did clean it anyway. On one of the sites we visited, the warden did suggest connecting the caravan, driving a short distance and then pushing the stabiliser lever down to see if this made any difference.

What I can't understand is with my Saab, the stabiliser didn't groan which brought me to the conclusion that it is the towball.

Once again, thanks for the information and watch this space.

Tony