towing banging on braking and setting off

[DARRELL_374359966]

Hi

I have just towed home my first caravan a fleetwood crystal 128 2 berth home and it banged when braking and setting off when very slowly braking and setting off no banging occured.

My father in law looked at the towing hitch bar?! and said he thought maybe the shocks were not good in it and needed replacing. It has 2 grease nipples on the bar attached to hitch and I wondered whether greasing up thoroughly could alleviate this problem.

Any help is much appreciated as I wish to get out touring soon but wish to be safe on the road.

Many Thanks

Darrell Ashley Brown

 

[Terry_5112949]

Sounds like the hydraulic damper in the tow hitch may be clapped out, only remedy is replacement. They are available from most caravan accessory shops, it would be best to take your old one off and match it up as there are a few different ones

 

[Hamer_5041128]

Darrell,

I would grease the two grease nipples on top of the hitch.

Then try compressing the hitch by pushing it in hard towards the caravan. With maximum effort you should only just be able to compress the hitch, and it should move smoothly. If it compresses easily then the shock absorber needs replaceing.

Hope this helps.

Hamer

 

[Damian]

Darrell, it is without doubt the hitch damper at fault and needs replacing.

If you take the A frame cover off, at the front end of the hitch, just behind the coupling assembly you should find a series of numbers, maybe hard to find and some WD40 wiped over the area will highlight the numbers.

The numbers you are looking for are 888 followed by 3 more numbers , for example 811-011.

This gives the identification code for the correct damper.

 

[Damian]

sorry,forget the 888, mistype,,,should read 811

 

[Barmoor]

For sure its your damper. We had exactly the same symptoms with our old Bucaneer Elan 15. If you bought it from a dealer, get in touch with them and tell them it needs replacing. If you bought it privately, I would get in touch with a caravan service department and get it booked in for replacement. Ours cost supplied and fitted about