Winterhoff/Alko Stabilisers

[Bob5]

An interesting point regarding these two types of stabilisers.

My son and I shared a caravan with an Alko stabiliser. I have a "Brinks" towball fitted (Suitable for an Alko hitch), and my son changed his ball from a standard to a genuine Alko. Both of us towed the caravan, with no problems whatsoever.

My son then decided to buy his own caravan, which had a Winterhoff stabiliser fitted. When we collected this caravan, using my son's car, we experienced an awful "banging" noise from the towball area. We tried towing with my car, and all was OK.

We than changed my son's towball back to the standard version, and this was also OK!

The only difference between our Alko towballs is that mine is a "Brinks", while my son's is a genuine "Alko" ball. Both caravans and all the towballs are new.

It seems a genuine "Alko" towball is not suitable for a Winterhoff hitch.

Sorry about the long explanation, I hope it's clear.

Any comments would be appreciated!!

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Bob,

Compared to the Winterhoff, the AL-KO stabiliser coupling has a more wrap around "head" and whilst both expect the exact same 50mm diameter tow ball, the AL-KO needs an elongated neck under the tow-ball.

All swan-neck and detachable tow-balls are, by design, long-necked and compatible with the Winterhoff and AL-KO stabilser coupling heads.

Normal flange-plate tow-balls work fine on the Winterhoff, but why that one AL-KO tow-ball caused a problem with the Winterhoff is a mystery - it shouldn't.

Robert