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Hi,

As some will have seen from my other posts we are currently looking at changing our Vectra tow car for a Nissian X-Trail. We have found a 2008 one local to us and may go ahead with the purchase tomorrow.

The X-Trail already has a tow bar fitted to it with twin sockets and what looks to my untrained eye to be an Alko Ball (stamped with ISO 50 on top and looks identical to the one on our Vectra). The only thing I noted today when test driving it is that some of the black paint on the bar assembly has started to crack and peel away and there is a small amount of rust on it. I guess for a 3year old car this can be expected but is this anything to be concerned about and should I sand it down and re-paint it if we go ahead with the purchase?

Are there any other things I should be looking at / asking in relation to the existing fitting?

Cheers

Darren

Thanks for the advice. Will have another look tomorrow if we do go and put a deposit down. It didn't look like a weld crack, just the surface paint peeling away. I parked the x-trail next to the vectra and compared the two and the ball did look the same. Is it safer to ask them to switch the balls over as ours is only 3 months old? I take it that its just a matter of undoing the two retaining bolts and switching them over?

Darren

if you are using the alko hitch the ball itself needs to be rust free as it can contaminate the pads inside it.all towball balls are 50 mm.if there is any paint on the ball this needs to be removed for the same reason.you also need the extended neck towball if you have the alko hitch.

http://shop.al-ko.co.uk/products/al-ko-extended-neck-towball-kit.html

Cheers Tim. We will be getting the van serviced in March (its packed away in storage for the winter now) but will ask the mobile engineer we are going to use if he could do the change from 2 plugs to one. Failing that I will just get an adaptor for now and as you say will have to make sure the cables are tied up and kept off the floor!

Hoping to pick the X-Trail up in 1-2 weeks as we need to wait for our private number plate to be put on retention and the new tax disc and MOT to come through!