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24/4/2015 at 10:32pm
Location: Royal Forest of Dean
Outfit: Motorhome
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If you have a swan neck tow bar that will be ok but if you have a flanged tow ball you will need to change to an Alko ball which is just a few minutes work. If you do a search on this forum you'll find pictures of both types of ball showing the extended neck of the Alko type.
Rob
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24/4/2015 at 10:53pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: None Entered
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A standard towball sits close to the mounting plate. You need a swan neck or Alko towball as it has a longer "neck" and sits further away from the mounting plate. This extra distance is needed to give clearance for the handle on the Alko stabiliser hitch. The ball also needs to be clean of grease to avoid contaminating the friction pads in the stabiliser.
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24/4/2015 at 11:14pm
Location: West Midlands
Outfit: Various tents
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Quote: Originally posted by Rob and Tina on 24/4/2015
...If you do a search on this forum you'll find pictures of both types of ball showing the extended neck of the Alko type.
Rob
...on this page.
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24/4/2015 at 11:39pm
Location: Rochdale
Outfit: Hymer Nova 470 Mondeo titanium 140tdc
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Quote: Originally posted by Phil Ness on 24/4/2015
A standard towball sits close to the mounting plate. You need a swan neck or Alko towball as it has a longer "neck" and sits further away from the mounting plate. This extra distance is needed to give clearance for the handle on the Alko stabiliser hitch. The ball also needs to be clean of grease to avoid contaminating the friction pads in the stabiliser.
Not quite right, the allowed ball has a higher neck on it and a greater undercut on the ball to give room for the hitch head to articulate. Without this height and undercut the hitch head catches and the casing will split. Any increase in the clearance between the ball and the plate is incidental.
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Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
Mondeo Titanium 140 tdci
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25/4/2015 at 12:26am
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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If your towball is the fixed flange type which has two 16mm. nuts and bolts then it will definitely need to be exchanged for an Alko towball otherwise the caravan will detach from the towball because there is no clearance for the stabiliser to manouvre (twist and swivel). If your towball is not of the fixed flange type ie. swan neck or detachable then either of these will be satisfactory and no change is required.
However, The towball needs to be completely dry ie. no grease otherwise it will contaminate the internal friction pads which will then have to be replaced.
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25/4/2015 at 1:22pm
Location: Hatfield Peverel Essex
Outfit: Ace Supreme Twinstar Disco 3
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Don't use an ordinary ball even for a short journey. There is a real risk of the caravan becoming unattached.
If you do have to fit an Al-Ko ball you will need to ensure that all the paint is removed from the ball area before use as well as keeping it grease free.
Daves1
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Topic: Alko Ball & Hitch
