Hi all, my hubby has just fitted a brand new Alko 3004 stabiliser. Please excuse me if i am using the wrong wording, but when tightening up the bolts, Alko don't allow much room to get the torque tool in. We managed to get it tight, ut don't think its as tight as the 85lb advised. Anyone else had this problem?
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If the torque wrench doesn't have a short extension bar attached then it will be difficult to reach but furthermore, depending on the year of caravan will determine what diameter draw bar is fitted so he may need to fit a sleeve between the draw bar and stabiliser which acts as a spacer. If there is no sleeve or the wrong size fitted then he may be tightening the bolts and distorting the flanges to clamp on the lower diameter draw bar which explains why it doesn't feel like it is clamping up to the 85 Lbs/ft. The fitting should be solid so check to see if there is any side to side movement on the stabiliser and if there is then the sleeve size is incorrect or missing. This happened to me on my first caravan in 2005 when a dealer fitted an Alko 1300 stabiliser and because I was a novice at the time I didn't know it was incorrectly fitted till I had it serviced. The service engineer tried to rectify it but because the flanges were over tightened he had to prize the stabiliser flanges open and smash it off with a lump hammer. He inserted the correct size sleeve and was okay after that as it felt as solid as a rock.
Quote: Originally posted by Grampian91 on 19/5/2015The fitting kit comes with 3 spacer plates to suit most needs.
That's correct as the thickest spacer/sleeve fits a 47 mm. diameter draw bar, the middle one fits a 48 mm. dia. draw bar and the thinnest spacer/sleeve fits a 50 mm. dia. draw bar.
The diameter of the drawbar is correct for the stabiliser, and is a snug fit, so no spacer is required. The problem is the 2 fixing bolts. where the bolt ends, ( nut end), when pushed into its correct position, there is a moulded guide slot that will enclose top and bottom of the nut when in position. this is to reduce the chance of the nut turning. This means that the torque wrench can only be used to hold the supplied star tool for the bolt head. It is difficult to get the 85n required. If there were no moulded nut guideson the cowling then the torque wrench could be used on the nut end.
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The star tool is actually called a 'Torx' key which you either need a long version of the tool or attach an extension bar. The torque wrench is then fitted onto the end of the extension bar and set to the required torque setting on the handle.