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Topic: Alco stabiliser creaking!!

camerashyman

09/7/2006 at 6:51pm
Location: coventry
Outfit: stirling europa

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I am quite new to caravanning.

Whilst in Devon a few weeks ago I discovered I had been puting my stabiliser on wrong.

It has a push down lever on one side of the towbar and a round knob (tensioner?) on the other side.

I had been pushing the lever down and then tensioning with the know until it 'clicked' a few times.

Some bloke told me I should tension FIRST and then push the lever down.

I have now tried this and the moment any steering is applied I get an awful creaking/squeeking noise from the hitch.

Can't really understand it. Have now reverted to my 'old way' but not sure if the stabiliser is tensioned properly.

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You're only supposed to blow the blardy doors off.

JohnG

09/7/2006 at 8:01pm
Location: Newcastle u Lyme
Outfit: Ford Kuga Senator California

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It sounds as though the pads need cleaning

http://www.al-ko.co.uk/support-aks.asp

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John

wlee

09/7/2006 at 8:11pm
Location: Zoetermeer Holland
Outfit: Chateau 430 Nice

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Yesr, round knob first, than the lever. Sounds like an Alko 1300, the simple version of Alko.

The creaking is dirt or corrosion of the hitch.
Clean the hitchbar knob, if need by a bit of fine sand paper, than with a clean cloth. No oil/grease or anything like that.
Also clean the inside of the hitch itself. Probably the pads are dirty.

This creaking is normal in case of dirt. Cleaning resolves the problem of noise.
You've probably heard it for the first time, as now only for the first time you applied the proper tension of the stablizer by following the proper order knob/lever.

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WL

Caroelle

09/7/2006 at 10:46pm
Location: Worcestershire
Outfit: Bailey Orion 440-4

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We had this problem at Easter- we think water/ dew had got into the stabiliser. It was fine last time we used it, so now we make sure we keep it off the ground when we are on site.

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Caroelle

camerashyman

10/7/2006 at 7:04pm
Location: coventry
Outfit: stirling europa

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Thanks guys and gals; I'll give it a go when I pick the van up again in a couple of weeks.

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You're only supposed to blow the blardy doors off.

chelsea girl

10/7/2006 at 8:57pm
Location: Devon
Outfit: Autotrail Savannah motorhome

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we had the same problem, everyone was looking at us as we were creaking as we went along.

Hubby used emery cloth, as we have a diesel freelander, the fuel can cause greasy deposits on the towball/friction pads

check if they need replacing, alko recommend every 30,000 towing miles replacement

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