I bought one online. It arrived today. Hoping to fit it at the weekend. The van is in storage, so I have to take the necessary tools with me. Read the instructions, all seems straightforward. Trouble is there is a spring clip in the box with no mention in the instructions as to what it is for. Has anyone fitted one and found out what it is for or will it become obvious when I start stripping the old hitch off?
Hi, i fitted my new alko to my new(to us) caravan at weekend, i reckon it took me about 10 minutes!!, i could find no mention for the spring clip and found no where to put it so just followed the instructions.
Don't forgot to use the pin to knock the back bolt out, apparently its a nightmare if you forget and the damper springs back.
Also make sure you put push the stabiliser handle down fully when you are towing, i pulled up twice and found the handle up, then made sure i pushed the handle down as afr as i could, travelled home 70 miles with no problems.
Hi, I fitted one about a week ago, have a look at my site under Other jobs/Replacing the overrun damper and hitch head. Changing just the head as Jon says use the pin provided to stop the front of the overrun damper from coming forward.
About that spring, the only thing I could come up with,was it is for securing the rubber boot to a small diameter draw shaft, of cause for most of us all the spacers are not needed as the draw shaft is 50mm.
cheers,
on the same sort of theme, mine makes a knocking noise particular at low speed,not a creaking but a definite knock like theres alot of play in the coupling.the van damper is fine, no jerkiness on braking or setting off just a definite clunk/knock that transmits through the towbar.
also noticed alot of scoring on the towball . particularly the side closest to the rear of the car.
mikes infromation was correct the handbrake was pushing the stabilizer handle up on braking i have bent it slightly as suggested and all is ok many thanks