I have brought a new Alko AKS 3004Hitch, looking at the instructions you have to have a dowel to put in the 2nd bolt to retain the damper, there is no dowel with it, how do i stop the damper coming out? any suggestions greatly received with thanks.
Gitch
You need the dowel which is only about an inch long and the same diameter as the bolt because it not only holds the draw bar back but also has to fit between the two stabiliser sides where the bolt goes in order to be able to withdraw the the stabiliser body. There isn't any other way of doing the job so the dowel is critical in the task of exchanging any hitch.
It's a hardened steel dowel and usually comes in a kit with 3 different size shells which fits inside the hitch housing. The draw bar sizes are 47mm., 48mm. and 50mm. The thinnest of the three fits the 50mm. and the thickest with the 47mm. draw bar but the 47mm. draw bars were normally fitted on older caravans. To exchange the hitch should only be about a 10 minute job so it's quite easy to do once you know how it's done.
Give this company a ring first. It will take you through a series of numbers for each department but they basically sell everything regarding caravan parts so explain that you need the steel dowel that usually comes in a kit for retaing the draw bar when exchanging a caravan hitch. They should be able to tell you if they have one in stock and post it to you the next working day.
Quote: Originally posted by gitch on 04/8/2012
... looks like I'll havve to try and get one from Alko ...
To be fair, you should have had the dowel supplied with the kit, assuming you've bought it new from a dealer. Why not just go back to the dealer and complain the kits incomplete.
To be fair, you should have had the dowel supplied with the kit, assuming you've bought it new from a dealer. Why not just go back to the dealer and complain the kits incomplete.
My thoughts entirely. After paying out over £200 for a new one I thought the shells and dowel would have been included too otherwise it's impossible to fit. I have to agree with Paul.
He has said I must have lost it, all I had was the towball, alko hitch with bolts (2 for Alko & 2 for towball) nothing else. It was not in the original packaging (box water damage) was the answer when I brought it.
Did you have the 3 'U' shape sleeves about 3" long in the kit? These should have been supplied in the kit as well as these are for the 3 different diameter draw bar sizes like I mentioned in my second post.
A caravanner living close by came and gave me a hand, We didn't need the dowl thank goodness he had one, He done both the hitch and the towball which was very kind of him.
So now the Bulldog heavy duty hitch lock and the bulldog 2000 is redundant.