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 Topic: has my alko hitch developed a fault?
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06/6/2012 at 9:00pm
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Coming home today from our latest break,i done my usual stop after a couple of miles,and the hitch handle had managed to pop itself upright.I closed it again but it didnt seem to have much tension there compared to previous times.
anyway I pushed it down,and drove back to the storage site,where yes it was upright again.now this is obviously a concern to me and want to know exactly why this is happening and if there is a repair I can do.
it was hammering with rain btw incase that has anything to do with it
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06/6/2012 at 9:34pm
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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That's a real shame if you can't make it because Blair Atholl is quite nice place actually if you have never been. We went there back in 2001 and visited Blair Castle and the soldiers leap at Killiecrankie. We were staying at a 'Haven' site in a static caravan at Tummel Valley at the time which is near to Pitlochry and have to say that it was one of the most memorable holidays we've ever had plus we had glorious 7 days of sunshine and not a drop of rain. Whatever, I really do hope you can get your stabiliser sorted in time.
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06/6/2012 at 9:58pm
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due to probable costs for any repair tango i wont be able to afford the fix until payday at the end of the month.
we were up the same neck of the woods ourselves,we just come home from faskally there,but done a trip to tummel valley,kinlochrannoch,killiecrankie etc
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07/6/2012 at 6:18pm
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Why not wrap a bungee around the hitch handle to stop it popping up. Then sort it out when you can afford it
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07/6/2012 at 7:54pm
Location: Shrewsbury
Outfit: Berghaus Air 6.1
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Ours kept doing exactly that, turned out it was that as we braked the hitch damper compressed and the caravan handbrake lever went underneath the alko handle and this made the handle pop up. Hope you can understand that as it is the best way I can expain. We overcame the problem by using a bungee on the carvan handbrake handle to hold it in place once we had hitched up.
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07/6/2012 at 7:59pm
Location: West Mids
Outfit: Swift Ace Statesman & X-Trail 2.0
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As suggested, a bungee cord would hold it shut (seen plenty of folk do this to be honest), however why waste a break just for this. There's no necessity for the locking handle to be closed as the hitch will work just as a standard hitch with the handle open anyway.
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Paul
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07/6/2012 at 10:29pm
Location: West Mids
Outfit: Swift Ace Statesman & X-Trail 2.0
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Gotta be honest, I can't say I've heard of this before. I always tow the first 7-8 miles with the clamp off to check for van stability anyway (easier to 'feel' how the things pulling when released), then usually pull over to clamp down after a short while. Every now and again I've forgotten to lock down and never had any problem at all.
Al-ko themselves advised me that although the 3004 is designed to be locked down when hitched up, the hitch itself works as a bog standard hitch as a failsafe, for the occassion when the user might forget to clamp the stability lever down.
I do assume this is an AKS3004 stabilising hitch you have. Does the black hitch handle lock down properly and show the green 'safe' flag when fitted?
For reference, the user leaflet can be accessed here.
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08/6/2012 at 5:35pm
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Quote: Originally posted by G7ACU on 07/6/2012
Gotta be honest, I can't say I've heard of this before. I always tow the first 7-8 miles with the clamp off to check for van stability anyway (easier to 'feel' how the things pulling when released), then usually pull over to clamp down after a short while. Every now and again I've forgotten to lock down and never had any problem at all.
Al-ko themselves advised me that although the 3004 is designed to be locked down when hitched up, the hitch itself works as a bog standard hitch as a failsafe, for the occassion when the user might forget to clamp the stability lever down.
I do assume this is an AKS3004 stabilising hitch you have. Does the black hitch handle lock down properly and show the green 'safe' flag when fitted?
For reference, the user leaflet can be accessed here.
yes thats mine and it hitches up fine,i wouldnt pull away without the green for go.its getting looked at on monday,so hopefully i can be up and running again soon.
failing tht i may well just do the bungee cord method
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09/6/2012 at 10:00pm
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well wee update on this.I contacted alko by email and their online form and got NO response at all (thanks alko)
caraan service centre reckon its just the friction pads,which in fairness are pretty worn down compared to the hitch he showed me with new pads.
hopefully new pads will solve the problem
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10/6/2012 at 9:15am
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I had a van with an Alko hitch and to be blunt I never trusted it, it was difficult to hitch and unhitch and one time it was showing the green button to say ok but wound down the jockey wheel an it came off. I have a BPW now and that is perfect. Drop the hitch on to the ball and cluunkk its on. If the handle does not physically drop on its own then its not a successful hitch.
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10/6/2012 at 7:08pm
Location: Sheffield
Outfit: Rallye Compass 634
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One of our friction pads sheered off the last time we were out, the lever went very slack with no resistance, I used the bungee cord idea to get home and it is in now for the annual service and getting new friction pads fitted.
Hope you get it sorted
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