Message Forums

Hello one and all

Wonder if anyone can help me ,Iv just bought a second hand Snakemaster stabiliser with no instructions ,I have the two brackets fixed to the van and car ,but the question is How do i set up the tension or friction on the bar itself .hope someone can help .

Bob

Bob,

I used to use a set of bathroom scales and pulled on the end of the stabiliser blade, using the scales to read the amount of pressure needed to move bar. I usually had it set at about 60 pounds on the scales (just over 4st.).

hope you understand what I mean, and it helps.

I had a similar arrangement on my last van (now have an Alko).

To set the tension you have to contact the manufacturer and find out how many Kilos of tension is required.

You then clamp the bar either on the car or in a vice and put the tnsion lever down in place as if coupled to the van.

Then using a Spring Balance (as used by Anglers to weight fish) put the hook end onto the end of the stabliser bar and pull. It should not move until you exceed the manufacturers reccommended tension.

This tension is adjustable with the nut under the friction plates.

I always thought that the tension would have been set at the factory before the stabiliser left but in mine, although the manufacturer reccommended a pull of 27kg it was actually set at 6kg.

I got into a snake situation which wrote off the van and dammed nearly killed me as well. From then on in I will use nothing else but Alko. At least with them, you can see when they are not set up properly.