Message Forums

Yes and it's not uncommon either for the hitch to creak and groan. It has been asked on many occasions on here and there is actually a cure. I have had this on several occasions especially after the caravan has been standing for a while but the cause of the problem is related to contamination which basically is dirty internal friction pads. The dirt can however be picked up generally when not in use or it could be reminants of grease or oil etc. The remedy is to clean the interior friction pads with a brake and clutch cleaner because the material used on the friction pads are identical to brakes and clutch linings. However, I use the Holts brand because it can actually be used upside down so this is the ideal brand to buy. The task is to thoroughly clean the towball first with a smooth wet & dry paper and remove any particles of surface rust then clean with Brasso etc. so the towball is 100% clean as if you don't it will be part of the problem, then turn your attention to the hitch and spray the cleaner up and under into the hitch and you can also spray the towball too if you so wish. Leave for about 30 seconds to dry then hitch up as normal. Any creaking should be eliminated but I do it each and every time I hitch up after checking the noseweight because reminants of dust can be left behind solely from the noseweight gauge itself. The spray will last you quite a while so keep it handy for each time prior to hitching up.

 http://www.holtsauto.com/products/group/repair-and-maintenance/professional

Also check the pads for wear also are you over tightening the damping operation when hitching up

cheers Stan

Quote: Originally posted by scanky on 16/5/2012

---

A friend of mine had this problem when he changed his car, he found out when he bought a new caravan that he had the wrong tow ball on the car! Make sure your tow ball is an alko one if you have an alko stabiliser as it has a longer neck.

---

The fixed towball on my car is a proper Alko towball with the extended neck and extra recess under the 50mm. diameter ball but I still encounter the creaking if I don't clean the friction pads and towball as stated in my previous post.

For about 7 years we towed with a Winterhoff hitch (same hitch on two vans), and although everything was in good order there was a lot of creaking due to the action between friction pads and towball.

recently changing to a new van, we let the Winterhoff go with the old van, and now have an Al-ko hitch.  This has more pad area, and we noticed more polishing of the towball surface.  There is now no noise from the hitch.

Bertie.