Hello am new to forum so if in wrong place let me know. What it is ive just brought a 2nd hand caravan its a 1994 elddis typhoon gt and was wanting to fit a alko hitch to it is that possible at all if not what do people recommend thanks folks.
Yes, if you want to replace the standard hitch with a stabiliser hitch it can be done. However, if it's an AL-KO brand you are looking for, they have made different models for different weights of caravan (MTPLM). They made the 1300 which is for caravans up to 1300 kgs. then they made the AKS 2000 which wasn't very popular due to it's offset handle and then the 3004 model for caravans with an MTPLM over 1300 kgs. The 1300 and the 3004 work on the same principal regarding the friction pads except the 1300 has a side dial that closes onto the towball first then the locking handle on the reverse side locks on. The 3004 model just has the single locking handle directly over the top but incorporates more friction pads I believe. If you are competent at DIY tasks then you could do the job yourself but you need to sctrictly follow the procedure of removal because there is a damper behind that operates the caravan's braking system and that has to be secured by means of a dowel. The youtube video below shows you exactly how to proceed.
thank you i will have alook around then to get one. just one thing my hitch at the moment has 1 bolt horizontal and 1 bolt vertical just do the alko come to fit like that because most ive seen just have the 2 horizontal bolts.
I think that's a different type of hitch to what I'm familiar with so possibly an AL-KO stabiliser won't fit due to the different mountings. It could be a Winterhoff hitch but best to wait to see if anyone else can offer any further advice on this for you.
Have a look at the caravans specs. A lot of elddis units use a bpw chassis so can only use a winterhoff hitch. Also, if your winterhoff hitch doesn't come with shims you'll struggle to find them aftermarket. I'd hazard an educated guess that an elddis of that age will need a shim.
Yes I've brought it and now you say that there none come with it the bloke said it would fit has he never had the other bits I have it on the van now but will look if I can find the extra bits online but like you say probably very hard lol
The shims come in two sizes but only need one if the draw bar diameter is smaller than 50mm. The early caravans were 47mm. which requires the thickest one to take up the gap of 3mm. Then they made the draw bar 48mm. so requires the one to take up the gap of 2mm. About 1999 they made the draw bar 50mm. so the stabilser fits on without the need of any shims at all.
Before you hunt one down you need to know which of the two shims you need. You don't need both so what you need is a vernier caliper or micrometer and measure the draw bar shaft diameter, see what size it is then deterime which of the two spacer shims you need. However, if you have already bolted the stabiliser onto the hitch without the shim then it is going to be loose which if you tow with it like that you are likely to bend the draw bar. As the main body of the stabiliser had been closed down further than it should, when you come to remove it you may be able to slide it off the front but it's virtually going to be impossible to open up the gap to accept the shim. I've had experience of this myself when I bought my first caravan back in 2005 as the service engineer exchanged a standard hitch for an AL-KO 1300 model and did just that to save the hassle of obtaining the required shim. I had to take the stabiliser to an engineering factory who pressed out the main body from the inside to a width of 50mm. which is what it should be.
thank you for help i just put it on last night to see if it fit after buying it. not towing it just yet. i had a quick look on the net not looking good in finding one at the moment gurrr.
Loads of part numbers in the link below for the AL-KO stabilser parts including the sleeves you need but like I said previously it's important to know which one you need because there are different sizes in thickness. I can't see any reason why an AL-KO sleeve can't be adapted by drilling the extra hole at the top of the sleeve in the correct location to fit your existing drawbar.
I had a Winterhoff hitch on our Elddis (BPW chassis) and had it transferred to our Coachman (Al-ko chassis), so interchangeability must work both ways.
Bertie.