al-ko tow hitch

Brink 4 pin tow balls are not compatible with AL-Ko tow hitches.
Brink sell a 4 to 2 pin adaptor which allows an Al-Ko ball to be fitted.
The arm to ball centre must be 60mm as opposed to the Brink one 56mm.
Al-Ko have an excellent fact sheet on their web site - AL-CO KOBER - SHOP ON LINE -CARAVANS - TOW BALL GUIDE.
AL-KO tow balls are usually black.

[jims-terrano]

That's worth knowing, it's a shame really as I liked the look of the 4 bolt towballs. The tow bars seemed to look stronger.

Jim T

[bigjim]

And you can fit NATO hooks great for towing people out of mud!

[(RIP) PLANK]

i must admit i think these alko stabaliser things are a menace, it means you cant tow nothing else without keep cgreasing then cleaning the tow bal, and i dont think they make that much difference when towing! I took the one off our last caravan and may do the same to our present one, then you can use your own tow ball!

[(RIP) PLANK]

a small adition - TOWSURE sell an alko compatible (two pin) tow ball for £10.95, and have free delivery on orders over £20 at the moment.

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

Originally Posted by trav

Brink 4 pin tow balls are not compatible with AL-Ko tow hitches.
Brink sell a 4 to 2 pin adaptor which allows an Al-Ko ball to be fitted.
The arm to ball centre must be 60mm as opposed to the Brink one 56mm.
Al-Ko have an excellent fact sheet on their web site - AL-CO KOBER - SHOP ON LINE -CARAVANS - TOW BALL GUIDE.
AL-KO tow balls are usually black.

sorry dont agree towed both alko 1300 and 200(0) for 3 years without issue other than getting lever on or off with spare wheel in place.

the bolt heads sometimes look close to the coupling but have never made contact.

[(RIP) rustygates]

I have a brinks towbracket with the 4 holes and have no problem with attaching the alko hitch with the spare wheel and stainless cover in place.

rustygates.

[dinky]

Have alko on buccaneer .After losing van with blade type would never go back .

[(RIP) PLANK]

its not just the clearance to the bolt heads that is an issue with a normal tow ball, I have one in the shed (brink) that was last used with an alko 3000 hitch and there is a clear shiny patch where the hitch has rubbed on the neck of the towball.

alko balls arent just spaced out furhter thay are also higher as the edges of the hitch come down further.

I hope that makes sense?

[JonathanM]

NArrower neck on the Alko hitch, to allow articulation of the coupling. The standard fat neck tow balls causes problems. Swan neck towbars are fine for an alko hitch.

[andrewk]

Originally Posted by PLANK

i dont think they make that much difference when towing!

Funny you should say that. On the way back from a place called Clachtoll in Sutherland last year, we stopped at the big retail park in Inverness and had a burger apiece in Burger King. I've got a Burstner S500TS caravan with an Alko stabiliser hitch and was towing it with an Isuzu Trooper at the time (great towcar). Before we went for lunch, I fitted a Bulldog hitchlock - so the van wouldn't go walkies whilst we were away.

On return to the van, I removed the hitchlock but after putting it in the car, I forgot to press the stabiliser handle down again - so effectively, we were without stabiliser until we stopped next, at a motorway services on the M74 south of Glasglow, which is where I discovered my error. Did it make any difference to the towing behaviour ........ not a bit.

If you fancy a bit of bedtime reading, you might like to have a look at
this. http://people.bath.ac.uk/en8cjk/Caravan.pdf Basically, it says that stabilisers reduce small oscillations but have no effect on big ones - so they make the driver feel better (and hence drive faster) but don't stop snaking - which is pretty much what I thought was the case anyway.

The best way to tow safely is simply to use the heaviest towcar that you can afford; make sure that the caravan's laden weight is sensibly less than the towcar kerbweight (ideally keep to the CC's 85% matching recommendation), have a noseweight about 7% of the caravan laden weight if you can - and load the caravan sensibly.

Cheers
Andrew

Maybe I have not made my point clear.

It was that the ball must be compatible with the tow hitch,not whether the hitch was the the most functional.

Though the Bath information was interesting it does not address the problem directly as does the Al-Co fact sheet.

You can tow with any 50mm ball but any Al-Co / Brink guarantee will be void.

[andrewk]

Originally Posted by trav

Though the Bath information was interesting it does not address the problem directly as does the Al-Co fact sheet.

It wasn't intended to. My post was a reply to PLANKs.

Cheers
Andrew

[(RIP) PLANK]

Jonantahn M, the alko ball is definately spaced higher not just slimmer, i fitted two last week and held them side wit normal onces to compare. by side to compare.

I agree with andrew K though i have towed many large caravans much heavier than the towing vehicle with no problems! and have always been disapointed by troopers towing ability, for a big car i expected them to be better!

i remember the big old gass windowd Romas and Buccaneers never swayed an inch depite being much heavier than the towing vehicle.

In addition to the advice given by Andrew K, I have allways found having the height of the caravan nose right helps. idealy it should be level or slightly nose down, with a nose weight close to the max allowed for the caravan, towing vehicle. Not over inflating tyres on towing vehicle and caravan also helps!

to be hnest i have never found 4x4's in general to make great towing cars, many have good toruque and performance but this means litte to safe towing, and speed causes more problems than it solves!

My towing favourite is a good old rear whlle drive transit van, the floor is level with the vcaravan floor saving 'under currents' from lifting the nose of the caravan, and the head on profile reduces wind drag (and hence swaying) along with it being wide enough not to need those silly add on mirrors that you can never actualy see anything in!



BUT bet advice of all, take your time, make a pint of staying calm and relaxed and ignore the idiots on the road! who drive up behind etc. etc.

you have as much right to be on the road as anyone else and can by safe driving set a good example, speed isnt everyhting, and it is virtualy the only objection i ever hear about caravans, that is usually unfounded when it is though about in a logical way!

[andrewk]

Originally Posted by PLANK

and have always been disapointed by troopers towing ability, for a big car i expected them to be better!

Weird ....... your Trooper(s?) must have had a problem of some kind. I'm just hoping that the Patrol is anywhere near as good as my MKIV 3.0D Trooper was. It can't be better - in terms of stability, there ain't no such thing as better. Neither of the two vans I towed with it twitched at all under any circumstance.

I have allways found having the height of the caravan nose right helps. idealy it should be level or slightly nose down, with a nose weight close to the max allowed for the caravan, towing vehicle.

Yep - agreed.

Cheers
Andrew