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Old 05-09-2019, 12:40   #16
Lazy-Ferret
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Location: Sevenoaks, Kent
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Originally Posted by macabethiel View Post
Glad to see you are still around Clive trust the WK2 is doing well!
It's fantastic... Just the driver has let it down a bit.

Poxy Aldi carpark has some short bollards in front of the lamp posts on the pavement, but the bollards are about 6 inches into the parking space. The parking sensor picks up on the curb, as it is high, so I was using the reversing camera. The trouble is, the bollard was literally between the 2 sensors on the near side, and not visible in the mirrors, or camera. Put a crease in the bumper, and broke the fog light. Waiting to get it repaired.

I have always used a Dixon Bate coupling on the back of my cars, so when I got a "new to me caravan" with a built in hitch stabiliser, Zippy told me that you have to watch the clearance on them. Checked it out on the T2, and with the raised suspension, the caravan sat on the back a little nose high, and there was no clearance problems. Move on to the Jeep, and I forget all about the warning. Over the winter we have done a few mods to the caravan, including adding 2 x 150w solar panels to the rear of the caravan roof, so needed to change things around to rebalance the van. So with a new tow car, and a differently loaded caravan, the first trip out this year was a real test, and it was a long one to Wales. Put the caravan on the back of the Jeep, and it's a real joy... hitching up is so easy, no spare wheel in the way, perfect camera angles, you can still open the boot, and if it is something small, just the rear boot window, and best of all, it doesn't even notice the caravan on the back, but you really have to watch your speed. On the M4 where the Seven Bridge Tolls used to be, there are a couple of large humps in the motorway. When going over them, there was a huge bang from the back of the car. Pulled over to check it out, but could not see anything wrong. Drove it carefully for a few miles, but all seemed OK, so started to relax a bit.

On the hill down that heads towards the Cardiff junction, the caravan set up a snake... it was just throwing the Jeep all over the road.. I got to the point that I decided to try to accelerate out of it, but just at that moment, the traffic in front stopped.... I had no choice but to hit the brakes... Now this is where things get a bit fuzzy... the brake peddle felt like it went from under my foot, and there were judders coming from different corners of the car, and a bright yellow light on the dash... the Stability control had kicked in, and it straightened everything out, and stopped the unit easily... Don't get me wrong, I would not want to rely on it being there, but in this instance, it was amazingly impressive, and a saviour.

Pulled into the services, and checked the stabiliser, and discovered the pads were not gripping the tow ball tight enough. Took some heavy items from the car, and put them in the front of the van to up the nose weight and towed it to the site not going over 40mph. Ordered new Alko pads for delivery to the caravan site. I fitted the new pads, and they were better, but it was still not gripping properly, so we ordered a new Dixon Bate hitch, that is designed for Alko stabilisers, again to the site, and fitted that to the car. After adding 1 of the adjustment washers to the pads, it all seemed good. But, on the way home, it still felt very twitchy, so I stayed at 45mph all the way home, felt like it took forever.

Suz was all set to sell the Jeep and fix the engine in my T2!!

Once at home, I set to checking it out properly, and found the new pads had worn to the point they were not gripping the ball again... weird.. Added another adjusting washers, and tried again, but this time when I pushed down on the stabiliser handle, it nigh on exploded in my hands, the aluminium roller housing shattering into several bits. Found the problem!!

That loud bang on the way into Wales was the result of the caravan nose being lower on ball, and the front of the stabiliser hitting the Dixon Bate, cracking the aluminium housing of the stabiliser.

So, we bought a new stabiliser, fitted that, expensive past time, but worth it as now it all tows perfectly.
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Old 05-09-2019, 18:09   #17
macabethiel
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Exclamation SCS & ABS crash savers

There is no doubt that stability control & ABS gadgets do work. I only had the ABS & SCS trip in once on our old MB 26E Saloon in the snow on the A50 dual carriageway near Stoke on Trent.

I was doing a steady 50 mph on snow the Tarmac road surface was covered with a light layer of surface snow with ice underneath. The outside lane was closed with drifting snow so everyone kept out of that lane. The traffic was virtually non existent so I took in the scenery. You know snow & ice covered trees etc.

I was glancing at some pretty looking snow covered sheep in the fields to my left then when I looked back where I was going there was a line of stationary vehicles a short distance ahead.

A rear shunt seemed inevitable as I stood on the brakes as the pedal pushed back violently I kept the pressure on then the dash lit up like a Christmas Tree & I stopped about 10 feet short of the car in front.

Not good at the time luckily I was on my own so no witness to the near miss and my instant sweat!
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Old 06-09-2019, 13:48   #18
Banshee
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Quote:
Originally Posted by macabethiel View Post
There is no doubt that stability control & ABS gadgets do work. I only had the ABS & SCS trip in once on our old MB 26E Saloon in the snow on the A50 dual carriageway near Stoke on Trent.

I was doing a steady 50 mph on snow the Tarmac road surface was covered with a light layer of surface snow with ice underneath. The outside lane was closed with drifting snow so everyone kept out of that lane. The traffic was virtually non existent so I took in the scenery. You know snow & ice covered trees etc.

I was glancing at some pretty looking snow covered sheep in the fields to my left then when I looked back where I was going there was a line of stationary vehicles a short distance ahead.

A rear shunt seemed inevitable as I stood on the brakes as the pedal pushed back violently I kept the pressure on then the dash lit up like a Christmas Tree & I stopped about 10 feet short of the car in front.

Not good at the time luckily I was on my own so no witness to the near miss and my instant sweat!
You lived to tell the tale!!!! That's all that matters
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