I have recently purchased a new caravan with an Alko Hitch but seem to have problems hitching up. Even when the jockey wheel is fully down, the hitch on the caravan is slightly too high for the towball. I had no problems with the old caravan with the standard hitch. The caravan is kept on a slight downhill slope so I guess that could be an issue. Any help / tips much appreciated.
Daft question probably, but I assume you've lowered the jockey tube in the clamp as far to the ground as it will go before winding the wheel down to give maximum travel?
Other option is to wind the jockey down, then wind down front steadies to hold the van while you raise the jockey again then lower it in the clamp further to allow more travel (hope I've explained that ok); I have to do this to hitch from my rear.
off the car, lower hitch head down as far as it will go.with the handbrake fully on,find a house brick and put it on its end under the hitch head.undo the screw lever at the side slowly until it drops onto the brick.secure the screw lever.now wind up to the required height. keep fingers out of the way.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
try winding down the jockey wheel a fair bit before dropping it on the clamp, it sounds like you are dropping it in the clamp too much therefor not allowing the van to come down towards the ground enough. is this correct.
as said above you can re-adjust the jockey wheel position to get the innitial heigh by either putting something under the hitch or winding down the steady legs, once you know how where you need it then you should only have to to this once, and when taking off the car at home just put the jockey wheel tube at the same position in clamp before winding it. you could mark the jockey tube with paint where it is at the right point for your situation.
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Topic: alko hitching up
