No, you can't use a standard towball with an Alko hitch, you need the proper Alko towball because the neck part is further away from the flange to stop the larger hitch from fouling. Do not apply any lubrication either as the Alko hitch has internal friction pads which need to be completly dry and clean.
Personally I would try the hitch - it isn't always the case that the hitch will foul as I have witnessed on 3 of my cars in the past. Yes it was close but it did not foul.
The Al-ko stabiliser hitch can foul a standard flange ball in certain circumstances. Ie car wheel drops into pothole while doing a tight turn, could cause hitch to foul & either damage or smash front of hitch.
I am towing with an AL-KO Stabiliser, do I require anything different?
Many new caravans are now equipped with the AL-KO stabiliser built into the caravan coupling (identifiable by a red coupling head and handle.) If you are towing with an AL-KO stabiliser you will require an AL-KO compatible towball which although is still a 50mm towball it also has an extended reach and neck to allow the stabiliser to grip properly. You must not use a standard towball as this is unsafe and in the event of an accident it may invalidate your insurance.
This actually depends on what you mean by an "AlKo" hitch and a "Standard" towball.
You cannot use a standard flange mounted, bolted on towball with an AlKo stabiliser hitch, but if your standard tow ball is a swan neck or a detachable tow ball then it will be fine. Likewise, if it is a pressed steel non-stabiliser hitch (without the red bits) then a standard tow ball, even with a flange mounted bolt on towball.
This type of hitch in the picture is fine, regardless of towball.
But the ones below will not fit the tow ball beneath.
For these hitches, you need a tow ball like one of the following.
OR
Thanks Dave Coaches. Just had a new towbar fitted and never even thought about the tow ball, but it looks like the fitter did and I am ok. Good post. Thanks.
Thanks to all who have advised me with this query. ( I still await the official response ffrom the Caravan Club, whose auto - acknowledgement tell me they try to answer within 7 to 15 days !!).
I'm getting quotes for replacing my towball with one suitable for AlKo hitches. As I assume it will then still be OK for my Winterhoff hitch, it makes me wonder why the AlKo ball is not ALWAYS fitted as standard in bolt-on mode?
Quote: Originally posted by wilfotrev on 25/2/2012
Thanks to all who have advised me with this query. ( I still await the official response ffrom the Caravan Club, whose auto - acknowledgement tell me they try to answer within 7 to 15 days !!).
I'm getting quotes for replacing my towball with one suitable for AlKo hitches. As I assume it will then still be OK for my Winterhoff hitch, it makes me wonder why the AlKo ball is not ALWAYS fitted as standard in bolt-on mode?
Basically because the AlKo is not standard. I would have thought the real question is why AlKo cannot make a stabiliser hitch that conforms to the standard measurements of a tow ball. It's not impossible as Winterhoff manage it just fine.
In reality, it is getting less of an issue as the bolt on flange tow balls are becoming fewer and fewer as people prefer the detatchable ones. The majority of flange mounted tow balls now are for commercial vehicles which may require changing for a pin hitch on occasion.
Although when you stop and think about hitches in general, you would have to say that the chances of a pin hitch coming detatched are minute in comparison to a ball hitch, so why has the pin hitch not been refined and become the norm?
You would need the tow changing, believe me we learnt this lesson the hard way as our 1st carvan ended up becoming detatched and was written off due to wrong tow ball and alko hitch!
It takes 10 minutes to change a standard flange ball to an alko type. You can diy with 2 19mm ring spanners or sockets. If you can' diy ensure whoever does it for you don't rip you off.
It depends how long the old tow ball has been on the vehicle. When I changed to an alko there was no way the old bolts on the car would come loose. I even tried jacking the car up and lowering it onto the ring spanner with no avail.
Had to take it to the local garage where they used a hot spanner (oxy acetylene). However, as I am a regular customer they didn't charge me anything.
Hi wilfotrev just go to a caravan shop and do as tentz says change your own I did mine I thinke the ball was £7 but I wouuld advise you to buy a cover to fit the ball as well you can buy them complete it took me less then 10 minutes took me longer to find the spanners than do the job
Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 29/2/2012It takes 10 minutes to change a standard flange ball to an alko type. You can diy with 2 19mm ring spanners or sockets. If you can' diy ensure whoever does it for you don't rip you off.
all bolts to fit flange towballs are 16mm bolts requiring 2 x24mm /or 15/16inch spanners or socket
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Topic: AlKo towball or not ?
