You live and learn! - And an Alko wheel lock has a lot to teach for such a fundamentally simple device it would seem!
Yesterday the Alko had me a bit baffled for a while, been fitting this lock since I first got the van over 7 years ago, battled with the annoying required 1 degree of accuracy on wheel rotation successfully, but a new obstacle has emerged! It appears the blasted lock can't be fitted where the balance weights are stuck on the inside of the wheel rim, as they force the lozenge body over and prevent correct alignment for the bolt!!!!!!
Pondering the possible reasons why I couldn't fit it, tried the bare bolt in the receptor, screwed in just fine, no resistance or other issues, tried the lozenge alone on the wheel, that settled nice and snugly into the wheel aperture, put the two together and it just wasn't having it! It helps to be an engineer I suppose, but didn't take too long to figure it must be the balance weights pushing the lozenge out of alignment, as there was contact between the lozenge boss and the weights!
Dear God, you couldn't make this up! ‘Vorsprung durch technik’ my backside, quality German engineering! - NOT when it hasn't been well thought out it's not, did no one think balance weights may be fitted to wheels! I've got 5 spoke wheels, one aperture is obstructed by the tyre valve anyway, so only potentially 4 places the lock will fit through the wheel, now it seems that's really only 3 places! Amazed I've never encountered this before, but TBF, there have only been balance weights fitted for past couple of years since I had new tyres fitted. Luck must have favoured me in the past, as never had this problem before, but yesterday the luck ran out! Had to shift the van to get a different wheel aperture to line up, before I could fit the lock.
So folks, if you are struggling to fit the cursed Alko lock, and it won't play ball for no OBVIOUS reason, ensure you are not using a wheel aperture with balance weights getting in the way! ….. and if you are ever reckless enough to try and use levelling ramps AND the Alko, then you may be playing silly buggers for some time as you get all the conflicting elements dealt with!
My caravan has steel wheels so I can't fit one anyway, but in any case I think I would stick to my old-style one. Those Alko locks seem to be too much hassle to me, and all anti-theft devices are only a deterrent to the casual thief anyway. A determined "professional" thief will have them off in seconds!
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 28/7/2025
My caravan has steel wheels so I can't fit one anyway, but in any case I think I would stick to my old-style one. Those Alko locks seem to be too much hassle to me, and all anti-theft devices are only a deterrent to the casual thief anyway. A determined "professional" thief will have them off in seconds!
Because they are one of the toughest locks to crack, and most caravans have the receptor these days, insurers seem to love them, even if users are less impressed! I do get a decent discount off my insurance because I use one, don't think my other top notch locks attract a specific discount, but it's really quite a badly designed device in many respects, it could so easily have been better from a users point of view! .... not sure Alko are big on user consideration, when you consider the abomination that is their underslung spare wheel carrier, no standard jacking points on chassis etc.!
On our Coachman some of the wheel apertures are smaller than others (for cosmetic purposes presumably???) so we only have 3 to choose from too.
Happily we use a lock and level, rather than ramps.
Our caravan had to be in a very specific space to fit. Front up close to a retaining wall pier and angle out from the wall.
On one occasion, the valve was in the lozenge spot. I couldn't move the van back enough to use a different slot.
I jacked it up and used the mover which luckily had an option for only turning one wheel. The mover on the other side locked the wheel on the ground so had some safety. The wheel rotated enough to get the lock on.
It had to be fitted as an insurance requirement. No lock and no insurance cover would have been a very big risk.
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Topic: Alko wheel lock `complications`
via mobile 28/7/2025 at 4:46pm
