I have just bought a new caravan with an Alko hitch. My old caravan did not have this.I have a swan neck towball. I have been told that you do not need to change the towball if you have a swan neck towball. Any information.
Just to give you a brief description between the two towballs so that you understand. If you have a fixed towbar with a standard 50mm. ball the Alko hitch won't fit due to the large diameter of the hitch, therefore you have to have a special Alko towball fitted which the actual towball is further away from the bumber. As you have a swan neck there is no interference between the towball and bumber therefore the swan neck towball you have is okay with any type of Alko hitch, ie. the 1300, 2000 & 3000 models. The only thing you have to watch is where to locate the breakaway cable. There may be a small oval steel loop attached to the underside of the detachable towbar to feed the cable through but if not there is a clamp you can buy designed specially to clamp to the swan neck to fix the break away cable to. Some put it around the towball but hey advise against this just in case the towball itself breaks off. As the towball is forged under intense heat and not machined it makes it stronger due to the grain being formed with the same profile as the towball arm therefore making virtually impossible for the towball to snap. Hope this information helps.
Hi bis 1451, If you use any kind of paint stripper to take of paint, make sure that you cleen the tow ball, give it a thoroughgoing over with disc brake cleaner,to clean any contanmination from ball, any contamination will be transferred to alko hitch and the friction pads in it will be rendered useless.
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Topic: Advice about towball for Alko hitch
