Clunking/crunching/Clonking
We left Passage Farm CL this morning not concerned by the weather as we were yesterday but from the intermittent noises coming from the rear of the car. So much so I pulled up about 2 miles away from the site to double check the hitch again. It started
when we were leaving the driveway and was intermittently happening for the first 2.5 miles of the journey home. All I can describe it as was crunching, clunking and clonking. The AKS was engaged and the westfalia detachable was engaged indeed it hasn't been
removed at all since we did our first tow. If anything it occurring possibly when the hitch and tow ball were articulating. it didn't happen at all after the first couple of miles until we got to Chippenham over an hour later. That was at the top of the
slip road. The only thing I did think was if it was possibly the friction pads on the towball. It was a little orange after all the rain we have had and we forgot to put the cover on it. Any thoughts?
Comments
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Hadn't thought about that. Could that be water related?
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DD would meths affect the friction pads? I'd hope that as the van is only 11 months old the damper wouldnt be Kaput. Will be taking it back for px on Saturday, I assume its quite safe to tow with? At no point did it misbehave under braking on the way
home.0 -
I would agree with DD as any corrosion/dirt on the ball hitch will affect the alko stabilliser(and you did say it was discoloured did you clean it before hitching up?) if not this can lead to noisy creaking groaning noises coming from the hitch.
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We did the best that we could cleaning it up, but it was still discoloured. Will make sure its all cleaned up before Saturday.
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.... I'd hope that as the van is only 11 months old the damper wouldnt be Kaput. ...
I didn't realise it was a brand new 'van. I doubt it'd be the damper then. Suppose it depends on what the noise is then, I'd have thought that if it was just the hitch pads, you'd have more squeaking than banging/clonking
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Catherine.....I would say that the noise is almost certainly due to the light rust on the towball. The towball really needs to be kept very clean in order for it to work with the friction pads in the tow hitch.
Give the ball a good rub down with emery cloth (I assume that you have already removed the paint from the ball?) so that it is a silvery colour. Never put any oil or grease on it - keep it clean and dry (I always remove mine and put it in its storage bag).
Take out the friction pads - it's easy to do - remove the plastic caps either side of the hitch, then put a blunt screwdriver in the hole and tap with a hammer - the mushroom shaped pad just falls out. Repeat on the other side.
Give the friction surfaces of the pads a good clean with the fine emery cloth, then replace them - they push fit, but make sure you give them a good push until they click into place.
There are also front and rear pads, but these are more awkward to remove and I rarely bother - just reach inside and give them a clean.
Before putting the pads back in, give them a clean and also clean the tow ball. I use brake cleaner fluid (not brake fluid!) which comes in an aerosol from Halfords and the like.
It's worth spraying inside the tow hitch now and then and cleaning the pad faces with a cloth on the end of your finger.
This usually takes away all the creaking and groaning......
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On our van once we were getting horrendous noises from the hitch. So much so that when we arrived at the site, everybody was comming out to see what the noise was. Cleaned everything (Ball and pads) up and never any problem after that. Hopefully your problem
is similarly solved.0 -
Yes we had removed paint from the hitch, it was silver. Will give it a good going over as suggested on here. I work in a motor dealership so I'll get some brake cleaner tomorrow.
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Our last car had a detachable Westfalia and the hitch made a loud noise creaking and grinding no amount of cleaning ever stopped it. I have`nt towed enough with our new outfit to compare but its now a Bosal Hitch so it will be interesting to compare. The
AKS gripped very tightly on the Westfalia and I just wonder if the towballs are fractionally oversize it would be interesting to hear of others experiences with various makes of towball.0 -
My new caravan hitch made a terrible noise, it took the dealer two attempts to clean up the pads.
I can only assume they towed it with a grease contaminated ball as mine was clean and 7 years old, used with no problems on our previous caravan. Both our last caravans also came with a free set of pads.
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My new caravan hitch made a terrible noise, it took the dealer two attempts to clean up the pads.
I can only assume they towed it with a grease contaminated ball as mine was clean and 7 years old, used with no problems on our previous caravan. Both our last caravans also came with a free set of pads.
Told by our dealer that the spare set of pads was for fitting if the van had been towed to the dealership. Some of the transporters have 1 / 2 vans on board and another on tow. He said ours must have come on the transporter, otherwise they would have replaced
the pads in case of contamination. Perhaps yours was towed to site but they forgot to change them.0 -
Check friction pads
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It might sound daft but is your jockey wheel fully wound up and tight?
Yes Jockey Wheel was fine. We are a bit anal about Jockey wheels as when we arrived at Cirencester for a 1st trip out with the Lunar last year, hubby hadn't tightened it up in the dropped position and the van dropped.
Write your comments here...
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Sorry please remind me, I know we said it was OK to put brake cleaner on the friction pads, I'm assuming it's ok to wipe this over the towball as well?
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I have experienced alarming graunching and banging noises which were down to contaminated friction pads. It took me two attempts to fix it - as IanH says, take out and clean the pads with emery cloth but make sure you clean them to a clean light straw colour.
I wasn't thorough enough the first time I did mine.0 -
I'm pleased to report that I gave the towball a good going over with some sandpaper this morning before we took the old van back to the dealer. The trip there was quite silent so I clearly had resolved the problem.
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Glad to hear you got it sorted without it costing you a lot of money
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