Creaking/groaning whilst towing
I'm sure this topic may have been covered before, but I'm unable to find the topic. I have an Alko Hitch and get a creaking/groaning whilst towing. I have ensured the lowball is clean and free from dust, grit and grease and have used a degreaser on the friction pads. This seems to work for a short time, but the creaking returns. The pads are new, can anyone give me advice of how to get rid of this problem?
Thanks
Peter
Comments
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Creaks & groans - goes with age I find.
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There is a reason why the same problem keeps returning after you have stopped the noise. The one thing that springs to mind is the emissions that come from diesel engines. We used to have a tow vehicle that black smoked on the hills and we had the same problem as yourself. When we changed the towcar to a cleaner running diesel and changed the pads the problem stopped. Hope this may help.
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When you say the pads are new, for how long?
My experience when mine broke up and after replacing them, was bewilderment when on my first outing it creaked and groaned loudly. No amount of cleaning helped but as the miles increased it got quieter until it fell silent, took about 120 miles to bed in.
Sometimes irrespective of cleaning there doesn't seem to be an answer, now all that is required is a wipe with a cloth.
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bearing in mind the whole thing is dependant on friction, I'd say the sound of groaning is a reassurance that it's working OK. We've had it for years but only at very slow speeds. Turn the radio up!
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I clean our two ball and hitch with Halfords brake cleaner spray, which seems to do the job. I still get the occasional groan at the start of a tow but it quietens down after a mile of so.
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Mr VB says he goes over the towball with a dry piece of really fine ' wet & dry' paper, then clean with aerosol brake cleaner.
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Load the unit correctjy without overloading,tow well within the vehicle limits, and then grease the ball never had a problem never fitted a stablizer, now with with these newer hitches with built in stabiliser I just continue to grease.. never had a tail wag smooth as silk and completely noise less, the only vehicles that have these crappy hitches are caravans... get the unit set right and you find you do not need the gismo's, hard hat on.
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You need to keep your hard hat on. It's just stupid to grease an Alko friction type stabiliser hitch. I towed miles myself years ago with a normal greased hitch without problems, but now having an Alko hitch would never have even thought of greasing it.
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Check your hitchlock bolts, in addition to cleaning the towball. We had something similar, creaking and groaning whilst towing. I can't remember the reason now (one too many glasses of wine) but after following the advice to clean the towball, for some reason my OH investigated the tow hitch itself and found that one bolt attaching the hitch had almost completely sheared and the other two were very badly worn. This allowed the hitch to flex and therefore to 'groan' when going over humps and bumps in the road, as well as when turning right and left. All the bolts were replaced and we've had no problem since.
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We experienced the same thing, and ended up changing the actual towball on the car and now the noises have gone! We tow with a Land Rover Discovery TD5 (no black smoke) but discovered that the original towball was slightly pitted, and therefore not contacting completely with the friction pads, despite regular cleaning (and even stopping en route as the noise demanded).
Our 2008 Bailey Champagne is serviced regularly every year, by an approved workshop, but last time we changed the friction pads ourselves to find that both the outgoing pair were cracked in inner circle that aligned with the locking outer 'pins'.
Now, no problems at all, no creaking/groaning, so happy towing!
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