Wheel Locks
Greetings all. Some of your experiences please.
We have just changed our caravan for a new one that has an Alko Secure wheel lock. It all seems very impressive but Alko’s instructions are a bit exotic. To install it, they suggest jacking up the caravan to allow you to turn the wheel so you can feed the thing through the wheel spokes into the lock behind it. Personally, I would prefer to move it very slowly and precisely on the motor mover to get the wheel in the right position, which I actually do.
My insurers require the caravan to be secured with a hitchlock and wheel clamp at all times when it’s detached from the vehicle. No problem, I do that when it’s parked at home.
However they also require a wheel lock to be in place when the caravan is left unattended but still attached to the car. You might need to do this in a motorway service area perhaps, or in a car ferry car park. (But presumably not on the ferry!).
How do you put an Alko wheel lock in place when the caravan is still attached to the car and the wheel is on the wrong position, without unhitching it to manoeuvre?
I’ve done a work-around by buying a separate wheel clamp to use, or one of us stays with the outfit to comply.
What do other members do?
Would appreciate some advice please.
Peter C.
Shropshire.
it’s not moving and when left unaccompanied. This is OK parked at home, but it would
Comments
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We had (still have) an Alko lock and as you say very fiddly to fit. We used the motor mover but I just got fed up with doing that everything time. We changed to a Milenco Wraith. It still keeps the insurers happy but is far easier as it will fit in the space between the 'spokes' of your caravan wheel. There are a few videos on youtube to show you, just search for it.
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Yes, change your wheel lock as Cornersteady did, or change your insurer as I did.
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Everybody knows I am a strange cove! Before the Alko hub lock I preferred to remove the wheel lock discount as I found them to be a faff.
When the next 'van had the Alko I chose to use that and not a hitchlock. Without a motormover they would be a trial though.
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we never fit a lock at services etc, but we rarely, if ever, both leave the caravan unattended while there. I can't see why an Alko lock couldn't be fitted though while hitched up .... obviously it would take two of you but SWMBO would have to stand where you could see her while she lined up the wheel .... 🙄🙄
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Hi, The simple answer is that if its not lined up you cant fit it. When stopping you can continue as you do now but we try to remember to stop 'short' when parking which gives the room to move forward to achieve alignment.
Its a good piece of kit but seems to be designed by someone who has never had to use it.
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Change insurers.
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Once I got used to it I never found it much of a hassle to fit using the mover. Although occasionally in our storage, which was tight for position, the tyre inflator would end up in the gap.☹️ As for services, we never both left the vehicle, so it was not an issue.
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Its a preposterous piece of engineering garbage that is only marketed to keep alko in the money as you need one every time you change the van.
Better designs have been marketed using a universal fitment to the chassis receiver but all have infringed alko patents and been withdrawn.
As an engineer I hate this with a passion, alko recommend jacking the van to fit the lock. Like I am going to jack the van on the other atrocity to engineering principles the alko side scissor jack!
just to add insult to injury, my latest van now has 5 holes of one size and 5 that are fractionally shorter so I now only have a choice of 50% of the holes to fit the lock, yes alko chose the longer hole!
And just to promote alko attempts to enter the engineering hall of total engineering incompetence they chose the lock fitment that fits one of the holes that has the valve so I am now down to a 40% chance of roughly lining up with a hole of the right shape that doesn't have a valve in it. This is beyond poor, it is not fit for purpose.
Somebody please design and sell a locking hub for conversion of the existing one so we can finally have a decent alternative to this garbage.
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I swapped to a Nemesis Ultra 4 years ago to supplement my Alko hitch lock. It is lightweight, easy to store, easy to fit, insurance company likes it and I got it for about £60 2nd hand on Gumtree. What is not to like?
Colin
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We did change to a Nemesis lock, but the insurer then required another additional security device, whereas with the Alko that alone was ok. Although we also use a hitch lock.
my brother had a Nemesis and accidentally pulled away with it still locked, and it just popped off - no deterrent at all.
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I removed the wheel lock discount on my Red Pennant insurance. On the T/A it required both wheel to have the lock fitted, which meant having to jack up the van to fit the second lock. Ridiculous.
When travelling I only use the hitchlock, but always put one wheel lock on when in storage. Plus I have a tracker fittted.
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Using a jack is more of a faff than moving the van. As the suspension arm drops the wheel turns so when you drop the van off the jack with the lock fitted it trys to turn the van as the suspension arm takes the van weight and makes the lock bind up dramatically on the bolt. Only way to do it imho is to move the van on the mover, if you have one, or dump the lock or change insurance company
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Hi davetommo. No, I genuinely don't find it a problem. I do appreciate that it may be a different story with a twin axle and I suppose some wheel designs might present more of a problem than others. I have used the lock with a Bailey Olympus, a Pegasus and now with Coachman VIP. I roughly line up the wheel aperture with the chassis location, insert the lock and then fine tune with the mover until the lock screws in easily. Seriously, it only takes me moments.
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I agree with many of the sentiments above. The wheel locks on my twin axle are a pain, exacerbated because I have a motor mover fitted to each wheel. Crawling on the ground to fit the supplied bottle jack under the motor mover axle beam (hoping that the ground is level with sufficient clearance for the jack) is not my idea of fun. The CAMC seem to be particularly intolerant of other security methods that are not 'diamond' classification. Ditch the wheel lock discount or find another insurer seems to be a more pragmatic solution.
I really expect the club to work with members to find a security solution that is quick and easy to apply. Wheel locks like Alko work well on trade stands and single axles, but in the real world for twin axles they are a nightmare.
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You move your car slightly forward or backwards until you’ve achieved alignment. The maximum adjustment needed will be half of a wheel revolution. Unhitching the caravan will require exactly the same adjustment, so why bother? You aren’t allowed a wheel lock while on a ferry, which is probably the only place where the above movement would be excessive. Better still swap your Alko lock for a Nemesis, which has similar effectiveness without precision alignment.
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