Progress in Towballs

[Dave225]

When is progress an advance, I ask?

 

I have a towcar which is fitted with a main maker's detachable towball. I picked it as the Company is reputable and I quite fancied the idea of having something that looked less onbtrusive than the normal towball. However, I am finding that getting the towball to install itself is becoming a big issue for me and unlike the adverts offered by the Maker, I end up lying on the ground cursing and swearing trying to get the thing to latch in. I have checked it all and it is clean and no obvious signs of error. It is just a damn awkward thing to fit.

 

So, I am planning on swopping it out for an old fashioned fixed towball so I can forget about it. This will involve me buying a whole new towbar assembly just to get the towball, which fortunately swops with the detachable head on the exisiting bar, but in the interests of my health I feel it is worth it.

 

Maybe sometime people get too cleaver, and I include myself in that category.

[Dave225]

Just to update this.

 

As the weather is mild I decided to have a good look at my system to see if I could figure out the problem. That involved a good bit of grovelling on the ground under the back end of the vehicle.

 

I started by squirting water up inside the towball hanger in case it had dirt jamming things. I then dried it as much as I could, taking in mind the space is a bit small for my fingers. I then squirted a good splash of WD40 inside the hanger as well and patted it dry.

 

Tried the towball and Lo and Behold it slotted in straight away. Looked at it all puzzled as this had never happened before in the last 18 months and thought it must be a mistake. Took it off and tried again, it worked yet again. Did this several times and ended up scratching head and cursing myself for struggling for so long when all it took was WD40. Re- read the owners manual where it states 'no maintenance is required', which I now know is wrong. It does need a reasonable bit of maintenance. The hanger is supplied with plastic covers to protect it when the towball is not installed, but these do not stop dirt and water entering and causing some corrosion especially where metal to metal contact has taken place.

 

So, will try it all again at the weekend and if it works again i can rest happy as last summer I spent 2 days panicking that it would not install, and I could not tow home. At least I may save the money on buying a new towbar.

 

Wife's comments went along the lines of 'silly old fool'.