Annoying Towball Knock

[zlcrazy]

Hi all,

When towing light loads/empty trailer there is quite alot of knocking from the trailer coupling on the towball over rough roads etc.

I towed a trailer load of wood last weekend and it was nice and quiet with the weight on it.

Now i have heard or read somewhere awhile back about the screw/nut on top of the coupling is for this reason but i dont want to touch anything to im sure.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me please.

Thanks

zlcrazy

[last fairlane]

I had the same trouble with my Hayman Reece tow bar
mine had the 50mm square tongue that slid in
and was secured with a pin about 20mm in diameter
I fixed mine by using a bolt with a self locking nut
and that stopped all the no load noise
hope this helps
John

[deesun]

Thats pretty right, loosen nut, tighten screw till you cant get trailer off then back it off till you can. Empty trailers will always make a racket whilst empty. Problems arise when you need to detach the trailer on a slope or where car is. Its even worse with a Haymen Reese tongue that fits in as there is more slack. I have one and it annoys me no end. Much rather a fixed tongue set up.

[XR Martin]

Most good quality ones have an anti rattle bolt...

[deesun]

Originally Posted by last fairlane

I had the same trouble with my Hayman Reece tow bar
mine had the 50mm square tongue that slid in
and was secured with a pin about 20mm in diameter
I fixed mine by using a bolt with a self locking nut
and that stopped all the no load noise
hope this helps
John

Thanks for that I will try it. Any Idea where I can get a bolt etc from XR6Martin? Mine is a HR which is supposed to be a goodun why on earth wouldnt it come with a bolt?

[Kevaclone]

the bolt may be underneath the hitch receiver, it is on my cruiser which has a Kaymar bar. have a look under. My old BA sedan had the bolt on one of the corners so it stopped sideways and vertical movement of the hitch

[XR Martin]

You should also undo the bolt when towing loads, as the extra load on it can strip the threads

[zlcrazy]

Hi all,

Sorry about the confusion but no my BF Falcon SR has the standard 1600kg fixed tongue towbar.

What i am actually talking about is the nut/screw on the trailer coupling itself and if this is adjustable, nothing to do with the car.

Hopefully this is abit clearer sorry.

Thanks again

zlcrazy

[deesun]

Originally Posted by zlcrazy

Hi all,

Sorry about the confusion but no my BF Falcon SR has the standard 1600kg fixed tongue towbar.

What i am actually talking about is the nut/screw on the trailer coupling itself and if this is adjustable, nothing to do with the car.

Hopefully this is abit clearer sorry.

Thanks again

zlcrazy

Post 3 Thats pretty right, loosen nut, tighten screw till you cant get trailer off then back it off till you can and tighten nut again. Empty trailers/couplings always make lots of noise and rattle when empty. If you look at the coupling its pretty simple and you will see why it rattles so much. It really doesnt hold the ball as such, it just stops the coupling from coming away from the ball hence rattle clunk rattle clunk, yes it can be very unnerving. Very quiet with a load though.
The others and I have HR style tongues which are worse because the tongue rattles as well because the tongue isnt tight in the sleeve. And even worse is something like mine which has a mechanical brake on the trailer scares me witless sometimes.

[stev3n]

Be careful not to over tighten the adjusting screw. If you have it over done, every time you do a left hand turn it will loosen the tow ball nut. I always weld the threads below the tow ball nut, been caught before. Goodluck

[au adam]

Originally Posted by last fairlane

I had the same trouble with my Hayman Reece tow bar
mine had the 50mm square tongue that slid in
and was secured with a pin about 20mm in diameter
I fixed mine by using a bolt with a self locking nut
and that stopped all the no load noise
hope this helps
John

I just remove mine altogether

[Mickxr8]

Maybe try chucking a bit of `dead weight` on the front of the trailer ie spare tyre etc when empty ?,

[mickbundy]

A good dollop of grease in the hitch will quieten it down, Just remember to wipe the tow ball when you take the trailer off as the Missus will be ****ed if she gets grease on the clothes putting shopping in the boot. Hope this helps like I say wont stop it but will quieten it

[aussiblue]

I assume you have a towball of a size that matches the trailer. In any event, they come in a variety of diameters in imperial and metric and it may be worth trying the next size up or the nearest equivalent in the imperial size if you currently have a metric sized one. Most current towballs are metric 50 mm but if the trailer is old it's likely a 2" or similar and that approx 2 mm difference will create the knocking.

[XDV800]

Originally Posted by deesun

Thats pretty right, loosen nut, tighten screw till you cant get trailer off then back it off till you can. Empty trailers will always make a racket whilst empty. Problems arise when you need to detach the trailer on a slope or where car is. Its even worse with a Haymen Reese tongue that fits in as there is more slack. I have one and it annoys me no end. Much rather a fixed tongue set up.

+1

Lots of silly answers in here. Take it to a trailer specialist or a small mechanic shop, i'm sure someone would take the 30 seconds to rectify it for you without charge.

[Olbucko]

Originally Posted by aussiblue

I assume you have a towball of a size that matches the trailer. In any event, they come in a variety of diameters in imperial and metric and it may be worth trying the next size up or the nearest equivalent in the imperial size if you currently have a metric sized one. Most current towballs are metric 50 mm but if the trailer is old it's likely a 2" or similar and that approx 2 mm difference will create the knocking.

I had the same problem, I brought 2 cheap couplers from discount auto suppliers that knocked back and forth all the time, made to fit 2 inch balls, if you adjusted them up so they didn't rattle they were hard to get off. I eventualy found a specialist parts supplier who sold a good quality 50mm coupler for about $40. No more noise!

Cast on the side was AL-KO 2000KG AS4177-3 (finished in a silver colour) Name of the supplier was Brakepro Auto Spares, 02 6352 1200 I am sure that if you paid in advance with a credit card they would send you one.

They can be trusted, I have been dealing with them for 25 years.