Towing a caravan

English bull terrier, sorry but you are wrong about the tow ball. It has to be totally clean, including no paint. Any paint on the ball will contaminate the friction pads, as will any rust.

englishbullterrier said:

315 or 375 ?

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Heard from my dad about the consul

reg axc 592 model 315 , he said he's didn't have front disc that was the model 375

assume u like the old consul

Thanks again for the replies. The 'van is a Hobby 460 UFE (2004). My Landie is a '04.

I have just measured the ball, and it is 49.75 (generally all around), which I believe is a little undersized (but I think still within tolerance). There is no paint or galavanising on the ball, and I have rubbed it with emery cloth to try and clean/rough the surface.

I do have a nose weight balance. I will check it. I do not check it everytime, but intermittently, and it always seems to be about right (but that was before the Landie and so maybe now I just need to add a bit more weight in the front of the van to bring it up to the max)...obviously depending on the hitch limit.

Jonty1 said:

English bull terrier, sorry but you are wrong about the tow ball. It has to be totally clean, including no paint. Any paint on the ball will contaminate the friction pads, as will any rust.

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I didn't mention paint or shinyness in my post. The last one I bought for my friction pad hitch was black metal. Before it was installed it was roughed up (and cleaned) with a wire brush attachment to a drill.

englishbullterrier said:

I didn't mention paint or shinyness in my post. The last one I bought for my friction pad hitch was black metal. Before it was installed it was roughed up (and cleaned) with a wire brush attachment to a drill.

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My apologies, I evidently misunderstood your previous post, assuming when you said the ball was black that it was painted