I'm replacing most of the Al-Ko tongue components

AramC

Greetings fellow campers,

We recently picked up a used 2008 Thor, and I'm amazed at how bad the engineering is on some of the parts, especially the tongue.

When we bought it, we didn't notice how chewed up the cord that connects to the towing vehicle was.  And I wondered why the jockey jack wheel was so beat up.  Then I took a short drive to the car wash without securing that jack with a bungee, and I saw what happened: the clamp failed to hold the wheel up and it dragged for a few feet before I could safely pull over.  No doubt the previous owners didn't notice and they dragged it for quite a while, destroying the cord, the plug and the jack wheel.

I fixed the plug and cord, no sweat.  By the way, if you're ever needing to wrap an electrical connection and can't use a shrink-wrap sleeve, try out silicon tape.  Unbelievable stuff.  Won't stick to anything but itself, and after a day of wrapping, it basically bonds into one piece.

Anyway, I'm replacing the jockey wheel with a good old fashioned Curt jack that I'll bolt to the tongue.

Anyone ever remove the clamp system before?

Another mod I did was get rid of that coupler that can't be locked to the ball.  Lame.  Maybe in Germany, where this stuff came from, no one steals your camper when you go into a diner for a meal, but I ain't taking that chance.  I had to drill a couple of holes into the replacement coupler to match the holes in the tongue mount, but no big deal with a hardened bit and a drill press.

And who thought putting the spare tire underneath the camper was a good idea?  Crazy.  It's now tongue-mounted.

rfuss928

The original jockey wheel does not need a bungee cord support when stowed properly.  The bungee is sort of a "belt and suspenders" precaution to assure oversights do not cause problems.   Replacements and parts are readily available.
There is a lock cylinder available for the ALKO coupler discussed in another recent thread.
Many folks consider the unique European ALKO chassis design a desirable feature of the DM T@Bs.   Variations of this chassis is still used on many caravans in Europe and the UK.
Congrats on your new trailer.
Have fun!
Bob

AramC

Thanks Bob.  I tried the lock cylinder route, and could only find one dealer in the area (within 100 miles).  He sent me a regular pin lock for $32 that I could have walked to Walmart and bought for $15.  I ended up giving it away. By "stowing properly" you mean that if all the parts work.  I'm not going to replace bad parts for an inferior design.  Again, thanks.  I'll redesign this so it's dependable.