Stabiliser Service Kit in a Standard Duty Specification

A stabiliser: pads, a spring, a handle bush and the cleaning kit, which is a twenty minute job that restores a stabiliser that felt fine.

Towing is the one thing you can buy for a car where the wrong part is not merely disappointing. Every towbar listing here states the type approval number, the D value, the maximum noseweight and whether the bumper has to be cut, because those four facts decide whether a bar is legal on your vehicle and whether it will pull what you want to pull. Every electrical listing says plainly whether it is a dedicated loom or a universal one with a bypass relay, and what each will and will not do. We would rather lose a sale to a cheaper part than sell you one that does not fit.

Specification

• Fits: any 50mm towball with enough clearance around it. A swan neck may foul the pads, so check before you order, and tell us your towbar if you are not sure
• Approval: not a type approved part in itself, but insurers and manufacturers recognise the named types, and some caravan warranties require one
• Rating: up to 1800kg caravan weight
• D value: not applicable, this is an accessory rather than a load bearing towing part
• Noseweight: a stabiliser head adds about 0 kilograms right at the hitch, which comes straight off your available noseweight. Noseweight is the downward load the trailer puts on the ball, and the figure you may use is the lowest of four numbers: the towbar's S value, the vehicle handbook's noseweight limit, the towball's rating and the caravan coupling's rating. Most people know the first and none of the other three, and a combination that is legal on paper is often over the limit on the one that matters.
• Ball height: not applicable, though the ball must be clean. A friction stabiliser works by clamping pads onto the towball, so the ball must be clean, unpainted and completely free of grease. A greased ball with a stabiliser on it is doing nothing, and it is the commonest fault we see on a caravan that snakes.
• Electrics: not applicable
• Fitting time: twenty minutes for a coupling head type, an hour for a blade type with a bracket
• Bumper: not applicable
• Materials: the standard specification, which covers the great majority of cars and caravans on UK roads
• Weight: approximately 0.8 kilograms
• Guarantee: three years
• The ball must be clean: A friction stabiliser works by clamping pads onto the towball, so the ball must be clean, unpainted and completely free of grease. A greased ball with a stabiliser on it is doing nothing, and it is the commonest fault we see on a caravan that snakes.
• Pad life: three to five years of normal touring. Worn pads feel like working pads, which is why the wear indicator model exists and why we sell replacement pads separately
• What it does not do: a stabiliser damps a snake that has started. It does not prevent one caused by a badly loaded caravan, and no stabiliser will rescue a combination that is over its noseweight or loaded tail heavy
• Loading: heavy items over the axle, nothing heavy at the back, and noseweight checked with a gauge. That is worth more than any stabiliser

What arrives

• the stabiliser
• the bracket where one is needed
• a ball cleaning pad
• fitting and adjustment instructions

Fitting

Twenty minutes on a coupling head type. The ball has to be cleaned back to bare metal with the pad in the box, and it must stay clean: no grease, no paint, no anti seize. Adjust the pads to the setting in the instructions and check them after the first hundred miles.

Before you order

A stabiliser is worth having and it is not a substitute for loading the caravan properly. Nose heavy and weight over the axle is what stops a snake starting. A stabiliser damps one that has started, which buys you time and composure and is well worth three hundred pounds. Anybody selling one as a cure for a combination that is too heavy for the car is selling you something dangerous. A friction stabiliser works by clamping pads onto the towball, so the ball must be clean, unpainted and completely free of grease. A greased ball with a stabiliser on it is doing nothing, and it is the commonest fault we see on a caravan that snakes.