These days, securing your caravan when you are away from it with the best caravan wheel clamp is more than just a way of giving you peace of mind. You will probably find your insurance company insists you on you fitting one if you want to be covered – even if you are leaving your caravan behind the securely locked and guarded gates of a storage depot.
And even if your insurer doesn’t insist on a lock, they will probably offer you a substantial discount if you do fit one.
While there are plenty of wheel locks available on the market, an Al-Ko wheel lock frequently seems to be the wheel lock of choice among the caravanning fraternity out there.
There is no doubt plenty of reasons for this. There are, for example, 30,000 different security combinations for the keys in the lock. You can register your key so you easily get a new one if you lose it. And the lock itself is drill-resistant with an anti-pick system, should your light-fingered friend want to access your caravan another way.
But the chief reason, it seems to me, is the near monopoly Al-Ko has in providing chassis for today’s caravans.
Look at the spec sheet for almost any new caravan today and you will almost certainly find that an Al-Ko wheel lock receiver has been included as standard. Because of this near monopoly on chassis, Al-Ko has been able to design a wheel lock that actually fixes directly onto one of the wheel spokes, via this receiver. That should theoretically make the lock considerably more secure than other locks that only clamp onto the chassis.
Such added caravan security can have its downsides, however, and not just the price. While the other kinds of wheel lock just require you to fit the clamp over the wheel and then tighten it up, with the Al-Ko wheel lock you have to make sure the lock receiver is perfectly aligned with the lock cylinder before you try to bring the two together.
This can result in you having to nudge the caravan to and fro just a fraction – which can be hard work if your caravan is parked on gravel or if it’s a twin axle model. I once spent nearly two hours on a boiling hot Bank Holiday Monday afternoon trying to do this with a twin axle van parked on very soggy ground.
There is also the thorny question of which type of Al-Ko wheel lock you need and will fit your caravan. If you are lucky, your brand new caravan will come with an Al-Ko wheel lock provided, as well as the receiver. But that tends to be an option only with luxury caravans, such as the Coachman Lusso III.
The rest of us, and anyone looking at buying a used caravan, will probably have to work it out ourselves – including having to answer “which Al-Ko wheel lock fits my caravan?”.
Al-Ko divides its wheel locks up into three different model types. Compact kits should fit all caravans produced since September 2005 that have a receiver. You can order these easily online from the Al-Ko store.
The other two types – Plus kits and Premium kits – need to be ordered and fitted by your local Al-Ko service centre or your dealer. Plus kits are designed for any caravans produced since September 2005 that do not have a receiver, while Premium Kits are designed for any caravans produced between September 2000 and August 2005. A new brake plate needs to be fitted to the brake drum on these caravans, before any wheel lock receiver can be added.
If your caravan dates from before that time, you probably aren’t going to be able to use an Al-Ko wheel lock, although any other wheel lock should still be suitable.
Even if your caravan is compatible, you still need to make sure you get the right size to fit your caravan. Fortunately, help is at hand, as long as you know what model caravan you have, and what year it was made. You can then just go onto the Al-Ko secure site, key in your details, and it should come up with what size lock you can then order.
They even have details for caravans that have long since stopped being produced, such as Avondale. So, for example, if you are lucky enough to have a 2019 Bailey Unicorn Vigo, you should order number 1558298 from the Al-Ko shop or from your dealer.
The good news is that if you already have an Al-Ko wheel lock and are trading in your caravan for a new one, you don’t need to buy a whole new wheel lock. You can just buy the wheel specific insert as a separate item. As these start at £109.95 with free delivery, they could be a major cost saving against a whole new lock, which can cost at least three times that much!
Another security accessory you should consider for your tourer is the best caravan hitchlock – if you’re not sure what the benefits are, we can explain as we answer what a caravan hitchlock is.
Future Publishing Limited, the publisher of Practical Caravan, provides the information in this article in good faith and makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Individuals carrying out the instructions do so at their own risk and must exercise their independent judgement in determining the appropriateness of the advice to their circumstances and skill level. Individuals should take appropriate safety precautions and be aware of the risk of electrocution when dealing with electrical products. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither Future nor its employees or agents shall have any liability in connection with the use of this information. You should check that any van warranty will not be affected before proceeding with DIY projects.
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