I noticed some time ago that the breakaway cable on my 2003 Triton was looking past its best. The clip on the end was rusty, and more importantly, the protective plastic sheathing over the cable itself had worn through in places.



It is a legal requirement to have a breakaway cable between your caravan and tow car. Should your caravan become separated from your car while towing, the breakaway cable will apply the caravan brakes before snapping and hopefully prevent a serious accident. Checking that the cable is in good condition and correctly attached is an important part of the pre-towing checklist that you should go through before you set off.

There are lots of different replacement cables available but a little research suggested that the only sensible thing to do was to fit a genuine Al-Ko replacement. Al-Ko produce two types of breakaway cable and it is important that you fit the correct type depending on the towbar fitted to your car. You may need to change your own breakaway cable if your new car has a different type of towbar fitted.

Type one has a carabiner on the end of the cable that is designed to clip onto the special fitting on some towbars.



If you don't have this fitting on your car, you will need the second type that loops around the tow ball and clips back onto itself to form a running noose.



Replacing the breakaway cable on the Eriba is a straightforward job that should take only a few minutes to complete but, as you will find when you try to replace your own, the hook that attaches to the brake mechanism is made of substantial steel and requires some brute force to a) open up the old one so you can remove it and b) close up the new one to make sure it stays in place.



I used a long screwdriver inserted into the hook and had to exert considerable force to open it sufficiently to allow the old cable to be removed but, as Crow, suggests lower down, it would have been safer to have cut the old cable off with a hacksaw. Fitting the new one was simple enough (make sure the cable passes through the rectangular aperture in the drawbar 'foot') but closing up the hook was a bit of a problem as the Mole grips I used kept slipping off as I increased the pressure on them.



Verdict: a simple, straightforward job. Curse factor: high!