Or borrow the bathroom scales (best to do this secretly), get a bit of wood to protect the surface, and a stick that will put the hitch at the right towball height.
Raise the jockey wheel, position the stick on the scales and under the hitch, and lower the jockey wheel until the weight comes on the scales.
Don't exceed the car's max loading, whatever you do.
Having the noseweight too heavy can cause as much pitching as having it too light. 7% of my van's MTPLM is only 57 Kgs, the cars can both take up to 75 Kgs, but if I go over 60 Kgs I get a lot of pitching with both of them.
Just thought I'd mention that.
------------- Caz
If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, just keep going till you go round the bend.
Yes, Caz, spot on. The best number is the right number, and too much noseweight is dangerous. I don't suppose many caravans are exactly at 7%, but we should be trying to get somewhere near, but without exceeding the limits of the caravan or teh towbar.
Caz, can I ask what Bailey 'van you have and what cars you tow with? We've now been looking at different but suitable tow cars but we don't have a lot of spare cash having just bought the 'van. We could trade one of our cars in for an older but bigger car, hopefully not having to spend too much more money....but blimey it's hard to find the noseweights of some these cars.
I'm really worried about finding the right car now. Ah well....back to the drawing board!
this may help as some have the noseweight on them,you also need to find one that matches your caravan and is 75% of your cars kerb weight to be safe on tow.so the car needs to be 25% heavier than your van.
OK, so I've now been back to the dealer to check the weights/figures on their system and guess what? It shows that the car has a noseweight of 75kg not 52kg! Now if this was correct it would make the match more suitable....wouldn't it?
However, the original 52kg figure was taken from the hand book so either hubby's reading it incorrectly (and he's not here to ask) or the hand book/manual (and I don't know where it is) is incorrect! What now....?
Quote: Originally posted by jules+rich on 16/7/2009
Caz, can I ask what Bailey 'van you have and what cars you tow with? We've now been looking at different but suitable tow cars but we don't have a lot of spare cash having just bought the 'van. We could trade one of our cars in for an older but bigger car, hopefully not having to spend too much more money....but blimey it's hard to find the noseweights of some these cars.
I'm really worried about finding the right car now. Ah well....back to the drawing board!
Thanks everyone for all your comments.
Jules
I doubt it would be big enough for you. It's a 1994 Bailey Oakmere, which is a dealer special based on the Beachcomber 350/2 - only 11 feet 6 ins long, 2 berth, MTPLM 816 Kgs.
I tow with either a Citroen Xsara Auto 2.0 Hdi 110 bhp, or a Seat Ibiza 1.4 Tdi Reference Sport.
------------- Caz
If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, just keep going till you go round the bend.
I've been going through the same problems with my Volvo V70. With my last van using the old fashioned blade type stabiliser it's fine, but my new (to me) van came with an Alko 1300 hitch stabiliser "great" or so I thought!
The car's back end bounced and made the kids travel sick! I've renewed the cars shock absorbers and while that has helped it's not stopped the bounce!
Alko suggested I upgrade the hitch stabiliser to a 3004 which apparently has more friction pads in it, but after speaking to some very helpful guys at Witter Towbars, Volvo and Flintshire Caravans I've changed my hitch to a standard non-stabiliser and will continue to use the blade. It's not as easy to hitch, but has certainly provided an easy (and cheap) solution to the problem.
I was told it was quite a common problem with long estate cars and the older designed blade stabilser would provide more pitching/bouncing damping than any of the hitch types could, as it tries (by virtue of it's design) to lift the rear of the car/exert downward pressure on the A-frame of the caravan.
I was bemoaning the fact that my Rover 45 TDi has great pulling power but the car is limited by the manufacturer to 1000kg. The noseweight is given as 70kg. Of course, that is nicely 7% of the towing limit! Just a pity that there are so few later 'vans within our limit. I am following a few, but wifey likes those with end washrooms with the nice curvy basin jobbies. (we accept that seperate showers with curved doors are out unless/until we get a bigger car)
But I do like the way the Rover pulls our Pathfinder (1000kg max) Granted it doesn't have the aerodynamic drag of a caravan but it sure flies along. Currently we have the camper up for sale and are looking at such 'vans as '97 Lunar Meteor and similar. (I am waiting for a reply from a seller with a nice Bailey Ranger 380/2, supposedly 1999, with unladen 762 weight but I need to know the MTLPW)
I still get confused when seeing towing weights for some cars that are obviously way over 85% of the car's weight - I can only assume this is to do with the large weight of the car not allowing the tail to wag the dog.
Years ago we had a Cav Mk 3 2-litre CD, which had a very high top gear, which when hitched to our Mardon Classique 4-berth wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and we had to swap it for an SRI (which had the same ratio in top as the CD had in 4th - boy, what a result)
Pete
Swap the hitch for a conventional one & use a blade type stabiliser. They are much better if properly adjusted. We used to tow a 1057kg MTPLM van with a 1300kg Corolla & it was rock steady, really really good outfit. The Avensis has a really long overhang at the rear which doesn't help.
Quote: Originally posted by Petemate on 18/7/2009
I was bemoaning the fact that my Rover 45 TDi has great pulling power but the car is limited by the manufacturer to 1000kg. The noseweight is given as 70kg. Of course, that is nicely 7% of the towing limit! Just a pity that there are so few later 'vans within our limit. I am following a few, but wifey likes those with end washrooms with the nice curvy basin jobbies. (we accept that seperate showers with curved doors are out unless/until we get a bigger car) But I do like the way the Rover pulls our Pathfinder (1000kg max) Granted it doesn't have the aerodynamic drag of a caravan but it sure flies along. Currently we have the camper up for sale and are looking at such 'vans as '97 Lunar Meteor and similar. (I am waiting for a reply from a seller with a nice Bailey Ranger 380/2, supposedly 1999, with unladen 762 weight but I need to know the MTLPW) I still get confused when seeing towing weights for some cars that are obviously way over 85% of the car's weight - I can only assume this is to do with the large weight of the car not allowing the tail to wag the dog. Years ago we had a Cav Mk 3 2-litre CD, which had a very high top gear, which when hitched to our Mardon Classique 4-berth wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and we had to swap it for an SRI (which had the same ratio in top as the CD had in 4th - boy, what a result) Pete
There are many things you can tow that weigh over the 85% - just not a caravan. The problem is that a cravan is one of the least stable things you can tow, with a lot of windage and area compared with its weight. A more "condensed" load on a trailer is much less likely to give you problems.
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Topic: Is it normal?
