Hi Millie,
Kerb weight is the weight of your car(towing vehicle) and is the weight of the car with tank of petrol and driver but no other passengers or luggage etc.
Nose weight is the 'pressure' exerted by the tow hitch at the front of your caravan/trailer pressing down on the hook on your car. This is measured (easiest) with either a special noseweight gauge or a piece of wood under the tow hitch pressing onto bathroom scales. The nose weight is affected by what load you have in the van/trailer and where it is placed - in front of or behind the wheels. The noseweight should never exceed what the car makers state but it's best to keep close to that figure - if the noseweight is too low, the van could be a little more unstable - possibly leading to snaking...
Hope this helps a bit,
Gram
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They reckon that the ideal nose weight is 7% of the laden weight of the caravan, unfortunately not so easy to establish. As Gram says its very important not to exceed the nose weight limit for your car. That limit should be the starting point for getting it right. Having caravanned for 25 years I am of the view that a van always feels better with the maximum noseweight your car will allow which on average is 65-75kgs but check the car guide.
Is all very well lookong at the car manual but if you lookon the ball it self it will most probably say 50kg or even the tow mount it self all these have to be looked at, the hitch on the caravan will have a weight limit as well which will prob be 50 kg.
You can measure it with bathroom scales, place scales under with a jack then jack up the hitch until it is level as if you were towing
Quote: Originally posted by wilkins76 on 19/8/2006
Is all very well lookong at the car manual but if you lookon the ball it self it will most probably say 50kg or even the tow mount it self all these have to be looked at, the hitch on the caravan will have a weight limit as well which will prob be 50 kg.
You can measure it with bathroom scales, place scales under with a jack then jack up the hitch until it is level as if you were towing
Most towballs have 50mm marked on them as that is the standard size! The down load limits for most caravan chasis is 100kgs. In most cases a 50kgs noseweight would lead to instability.
If you load sensibly then it should be fairly straightforward to adjust one or two items to achieve the required noseweight. You do need to load up and weigh, as you said, but it is a good idea to weigh when the van is empty apart from the battery, gas and spare wheel if fitted, that way you will know if it is starting out too heavy. Our spare was at the front and we had to move it to an underslung carrier to get the noseweight down.
Once you have done it the first time if you always load the same you should be ok.
NIS FOR NOSEWEIGHT A caravan’s noseweight is the weight that it applies to the towball. The maximum noseweight must not be exceeded. This tends to range from 50-100kg but you should really work to either the caravan chassis or tow vehicle manufacturer’s figure – whichever is less. Generally speaking, the heavier the noseweight the better the caravan will tow. But finding the right noseweight for optimum towing performance is a matter of trial and error. One way of calculating noseweight is to take seven percent of the MTPLM, or you could alternatively use a noseweight gauge.
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i find it difficult to actually find the correct noseweight as i have not yet found it on the van i dont have the original handbook also car dealers dont seem to help much unless you are spending money,so i am new to caravaning i have had one trip i used 70kg on the nose and i didnt even know i had the van on,however i have just changed my car this weekend but it is still plenty big enough,steve
when you load the caravan it is like a see saw you put more on the back then the front will raise , more on the front the back will come up. Remember as well to much weight on the rear of the car will raise the front up and make the steering very light.
I did a NPTC 2 day course in towing last year and it is very very scary the pictures and videos i saw by people not obeying the weights on either the hitch, the tow ball or the tow bracket
am new to caravaning i have had one trip i used 70kg on the nose and i didnt even know i had the van on,however i have just changed my car this weekend but it is still plenty big enough,steve
hi just a point,if your car towbar has 75 kgs stamped on it you must not go over this.if it does have 75kgs try for a weight of 72 kgs on the noseweight.the heavier the better but not over.(it should be stamped on or a stuck on plate).mine is 92 kgs i i aim for 90 kgs.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
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Topic: nose weight?
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