Hi Folks very informative wee site.
Just purchased a Swift Challenger 470 se and whould like to fit a stabiliser ( first towing experience) Wondering if anyone can identify the item in the pic see link below and tell me if a bulldog 200 stabiliser will fit onto this ok. hope some one can advise
Hi carfrog welcome to the forum. Looked at the photo but can't make it out really. The stabiliser I have fitted on my van is an AL-KO 1300 which fits on the tow hitch of the caravan. I am not sure where any other stabiliser fits, but I don't think it would be on that showing in your photo.
Sorry I can't see your piccy either but if it's any help.......before we got our Ellie, (Elddis Riviera 505 and love of our life), we used to tow with a Scott stabiliser which is just the bar type, (not that different from the Bulldog you mentioned I expect), and have to say that apart from when it whacked me on the shin where it was unhitched from the tin tent but the tow car had broken down and kind peeps at the service station came to help hubby push start the car -minus caravan natch- and I got in the way 'trying to be useful', (as if I could be being a decrepit), we never had ANY problems with it at all. Kept the unit nice and stable for all it's 16 years over two tin tents.
Mercifully we were gifted with a wonderful Winterhoff stabiliser effort when we got Ellie brand new and it's absolutely marvellous. But as I said, the old bar types still do the job for the older vans so you shouldn't have any problems with it. Just do remember if you then change your tow car that you remember to take off the attachment bit that goes on the tow bar bracket.......hubby didn't
Thanks for the responses folks, can someone tell me how to post a piccie so that that people can see and hopefully make comment, cant work out how to do this
Thanks for the responses folks, can someone tell me how to post a piccie so that that people can see and hopefully make comment, cant work out how to do this
And any advice on the ability of an old volvo 240 gl saloon to tow a swift challenger 470 would also be appreciated
could some kind person try this to see if they can view the pic on tiny pic
There have been loads of threads like this recently. There is a school of thought here that beleives a stabiliser masks the early signs that there is something wrong with the outfit (noseweight, loading etc)
If you are new to towing, I (and a few others) strongly advise you not to use a stabiliser until you have found the ideal way to load your van. Try moving the weight forwards and backwards around the axle and try to find the best position.
In doing this, you will get to feel the difference it makes when your load is not right. If you are using a stabiliser, this feel is removed, so you could very well be towing a badly loaded outfit with inherant instability and be blissfully unaware of this until you are in a lot of trouble.
When you are confident in your loading by all means fit a stabiliser, however, if you have a good matched outfit and it is well loaded, the stabiliser should have very little effect.
There are a minority here that still believe a stabiliser is an essential safety device. They are wrong. Research has shown they do very little to stop an outfit snaking but thay will dampen out the warning signs. In light of this, even the manufacturers dropped their claims that their product was a safety device.
Given that the warning signs are removed, and the stabiliser will not stop a snake, is a stabiliser on a badly loaded outfit even to be considered dangerous?
If the warning signs of a badly loaded outfit could be likened to the warning from a smoke alarm, could taking the batterys out of the smoke alarm be dangerous?
I personally do have a stabiliser, but wouldn't buy another one.
Sorry about the size of the pic I have edited and resubmitted, didnt realise it was that large
Still looking for advice on the pic and if an old 240gl volvo will tow a swift challenger
The bulldog is a flat leaf spring, as are all the leaf spring stabilisers. I'm not convinced that is even for a stabiliser. The bracket normally comes with the stabiliser anyway so it's not really an issue.
Just have a squiz on the website through the linky thingy below carfrog to see if yer car and tin tent are a suitable match and Bob should be yer uncle!
There's another really good helpful car matching site too but I seem to have lost the addy for that I'm afraid, has some funny name to it but blowed if I can remember. That linky thingy there should sort you out though, hopefully.
Maybe the other side are on holiday - do you want me to stand in for them?
On the pic in the OP's post - I have seen this type before but many years ago on really early caravans, not sure if the other parts would be available now though but as some one has said you get a new bracket with a stabliser anyway.
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Topic: newbie needs help
), we used to tow with a Scott stabiliser which is just the bar type, (not that different from the Bulldog you mentioned I expect), and have to say that apart from when it whacked me on the shin where it was unhitched from the tin tent but the tow car had broken down and kind peeps at the service station came to help hubby push start the car -minus caravan natch- and I got in the way 'trying to be useful', (as if I could be being a decrepit
