At my last service I was told that my nose weight was too high so I had a look at the equipment I was carrying in the front locker - 2 gas bottles, bottle jack, chemical toilet liquid X 2 plus various blocks of wood. I decided to put the jack, and bottles of chemical liquid and the wood in a lidded plastic box which I carry inside the caravan and place under the van when on site - but I got a surprise with its weight!.
The caravan now tows easier and the jockey wheel no longer digs into the ground when using the mover !
So what is your noseweight now? You have checked it? How
often do you check it? (every time I hitch up it is checked). Most caravan
chassis have a 100kg hitch limit, check your caravan handbook; what is your car
noseweight limit? Recommended noseweight needs to be between 5%-7% of the caravan
MTPLM.
Naw - never checked. Always drive rear wheel cars and helps traction to have a decent noseweight - different for front wheel cars !. Never had a problem and I have towed all over !. Always owned heavy cars.
This is the first time it has been brought to my attention !
Although I've seen awnings getting put into front lockers and being pulled by front wheel cars !
I agree with the tyre pressure on the car as well as the van, they can make a hell of a difference to stability.
Going back to the nose weight it was never spoken about when I first started caravanning and since then I have never heard, read or seen anything that would make it an obvious contender for road accidents involving caravans - badly loaded vans yes !
I always wondered if you could tell just by the way it sits on the back when coupled up on a flat road. It should be level with the car or slightly nose down, and not nose up. I wonder if I have too much in the front locker myself, especially now its been pointed out that front wheel drives (which I have) don't tow so well.
I have never had any problem towing my tiny caravan, but it makes you wonder.
Caravan should be slightly nose down - puts more control onto the car. By its nature this causes the front of the car to rise and the wheels will lose a fraction of their traction, which is not normally a problem. However too much nose weight will cause problems as can be seen in hill starts or more frequently trying to tow off soft ground where the rear wheels have sunk in !
I have two ways of packing the caravan. One when its for a weekend trip with just porch awning and less clothing etc.
The other for a week or more, full awning, more clothing etc.
So packing the van is slightly different but have done it often enough to know where to put everything for correct noseweight and good stability.
I do check noseweight before most trips, just because I always have done as a matter of practise when checking tyre pressures.
I would say however that too heavy a noseweight can affect stability as it indicates to much forward weight. IMO
------------- It is a wise man who has something to say.
It is a fool who has to say something.
With a front wheel drive car I would aim towards the minimum nose weight. Any weight behind the back axle of the car removes weight from the front axle of the car, accelerating or driving up a hill will cause a weight transfer away from the front axle on to the rear axle. The front wheels on a front wheel drive car are being made to do a lot of work and any loss of traction when accelerating will also cause a loss of steering. Rear wheel drive separates the driving and steering forces and the weight transfer is on to the driving axle
i think the front load should be close to the maximum the van and car permit.. the 5 to 7 percent isnt an ideal its more a minimum you can get away with because most cars are not designed to hang a caravan on the back plus the full complement of rear seat passengers and a boot full of luggage..
any weight moved from the rear to the front (if the front can stand it) is a good thing..
Quote: Originally posted by Octavia4x4 on 16/7/2014
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri">So what is your noseweight now? You have checked it? Howoften do you check it? (every time I hitch up it is checked). Most caravanchassis have a 100kg hitch limit, check your caravan handbook; what is your carnoseweight limit? Recommended noseweight needs to be between 5%-7% of the caravanMTPLM. <font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
Not sure where you got that formula as caravans with a MTPLM of 1500kg or more would have a nose weight higher than 100kg. The recommended maximum load for the ALKO hitch is 100kg. Not sure about the BPW chassis and hitch.
which means they should have a stronger chassis and hitch up to doing the job they have to .. and a tow vehicle up to the job as well..
some countries.. recommend 10 percent of trailer weight on the hitch.. as i said earlier the 5 to 7 percent is a bit of a cop out for vans that are too big and cars that are too small.. he he
so do the large trucks we see so many of.. assuming the parts at the front can stand the load the more load at the front the better..
i sometimes tow a boat it weighs around 2.5 tons and its pushing legal UK trailer limits.. its very stable.. far more so than my little caravan..
its bigger.. its heavier.. its more stable at speed.. why.. ??
the trailer is built for the boat which sits on top and is strapped down.. most of the boat weight is the engine which is at the read of the boat.. the trailer axle is near the rear end of the trailer where the weight is..
the distance between hitch and axle is much longer on the boat trailer and there is very little rear overhang..
caravans are not built for stability they are built to be towed by family cars which are not built to tow trailers.. the inability to carry weight on the hitch is the root cause of caravan instability.. not a lot we can do about this except use what weight the car and hitch can stand.. mostly it isnt enough but we have to live with that.. :)
with a caravan the rear overhand isnt ideal.. the tail can wag the dog.. sometime it does i think its called "snaking".. he he
okay its not a caravan but it very stable compared to a caravan..
the first pic show whats at the rear.. inside the boat is a large heavy cast iron three litre American engine the bits on the back are the outdrive and a small outboard motor.. the whole lot weighs a fair bit..
the second pic show where the axle is relative to the hitch.. its a long way back compared to a caravan axle..
the trailer on its own weigh nearly as much as my fully laden caravan.. but its very stable to tow compared to by little caravan..
its an american boat and trailer.. i rebuilt to conform to UK legislation.. in its original form it was unbraked..
trog
ps.. the pic was at the start of a fifteen hundred mile trip around the Scottish highlands and the Loch Ness area.. quite an experience i would love to do again but doubt i ever will.. maybe in my caravan but my boating days i think are over.. he he
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Topic: Front locker
