Hi All,
I have an 8.2M TA tourer with powrtouch MM AWD. My Q is: How steep an incline can you go up. My BIG worry/concern is, can/would the rear of the caravan (which overhangs the rear wheels alot) fall backwards therefore causing extensive damage?
I've got an Ace Twinstar and have never had any problem. Perhaps if you had someone jumping up and down in the rear-end it might tip but otherwise there is so much weight at the hitch it is highly unlikely.
DaveS1
we have an 8 meter twin axle van and when unhitched even on inclines i can walk into the bathroom and it never moves, but this depends really on how you load yours up. our van is 1875kgs fully loaded, with the tow hitch weight up on its max of 100kgs and still no where near the 5-7% recommended
if you put the steadies down a little, then the noise they make will alert you saving any panel damage (which i doubt would happen)
If your concern is will the van 'see-saw over the axles on an incline and lift the jockey wheel, then that's rather largely down to how you load your van and the steepness of any inclines you motor move it up!
It's not an easy question for anyone to answer really, because apart from noseweight figures, it does rather depend on where the axles are in relation to the overall weight distribution of the van and it's centre of gravity. With my van, it only has a 75kg noseweight, yet I can walk into my van's rear bathroom with my near 90Kg bulk without the corner steadies down and it doesn't tip up, which implies the axle is aft of the centre of gravity! Other people far lighter than me with heavier noseweights can't do that in their vans without them tipping! - clearly their vans centre of gravity in relation to the axle is very different to mine!
The general recommended noseweight for towing stability is 5-7% of your caravan’s actual laden weight (in practice often calculated on the MPTLM weight as few people bother to weigh their vans), that is likely to put your noseweight at 100-120Kg (educated speculation as you didn't specify your actual van!), that should keep the nose down if you observe the guidance, especially with a T/A.
Powrtouch rate their movers weight capacity on up to 25% (1:4) inclines, which is a significant slope, beyond that the van would need to weigh less than the specified MM capacity for such an incline. Pretty sure I've ever moved my van up anything like that kind of entire van length gradient!
My van is only a S/A (so far more inclined to see-saw than a T/A) with a paltry 75Kg noseweight, but I've never notice any inclination for the nose to lift (tail to drop) on any inclines I've been on in 7 years of ownership.
If you have a particularly steep driveway for example, simple temporarily load some extra weigh in the front to be sure.
I dont think it will tip backwards. The front nose weight will move back towards the wheels, which act as the fulcrum, as the incline increase but the rear end weight will move forwards a similar amount so it will remain balanced.
The rear end may hit the ground as the caravan rotates back as it starts moving up the slope.
Lower the jockey wheel as much as possible to minimise this.
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Topic: Twin axle motor mover going UP inclines
via mobile 07/6/2025 at 6:39pm
