Can anyone explain why the Caravan Club recommend that the ball weight should be 7% of the loaded weight of the caravan but proceed to test vehicles less than that. I am confused by recommendations based solely on the tow vehicles weight?
Ball Weight
- Thread starter Nick_5041176
- Start date
- Mar 14, 2005
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If you apply the 7% formula to any caravan weighing more than 1071kg the towball load would exceed 75kg which is the maximum permissible figure for a good many cars. Except for 4x4's there are relatively few cars on the market where a towball load of over 75kg is allowed. However, quite a lot are perfectly capable of towing more than 1200kg, so in such cases, the towball load is limited to the maximum permissible, i.e. 75kg regardless of any 7% formula.
There are two main issues when matchng car & caravan:-
The 'van should not exceed 85% of the tow car's kerbweight, and the tow bar download must not exceed the car maker's maximum, normally 75kg, as Lutz says. Established wisdom states that ideally a 'van should have a 7% towbar download of its MTPLM, but it is ok to tow with a lower noseweight, provided you load sensibly. Place any heavy items over the axle & get yourself a noseweight gauge.
The 'van should not exceed 85% of the tow car's kerbweight, and the tow bar download must not exceed the car maker's maximum, normally 75kg, as Lutz says. Established wisdom states that ideally a 'van should have a 7% towbar download of its MTPLM, but it is ok to tow with a lower noseweight, provided you load sensibly. Place any heavy items over the axle & get yourself a noseweight gauge.
- Mar 14, 2005
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I am not sure exactly how the 85% tow weight and 7% nose weight guidelines came about, but I suspect that at some point in the dim and distant past some one carried out a survey and found that caravanners began to have disproportionately more problems with stability when the 85% and 7% figure were exceded, and so these figures have passed into folk law. Some elements of these figures have been embeded in to statutes, but how relevant these figures are to-day with modern cars and caravans is perhaps uncertain. Despite my comments 85% is still a practical figure, and most outfits conforming to it are generally trouble free - but there are always exceptions, and loading and driving techniques can be highly significant.
Agree (as usual) with Lutz.I always try for the heaviest nose weight below the max allowed for the car.
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