I just received my copy of the September issue of the German Caravaning magazine. In order to put a future feature article together on 40 years history of Hobby caravans, readers who are or once were owners of Hobby caravans were asked to submit holiday photos of their outfit. One picture, unfortunately too small to reproduce here, shows a family who towed their Hobby 750UML (MTPLM 2000kg) with their Opel/Vauxhall Senator (kerbweight 1500kg, max. towload 2000kg) to the south of France 7 seven times (so the caption says).
What about a heavy spring loaded jockey with a fixed wheel and trye, would that work. Maybe a joiner but loaded with silly ideas. Well done not getting any points.
If the jockey wheel were to pass over a bump in the road it would transmit an enormous upward load to the towball which, in the extreme, could even lift the back end of the car up. This could make handling really dangerous, especially if the bump is in the middle of a bend. Besides, neither towbars nor vehicle underbodies are designed to take very high vertical forces so there'd be a real danger of material failure.
Sorry, a good try and I can understand the logic behind your suggestion, but that won't work either.
07:28 PM If the jockey wheel were to pass over a bump in the road it would transmit an enormous upward load to the towball which, in the extreme, could even lift the back end of the car up. This could make handling really dangerous, especially if the bump is in the middle of a bend. Besides, neither towbars nor vehicle underbodies are designed to take very high vertical forces so there'd be a real danger of material failure.
Sorry, a good try and I can understand the logic behind your suggestion, but that won't work either.
Martin & Lutz.
Perhaps the real answer is to change to a Motorhome, That way you can travel at the maximum allowable speed in any country. Personally I can't think of anything worse, but I am sure I will get shot down for making such a comment.
Sorry, a good try and I can understand the logic behind your suggestion, but that won't work either.
Martin & Lutz.
Perhaps the real answer is to change to a Motorhome, That way you can travel at the maximum allowable speed in any country. Personally I can't think of anything worse, but I am sure I will get shot down for making such a comment.
07:28 PM If the jockey wheel were to pass over a bump in the road it would transmit an enormous upward load to the towball which, in the extreme, could even lift the back end of the car up. This could make handling really dangerous, especially if the bump is in the middle of a bend. Besides, neither towbars nor vehicle underbodies are designed to take very high vertical forces so there'd be a real danger of material failure.
Sorry, a good try and I can understand the logic behind your suggestion, but that won't work either.
Martin & Lutz.
Perhaps the real answer is to change to a Motorhome, That way you can travel at the maximum allowable speed in any country. Personally I can't think of anything worse, but I am sure I will get shot down for making such a comment.
Sorry, a good try and I can understand the logic behind your suggestion, but that won't work either.
Martin & Lutz.
Perhaps the real answer is to change to a Motorhome, That way you can travel at the maximum allowable speed in any country. Personally I can't think of anything worse, but I am sure I will get shot down for making such a comment.
Whether motorhomes are any safer on the roads than caravans is debatable. I know of no statistics which prove it.
for all you oldies out there (me included)there was a three wheeled caravan shown on tomorrows world back in the mid seventies. i have tried to get info but no luck. from memory the front wheel was hydraulic, when on site a lever was flicked and the hydraulics were disengaged. the a frame was pivoted so no down weight on the tow bar at all.in theory it would be like towing a reliant. this might be the answer to all the loading and snaking problems it if were put into practice.
bill
bill
Effectively, such an arrangement would turn the caravan into a two (not twin) axled trailer, only that the front axle would only have one wheel. You say the drawbar (or A-frame) was pivoted. Was this only in the vertical plane or did it also pivot sideways like a regular two axled HGV trailer? If only vertically, then the front wheel would have to be a castor wheel rather like a normal jockey wheel.
I have difficulty in imagining how something like that would handle on the roads and strongly suspect that even it solved the snaking issue, one would be faced with the other stability problems, the same ones as any other three-wheeled vehicle.
I have difficulty in imagining how something like that would handle on the roads and strongly suspect that even it solved the snaking issue, one would be faced with the other stability problems, the same ones as any other three-wheeled vehicle.
like i said it was a long time ago ,but because the wheel was hydraulic it would move but under pressure. it was towed up a motorway that was not opened at the time and looked very stable,perhaps it was not as cost effective as a conventional chassis or perhaps it was bought out by another chassis maker and binned bill
My main cause for concern regarding a 3-wheeled caravan would not be straight-line stability but how it would react in the case of quick evasive action (the so-called "Moose Test").
I agree about moving the axle back but what happen to the nose weight. Ok for LGVs but a car with 50/75 kg. No chance.
Graham W.
Martin, I have been driving for 32 years and have never had a point on my licence. I was you who used the figure of 5mph as the differential between vehicles and the inaccuracy of speedometers is not just my opinon or an excuse.
Colin.
Colin.
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