Hi All
Hope someone can help me with my problem
We have had a caravan for the past five years (Elddis Odyssey 505 mtplm of 1500 kg) single axel but not a light van by any means and have towed it with various cars(Nissan x Trail,Mitsubishi Grandis and Mitsubishi outlander 2) and have always found it was a joy to tow and we have travelled lots of miles in this country and in France and have never had any problems with Stability.We decided to swap our van for an Elddis Odyssey 525 which is the same model as our old one but with a different layout ( L shape front seating ,seperate shower,microwave fitted etc)still single axel but it weighs in at 1570 mtplm so 70kg heavier than my old van.We got it late last year and were towing it with the Outlander 2 2.0 ltr diesel and the match was 90% we have used the van a couple times and have had instability problems (snaking) and when you have the wife and three children it is a very scary thing to happen,I checked all the obvious things,(tyre pressure,nose weight,the way I load it etc,always put most things in the boot of the car or in a top box) and put it down to the van being to heavy for the car and in the end we have swapped our tow car to a Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 diesel new shape and the match is now 83% .The last time we used the van with our new tow car which should be fantastic when we got anywhere near 60 mph or slightly over (when overtaking only) we have the same problem and we had to pull into the hard shoulder after trying to overtake a horse box and the snaking again was terrible.I have taken my van back to my dealer and he has checked everything he can think of and put new pads in my Winterhoff stabaliser and it is ready to collect,my fear is that this could happen again and I am at the point where I dont want to tow it and am ready to swap to a lighter van.
What I cannot understand is my old van was only 7o kg lighter I have loaded no more stuff into my new van than was in my old van and I am now towing with a heavier more powerfull towcar ?so what can be causing the major instability I am now suffering from ??? Could it be down to the stabaliser which should now be ok ? as I have said I realy need some help so please dont tell me to tow at 50 mph as there is always ocasions when you need to go a little faster and with Children involved a holiday should be enjoyable and I used to enjoy the towing as part of my holiday but now it is something to dread
ps wish I kept my old van now
looking forward to some helpfull answers
ok thanks Rob
Hope someone can help me with my problem
We have had a caravan for the past five years (Elddis Odyssey 505 mtplm of 1500 kg) single axel but not a light van by any means and have towed it with various cars(Nissan x Trail,Mitsubishi Grandis and Mitsubishi outlander 2) and have always found it was a joy to tow and we have travelled lots of miles in this country and in France and have never had any problems with Stability.We decided to swap our van for an Elddis Odyssey 525 which is the same model as our old one but with a different layout ( L shape front seating ,seperate shower,microwave fitted etc)still single axel but it weighs in at 1570 mtplm so 70kg heavier than my old van.We got it late last year and were towing it with the Outlander 2 2.0 ltr diesel and the match was 90% we have used the van a couple times and have had instability problems (snaking) and when you have the wife and three children it is a very scary thing to happen,I checked all the obvious things,(tyre pressure,nose weight,the way I load it etc,always put most things in the boot of the car or in a top box) and put it down to the van being to heavy for the car and in the end we have swapped our tow car to a Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 diesel new shape and the match is now 83% .The last time we used the van with our new tow car which should be fantastic when we got anywhere near 60 mph or slightly over (when overtaking only) we have the same problem and we had to pull into the hard shoulder after trying to overtake a horse box and the snaking again was terrible.I have taken my van back to my dealer and he has checked everything he can think of and put new pads in my Winterhoff stabaliser and it is ready to collect,my fear is that this could happen again and I am at the point where I dont want to tow it and am ready to swap to a lighter van.
What I cannot understand is my old van was only 7o kg lighter I have loaded no more stuff into my new van than was in my old van and I am now towing with a heavier more powerfull towcar ?so what can be causing the major instability I am now suffering from ??? Could it be down to the stabaliser which should now be ok ? as I have said I realy need some help so please dont tell me to tow at 50 mph as there is always ocasions when you need to go a little faster and with Children involved a holiday should be enjoyable and I used to enjoy the towing as part of my holiday but now it is something to dread
ps wish I kept my old van now
looking forward to some helpfull answers
ok thanks Rob