i have a mondeo 1350kg and a 1100kg Lunar caravan. When it is hitched up to the car the a frame sits very low to the road and the front of the car is sticking up. why is this? There is no extra weight in the van other than the awning which is placed over the axis.
Front end of car points up when hitched
- Thread starter Deborah_5096472
- Start date
The car sounds as if it needs some beefing up of the rear suspension with load adjuster shock absorbers or spring assisters of some kind.
Rear suspension is not designed primarily for towing and it may well be that your suspension(the cars that is!) is getting a little tired by now.
The CC do a fact sheet on it.
Rear suspension is not designed primarily for towing and it may well be that your suspension(the cars that is!) is getting a little tired by now.
The CC do a fact sheet on it.
Hi Debs. I know you say your awning is placed over the axle, but just humor me and weigh the hitch weight to see what you've got. You should be at approx 75Kgs.
If this is ok, then Johns sujestion is spot on. There is a company that advertises in PCcalled MAD springs, they produce spring assistors for a majority of cars and certainly Mondeos. It would be wise to change the shock absorbers too and I'd go for spax adjustable if they are avaiable for your car.
If this is ok, then Johns sujestion is spot on. There is a company that advertises in PCcalled MAD springs, they produce spring assistors for a majority of cars and certainly Mondeos. It would be wise to change the shock absorbers too and I'd go for spax adjustable if they are avaiable for your car.
Just as an aside I E-mailed Demon Tweeks and Grayston about uprating the X-Trail suspension 10 days ago but neither have replied.
Can anyone recommend a source that wants the business??
Can anyone recommend a source that wants the business??
The front of the car shouldn't point up any more than if the boot was fully laden. The specified GVW and rear axle loads must not be exceeded regardless of whether the caravan is hitched or not.
The car only points upwards when the caravan is hitched. I'm gonna check the nose weight when it goes to the dealers and the rear suspension of my car at the garage.
Deborah,
I would strt with nose weight as the primary cause. See if the weights right and how the van sits.
The check for a leaking or generally worn shock absorber(s. I would avoid any sort of fixed agjustment that either Ford or your cars insurance company would'nt approve.
Both Koni and Spax used to make shocks which gave more resistance subject to load. Your need to contact a good local garage or these companies directly aslo ask on one of the many Ford Forums.
Regards Monkeys Husband
I would strt with nose weight as the primary cause. See if the weights right and how the van sits.
The check for a leaking or generally worn shock absorber(s. I would avoid any sort of fixed agjustment that either Ford or your cars insurance company would'nt approve.
Both Koni and Spax used to make shocks which gave more resistance subject to load. Your need to contact a good local garage or these companies directly aslo ask on one of the many Ford Forums.
Regards Monkeys Husband
Hi,
I have MAD spring assisters on SAAB 9000 CSE and they improved its ride and posture for towing. It hasa long tail overhang and as we had the dog in the load bay she seemed susceptible to pitching. They only took my local garage about an hour to fit, and the car is fine when unloaded.
I have MAD spring assisters on SAAB 9000 CSE and they improved its ride and posture for towing. It hasa long tail overhang and as we had the dog in the load bay she seemed susceptible to pitching. They only took my local garage about an hour to fit, and the car is fine when unloaded.
Before i bought the caravan i checked the noseweight against my car it is 102%. this was on the towsure or towsafe website, not sure which. It stated that this was Safe but just be aware on loading the van. how reliable is the weighing scale method when testing noseweight?
Just an update, my car now has heavy duty springs in the back and everything is fine. I still need to check to noseweight though for peace of mind if nothing else.
Deborah,
Not sure I understand what you mean by "the noseweight against my car it is 102%". Do you mean the ratio of car kerb weight to caravan gross weight. (excuse my terms I am new to this). I understood this should be no more than 85% (or up to 100% if you are an experienced tower).
As for noseweight, that is normaly around 75/80 kg.
Not sure I understand what you mean by "the noseweight against my car it is 102%". Do you mean the ratio of car kerb weight to caravan gross weight. (excuse my terms I am new to this). I understood this should be no more than 85% (or up to 100% if you are an experienced tower).
As for noseweight, that is normaly around 75/80 kg.
It was on www.towsafe.com where you can check you tow car against your caravan. the laden weight of the caravan is 85% and the noseweight is 102% which is just over 75kg. THey state that yuo need to get as near to 100% nose weight as possible for stablility. Mine is working out to be 2% over
Strictly speaking, noseweight over the specified limit (in your case, 75kg) is illegal although I doubt whether anyone is going to argue about a couple of kilos over the top.
Deborah
Glad that you got the problem sorted.
I had the M A D springs fitted at Demon Tweeks on Tuesday and they did a superb very professional job at their centre at Wrexham.
A most impressive shpow rooms and work shop.
The 30 mile ride home showed no detriment to the ride comfort but there was less roll on cornering.
The ride height/towball is 30mm higher than before but there will be less drop under load.
The roof spoiler now just clips the roller garage door but MAD have no available spring assisters for that!!
Glad that you got the problem sorted.
I had the M A D springs fitted at Demon Tweeks on Tuesday and they did a superb very professional job at their centre at Wrexham.
A most impressive shpow rooms and work shop.
The 30 mile ride home showed no detriment to the ride comfort but there was less roll on cornering.
The ride height/towball is 30mm higher than before but there will be less drop under load.
The roof spoiler now just clips the roller garage door but MAD have no available spring assisters for that!!
i would check the maximun tow weight of your tow bar on your car and check the nose weight of your van to make sure they match.
you could also ring the caravan club technical dept for help on this matter.
hope this helps
jo-anne
you could also ring the caravan club technical dept for help on this matter.
hope this helps
jo-anne
Hi Jo-anne, the maximum weight for the tow ball is 150kg, this sounds OK. when i checked the nose weight of the van against my car on www.towsafe.co.uk it stated 102% which read that this was OK but to take care on loading the van. Surely if this was illegal it would have stated so, wouldn't it?
Hi Deborah,
This is quite important - you've assumed that the legal limit information given on the Towsafe website somehow applies to how you have loaded of your caravan.
That web-site lists the legal maximum weight for the car towbar, the legal maximum weight for the caravan coupling, and by law you must never exceed the lower of the two values.
It seems that you have assumed that your caravan has the same noseweight in real life as the legal maximum.
It most certainly won't - the noseweight of your caravan is a combination of how the caravan left the factory plus any bits and pieces you have loaded into the caravan.
So you would think you would be OK - but quite often UK caravans are built with excessive noseweights straight out of the factory - and you need to load the caravan with care not to exceed the legal maximum or to correct an already illegal noseweight.
You must check the ACTUAL noseweight of your caravan and check that against the lowest of the two legal maximums.
Robert
This is quite important - you've assumed that the legal limit information given on the Towsafe website somehow applies to how you have loaded of your caravan.
That web-site lists the legal maximum weight for the car towbar, the legal maximum weight for the caravan coupling, and by law you must never exceed the lower of the two values.
It seems that you have assumed that your caravan has the same noseweight in real life as the legal maximum.
It most certainly won't - the noseweight of your caravan is a combination of how the caravan left the factory plus any bits and pieces you have loaded into the caravan.
So you would think you would be OK - but quite often UK caravans are built with excessive noseweights straight out of the factory - and you need to load the caravan with care not to exceed the legal maximum or to correct an already illegal noseweight.
You must check the ACTUAL noseweight of your caravan and check that against the lowest of the two legal maximums.
Robert
Hi Robert, The maximum weight of the (Trapezium)tow bar is 150KG. The maximum coupling weight?? would this be the 75KG then?
hi deborah, i checked the max towball weight of your towbar and it is 75 and thats off the caravan club list. do you know the nose weight of your van?.
jo
jo
This is where i'm getting confused. the maximum load on the towbar for my car is 75KG. This matches my van, although i'm going through this afternoon with a set of weighing scales to check it exactly. THe maximum that my Trapezium towbar can hold is 150KG although i know this is too heavy for my car. So as long at the nose weight of the caravan is no more than 75kg i'm ok, right??
so whhat is the coupling weight?
so whhat is the coupling weight?
It's always the lower of the two figures specified for car towbar and caravan coupling that counts. In your case, that will be 75kg. The 150kg limit only applies when towing using towbars that allow such a high load.
Presumably, the term 'coupling weight' to apply to the caravan was used to avoid possible confusion when talking about noseweight. Noseweight which is often used for both car and caravan but the two limits can be, and often are, different.
Presumably, the term 'coupling weight' to apply to the caravan was used to avoid possible confusion when talking about noseweight. Noseweight which is often used for both car and caravan but the two limits can be, and often are, different.
I understand you now. Shall check the noseweight of the caravan with scales to be on the safe side. SO as long it is as close to 75kg without going over the better. Will do this this afternoon and let ya know.
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