Hi, we have had a hobby caravan 560 kmfe for the last couple of years (which is great by the way)last season we had a nissan terrano to tow with, we had no probs other than it struggled on the big hills in devon, cornwall etc. In march we exchanged the car for a land rover discovery. a friend of ours has the same caravan and vehicle and has had no problems what so ever for the last couple of years. we were told that a discovery is built to tow with. In may we did our normal chester to wem outing and the caravan weaved terrible. after some advice we had the shocks and the tow ball changed on the car. on the easter break we went from chester to ryder and the van seemed fine (however all a roads not motorway). we have just returned from devon, on the outbound journey if we went over 50 mph the caravan again weaved on the road, on our return journey it was worse than ever it was weaving at 45 mph. we have been told that the stabaliser could be contaminated but i am reluctant to change this if i am throwing good money after bad. any thoughts from any one ??????
help, caravan swaying!!!
- Thread starter helen_374313501
- Start date
helen.....I am not up to the technicalities of solving your problem but the following might help:
Is the Land Rover a few years old or is it new? If it is not new then the rear suspension (shokers) may need stiffening up. The shock absorbers might need to be changed.
Have you checked the loading of the caravan? do you do anything different to what you did when you towed with the Nissan?
Have you checked the noseweight of the van?
Is the height of the tow ball on the LR higher or lower than the Nissan and does the caravan look level when hitched up?
hope this helps....Mal
Is the Land Rover a few years old or is it new? If it is not new then the rear suspension (shokers) may need stiffening up. The shock absorbers might need to be changed.
Have you checked the loading of the caravan? do you do anything different to what you did when you towed with the Nissan?
Have you checked the noseweight of the van?
Is the height of the tow ball on the LR higher or lower than the Nissan and does the caravan look level when hitched up?
hope this helps....Mal
Also the stabalier should not need to be changed but the "grip pads" on the stabaliser may be contaminated and are not effective but to change these it is not expensive.
Hi mal
the discovery is n redg. we have changed all the shock absorbers, front and back and the new tow ball is the same height as my friends who has no probs, weight is no different, the only thing we can now think off is the the pads are contaminated but my partner says its funny that they were ok with the nissan. we stopped at the side of the road and spoke to a rac man who said the caravan is level and theres not much else that can be wrong with the vehicle so his guess is that there is a prob with the caravan. stressful journey for hours on the m5 at 40 mph!!!!
If it's not the shock absorbers and the caravan was towing alright behind the Terrano, I'd suspect the tyre equipment. Try raising the tyre pressures to the recommended limit. If that doesn't work, you may need a different type of tyre with stiffer sidewalls to get to grips with the problem.
ps: Has your Disco got 17", 18" or 19" wheels? The larger the wheels, the better for stability when towing.
Helen...another thought.....Does your caravan (Hobby, I believe) have shock absorbers. I know many continental vans do. It might be that one of these is failing?....mal
Previous postings have also criticised the Discovery for towing. A friend of mine changed his Fourtrack for a Discovery and after the first outing he left his family on site, drove all the way back home to south Wales to change the car back to the old Fourtrack. He reckoned the Discovery was swaying all over the road and was a terrable tow vehicle. The Discovery was purchased from a first class "reputable" main dealer agency, not one of the cheap auction style car dealers.
one of the reasons we got the discovery is that one of our friends has exactly the same vehicle and van and hasnt had any probs at all. dont know what to do next, will order the new pads for the stabaliser i think and hope that works......
It should not be the pads in stabiliser because a stabiliser should not be necessary for relaxed towing, only a precaution. An outfit should be stable without a stabiliser. It's purpose is really only to provide a larger safety margin.
If you say that your friend has the same vehicle and the same caravan, have you checked whether the wheel and tyre equipment is the same, too? Even a another make of tyre can make a difference.
If you say that your friend has the same vehicle and the same caravan, have you checked whether the wheel and tyre equipment is the same, too? Even a another make of tyre can make a difference.
Why don't you arrange to swap vans with your friend, ( for a short towing session ) that way you will find out whether it's the van or the car that is giving trouble.
Steve W
Steve W
yes all the same, cant understand it, towed fine with the terrano, need to sort some thing thou feels like a death trap!!!
have just towed the van with another vehicle and all was fine so must be the discovery, where do you stop thou, new brushes?>, new tyres?, could spend a fortune and it could still weave
We have a 98 disco and the suspension on it was like being in the sea, straight line towing was a nightmare.
We had the air shock absorbers changed for monroe gas ones and changed the 2 rear springs for stiffer ones, the difference is brilliant, not perfect but 100 times better, next step is lower profile tyres.
The suspension change cost us
We had the air shock absorbers changed for monroe gas ones and changed the 2 rear springs for stiffer ones, the difference is brilliant, not perfect but 100 times better, next step is lower profile tyres.
The suspension change cost us
Obviously it must have something to do with your car having excessive lateral compliance. This could be checked by applying a known lateral force at the towbar and measuring the deflection and then comparing this value with a similar measurement on your friend's car. This would be best done in a garage over a pit or with the car on a hoist (one where it is lifted by the wheels). That way, one can get underneath to analyse and perhaps locate the cause of the problem. Such a procedure would at least save you money replacing items unnecessarily.
If, as you say, the tyre equipment of the two cars is identical, then I would suspect the suspension bushings. By the way, are the towbars identical, too? Could it be that yours is less rigid? (Before you start worrying, this doesn't necessarily mean that it's weaker or less durable).
If, as you say, the tyre equipment of the two cars is identical, then I would suspect the suspension bushings. By the way, are the towbars identical, too? Could it be that yours is less rigid? (Before you start worrying, this doesn't necessarily mean that it's weaker or less durable).
Helen
You need to start at the beginning.Dont go throwing pounds away untill you have done the basics.
You must check your towball height is correct first.If your disco has air suspension the height needs to be checked in the raised position.This has caused problems before.You need to have 380 to 420 mm from the ground to the centre of the towball.16.5 inches in old money.
If you have an al-ko stabaliser do you have the correct towball fitted to the car.
I have found and so have several friends with disco's that they like good noseweight.
Make sure you have the tyre pressures on the car and van inflated correcetly.
When on a flat surface with the van hitched up you should be towing level or slightly nose down.But only slightly.
You need to start at the beginning.Dont go throwing pounds away untill you have done the basics.
You must check your towball height is correct first.If your disco has air suspension the height needs to be checked in the raised position.This has caused problems before.You need to have 380 to 420 mm from the ground to the centre of the towball.16.5 inches in old money.
If you have an al-ko stabaliser do you have the correct towball fitted to the car.
I have found and so have several friends with disco's that they like good noseweight.
Make sure you have the tyre pressures on the car and van inflated correcetly.
When on a flat surface with the van hitched up you should be towing level or slightly nose down.But only slightly.
So long as the noseweight is correct with the coupling at hitch height, it doesn't matter whether the caravan is pointing up down or level. Of course, it mustn't be pointing up if the noseweight was measured with the caravan level.
From Peter W Jones AMInstP
I have had a Land Rover Discovery for 12 years. My previous car was a 3500cc Rover SD1 V8 and when towing my current Swift Challenger 400SE with the Rover SD1 I had similar problems to yourself.
However, I have not had any problems towing the Swift with the Discovery, but I do limit myself to 50 mph air speed (as far as I can estimate without an air speed indicator). This means that I do not tow when the wind is strong, and stick to 50mph when there is no wind.
I have written quite extensively on this subject and you will find this information at
www.caravanaccidents.wordpress.com
I have had a Land Rover Discovery for 12 years. My previous car was a 3500cc Rover SD1 V8 and when towing my current Swift Challenger 400SE with the Rover SD1 I had similar problems to yourself.
However, I have not had any problems towing the Swift with the Discovery, but I do limit myself to 50 mph air speed (as far as I can estimate without an air speed indicator). This means that I do not tow when the wind is strong, and stick to 50mph when there is no wind.
I have written quite extensively on this subject and you will find this information at
www.caravanaccidents.wordpress.com
from Peter W Jones
I noticed all the other comments after I had written the above.
It is all very good advice. Keeping a Land Rover in good working order and safe is expensive.
However, the person who said that they towed at 70mph is clearly not aware that if a bad snake happens the chances of the rear wheels of the tow car being lifted off the ground by the snaking van, are quite considerable.
I had been towing my Swift 400 at up to 60mph until I saw a large Volvo Estate. It was on the hard shoulder facing the wrong way; the caravan was on its side still attached to the car. The back wheels of the car were well clear of the ground.
My www effort mentioned above now contains a diagram which makes this matter a little clearer. Look in the index under "Burst Tyres."
Going with Lutz's "excessive lateral compliance" in english, the cars back end is too wobbly!, the most unstable car I have towed with weigh for weight is a discovery and grasping the towball I could get the car rocking side to side significantly,
Our VW Sharan and Ford S-max are both very stable and I could not budge the rear ends by pulling side to side on the towbar.
If I had an outfit that I would /could not go above 50mph airspeed I would dump it!
Our VW Sharan and Ford S-max are both very stable and I could not budge the rear ends by pulling side to side on the towbar.
If I had an outfit that I would /could not go above 50mph airspeed I would dump it!
I would also agree that an outfit should be stable without a stabiliser fitted to the point that I would tow a short distance without a stabiliser fitted then put it on as a belt and braces approach
hello ,i would most defently go with what Lutz is saying,about rear end movement,after all the towing bracket fits directly to the frame of the car.but with the disco as all 4x4,s the excessive articulation of the suspension is built in to a degree,the one place i,d look though is at the rear axle panhard rod,(side to side travel of the back axle)and check its mounts on the frame and axle.worth a look and its free .
FAO Peter W Jones:
Although you correctly state that the noseweight decreases with speed, inferring that it could even reverse, i.e. cause an upwards pull on the towbar, one can rule out that this effect would be so strong as to actually lift the rear axle of the towcar off the ground (at least at all realistic speeds for a normal towing vehicle).
When one sees an accident involving a caravan where the caravan is on its side and the towcar still attached with its rear end up in the air, then this is the result of the caravan overturning, not the cause.
Although you correctly state that the noseweight decreases with speed, inferring that it could even reverse, i.e. cause an upwards pull on the towbar, one can rule out that this effect would be so strong as to actually lift the rear axle of the towcar off the ground (at least at all realistic speeds for a normal towing vehicle).
When one sees an accident involving a caravan where the caravan is on its side and the towcar still attached with its rear end up in the air, then this is the result of the caravan overturning, not the cause.
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