Help with noseweight problem

[RogerP]

I have a Merc ML270 (auto) with a towbar weight of 135kgs and the van has a 100kg noseweight. (Lunar Solaris 1)

I loaded the van (for our first outing) with the awaning/poles/groundsheet directly over the axle.

Using a guage I got a reading of 75kgs as the noseweight. I opted to move the awaning et al forward of the axle which then gave me 90kgs noseweight.

I may have mis interpreted what the ideal noseweight should be but I thought it should be nearest to the lower of the 2 figures (hence why I got it to 90kgs).

anyway started off on the journey and it was like the van was pushing and pulling the car and it was struggling to settle into a gear.

I pulled over and moved the awaning back to over the axles and this seemed to solve the problem.

Am I dong something wrong? should I be trying to get closer to the 100kgs lower limit or 75kgs?

 

[Lutz]

It's unusual that a higher noseweight should create a problem like the one you describe. I wouldn't rule it out but I strongly suspect that the improvement you got by reducing the noseweight again was coincidental and there was some other reason. It is possible, for example, that the overrun brake which relies on freedom of movement of the coupling was no longer working properly with the noseweight closer to 100kg. This could be due to stick-slip in the system because the higher noseweight also increased friction in the coupling. Just a thought. Maybe someone has a better idea.

 

[Garfield]

Hi

Before I read Lutz's reply I had come to the same conclusion that the telescopic hitch may be sticking, this is one of the reasons there is a limit on noseweight form the point of view of the hitch, check that it has adequate lubrication. we have the oposite problem of having to load everything heavy including the spare wheel of our Lunar Lexon 640 behind the axle to get anywhere near the 75kg noseweight limit of our car, load it "normally" and the noseweight is well over 100kg.

 

[Bri-C]

Hi.

I do know exactly what you mean.. and would agree with the previous respondents but would also offer alternative suggestions. Do you leave your handbrake on while he van is in storeage?? The next question is Axle or Axles?? if two, then moving the load back over them would have shared the load between them and that has got to be a good thing even at the cost of reducing the noseweight.

However I feel that the sensation you felt at the beginning of your journey could be caused by the caravan tyres and suspension being cold. The rubber becomes softer and more flexable as it warms with use and for the first few miles does feel rough and pushy. If you start off with a cold car as well then the tyres etc. all need to warm up, not to mention that after a while you will become acustomed the the movements and will tend to take less notice of the normal and only react the the ab-normal..

As for the AUTO box. this is down to personal opinion. My opinion is that buying an automatic for towing was the worst move I made ( fortunatelly it's not a new motor so not too much lost ), how can a boffin with a computer know what I want my vehicle to do and although I have an "Adaptive" mode it takes many miles to learn and then forgets it all when you select neutral or reverse. As for early in the journey not settleing into gear this again could be caused by the pusy shovey bit depends on what your gearbox software is looking for. Watch out for the symphony of gear changes on the hilly bits if you loose too much speed..

Good luck... Brian......

 

[RogerP]

Just a little update

I checked the hitch and it does look a little dry.

Can anyone tell me how to grease it and what i should use (I guess WD40 wouldn't do!!!!!) (PS Its an 2007 van with a AKS3004 hitch).

* Bri-C - I do leave it with the handbrake on as my drive has a slight gradient to it , (I do put chocs behind the wheels though). Is it better to leave the hand brake off? (Also I read somewhere that someone leaves the caravan mover rollers engaged is this a better option?).

 

[SteveW77]

Never leave the motor mover engaged as this will deform the tyres and it will not do the mover a lot of good either. By far the best option is to chock both wheels, preferably in front and behind.

Steve W

 

[Happy-Lappy]

Roger...DO NOT Grease the hitch, if this is the AlKo3004 as you state, then this must be kept DRY to enable the friction pads to be effective. As for the handbrake, I would chock the wheels, put the cornersteadies down and the release the handbrake, but if the incline is too steep, then you may have no option than to leave the hand brake on,

best regards, Martin

 

[RogerP]

Hi Martin

sorry didn't mean to say grease the hitch it was the over run system lutz referred to.

Cheers

Roger

 

[Bri-C]

Hi Roger..

Ok I'll try not to get too techy but if all else fails AL-KO's web site offers a chassis manual download and a picture is worth a thousand words.

Trailer brakes are not like car brakes and it would be wrong to assume that just because you have relieced the handbrake or towed the trailer forward that the brakes have fully relieced.

The bellows behind the coupling head protect the draw tube of the trailer and when the trailer catches the tow car this drawtube is pushed into the housing. The two grease nipples on top of the housing lubricate this draw tube.

This is turn pushes on a lever under the A frame which pulls the brake rod and operates the brakes. There is a "THIRD" grease nipple on the piviot of this lever that all too often gets forgotten. ( lay flat on your back and look up from under the A frame )

Whilst the drawtube is pulled back out of the housing when you start to move forward again. The lever behind it can only return to its origanal position by the stored energy of the "brake shoe return springs" on the brake backplates at each wheel and this has to return all of the cables, rods and linkages under the trailer to their origanal positions.

So if there is any stiffness in this piviot then the brakes may not fully reliece, The vibration of towing will eventually over come this friction but it could take anything from a couple of seconds to a couple of minutes.

If you operate the handbrake following a reverse manouvre ( Reversing onto your drive will do this ) then the Autoreverse mechanismns ( part of the brake back plate at each wheel ) will be active and therefore the handbrake will pull the afore mention lever past its normal operating range. Again any friction here could cause reliece issued especially after a long lay up period.

Whilst under the A frame a drop or two of oil on the piviot of the two short flat linkages would be a good idear.. ( between the primary lever and the brake rod. you'll see them )

I hope that this helps and was not too techy.

Regards Brian.....

 

[George2]

I read somewhere that if the van has been left for a while with the break on, then before towing forward, you should push it backwards slightly.

This seemed to work, as last December, after it had been sitting for about two months, I hitched up and pulled it forward, it sits on loose bricks on grass, and it just pulled the bricks along, the wheels didn't turn, a quick revers of a few cm, and all was fine.

I'm not sure any of this has anything to do with original problem, but we seem to have moved onto the subject of brakes.

George