Nose weight is it 7% or can you play with weight distribution?

[Knocker1]

Hi All I have been looking into the 7% nose weight guide line and I would like to ask if this figure (7%) can be altered by carefully distributing the weight around the van before towing. so that the Nose weight is 75Kg which is my cars Max

The reason I ask is that my cars (Ford Focus CC2 Sports Cabriolet 2L TDI) MAX TM is 1450kg/ KW 1626Kg so I want to get a Van which is about 1382Kg MTPLM (Luner Quasar 524 2005) which is 85% of my cars KW
7% of 1382Kg is 96.7Kg so is this van to heavy and should I change cars or can distribution of weight do the trick i.e. get it down to 75Kg and WILL IT TOW OK?
Neil

 

[John_374564913]

I tow a Bailey GT60/620-6 twin axle weight 1,565 my tow ball is limited to 75Kg

the factory ex-works nose weight is 85KG

However distributing my weight around the caravan I can achieve 75Kg comfortably and it tows very nice indeed but don't go below the 75Kg or you will notice it when towing

If you get it to 75 you will have no problems I am confident

Regards

John

 

[NigelHutson]

The short answer to your question is "yes" you can move things around. To be honest, forget percentages etc, what you must not exceed is the 75 kgs specified by Ford. With a noseweight of 75 kgs, your caravan should tow fine. However, just be careful that you don't put too much weight right at the back in order to achieve the 75 kgs, otherwise that might possibly create instability in itself.
Happy 'vanning!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Knocker,

As the others have said yes you can redistribute loads within the caravan to achieve the correct nose load, In fact it is essential to do this to trim for the correct nose load. There are several sites that give suggestions on how to load for best mass distribution.
The 7% suggestion comes from a time when there were no regulations concerning the attachment of trailers to cars, and both the 7% and the 85% are simply guidelines, they have no basis in law.
It is well established that a nose load that is too small will tend to make an outfit difficult to control, so the law does now stipulate that the nose load should have a minimum value of 4% of the trailers laden mass or 25Kg which ever is greater. You can have greater percentages, provided you do not exceed either tow cars limit or the trailer's hitch limit (Most caravans are 100Kg max). .

I would modify Johns comment, You must NOT load the cars tow ball with any more than the maximum stated by the manufacture.To exceed this value is illegal. Which in your case is 75Kg . Care must be taken when measuring the nose load to make sure it is set up correctly and measured with the caravan on level ground and the hitch at the same height as when it is connected to the car in the loaded ready to roll configuration.

 

[Knocker1]

Thank you all for the speedy replies,
John L My concern was that I have seen some comments on the web and indeed guide lines in some very high profile books on the subject that states any think lower then the 7% will give poor towing performance so if "THE" van needs the nose weight to be 96Kg and I move stuff around to get it down to 75Kg is it wise? What I am really asking is if you or any other seasoned van’er was in this predicament how many of you would get a bigger car/smaller van? and who would stick with this setup?
Neil

 

[John_374564913]

Getting a smaller caravan does not necessarily mean you would get a lower nose weight

Getting a bigger car does not necessarily mean you would get a higher tow ball limit

I would not be surprised if 90% plus of the people on this web site move things around in the caravan in a correct manner in order to achieve there nose weight

I hope this helps

John

 

[Knocker1]

Thanks John
"Getting a bigger car does not necessarily mean you would get a higher tow ball limit"
I meant higher nose weight limit which you might find on a bigger car but point taken!!
Just checked the weights again and the Lunar Q 524 2005 model is only 1300 MTPLM which is even better for me as its only 91Kg (7%) so looks like I will be fine as long as I load correctly and check the numbers before each trip. Over time I suppose you get used to it and it becomes second nature to load correctly
Neil

 

[John_374564913]

Just a small reminder as Prof John said under no circumstances exceed the 75Kg and you will be ok

John

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Neil.

As I said the 75 and indeed the 85% figures are purely guidelines set in the dim and distant past. they have no magical properties, and guarantee nothing, in fact some outfits that on paper should be OK using these mythical figures are sometimes really difficult. Car and caravan design has moved on since these percentage guidelines were created, they are now outdated, and in many cases unecesarily to severe.

Its estimated there about 500,000 caravanner's in the UK. There must be literally tens of thousands of tow quite successfully with less than 7% nose load, so don't make it a holy grail. All you need is enough nose load to keep your outfit stable. Providing your nose load is no less than 4% and under 75Kg for your car, and it behaves safely then you have enough nose load.

No one can give you a guarantee that your outfit will tow well, Good towing is down to a combination of criteria of which nose load is just one, you must also look to good loading practice,keeping the caravan as light as possible compared to the car maintenance of car and caravan, road and weather conditions and probably the most important driving style and habits amongst others.

 

[Jennifer2]

We are towing our 1900 kg van with a 100kg noseweight, so about 5 25%, it tows perfectly.

 

[Steve L]

For nearly 30 years I have towed trailers ( caravans, boats, goods trailers & car transporters ).
For all except the sailing dinghy trailer, I used 75Kgs as my optimum tow bar nose weight. This happens to be the down force loading recommended by tow ball manufacturers. Most tow bar manufacturers also quote 75Kgs as the tow bar load. Some 4X4 towbars do have a heavier loading arguably due to their 3500Kg tow capacity. But having towed 3500Kg trailers with a Diahatsu F70, I can say that exceeding the Guideline of 75Kgs made the over run brakes slower to react. This was most likely due to the drag on the coupling head caused by the extra nose weight.

In respect od my sailing dinghy trailer, it has a hitch weight of about 25Kgs which is about 7% of the all up weight of boat and trailer. This tows fine.

What you have to do as a driver is to experiment with hitch weights for your particular car, bearing in mind that you must use the lower figure of caravan or tow car hitch weight as the Maximum hitch weight.

I had a Renault 25 for example that towed abominably if the hitch weight was below 60 Kgs and the max hitch load was 75Kgs. This meant that I had to have a clear load plan of what went where and check the weight every time.

Experimentation does pay dividends as you will end up with not only a stable towing outfit, but also a comfortable one to travel in.

Atb Steve L.