Nose Weight (Just cant get it low enough)

Adamj · Aug 5, 2016

Hi All,

Hoping for a little advice. I have a Fleetwood Garland 128/2 little 2 birth van. Both my tow car (Volvo S40) and the tow bar have a nose weight limit of 75kgs. Problem is that I can't get the nose weight down anywhere close to it even when the van was empty. I have removed the spare wheel and placed this in the boot of my car. The small awning is over the axel in the van and the only thing of any weight in the front compartment is the small gas bottle. Even with this removed the nose weight was still 117kgs. Any advice?

Gagakev · Aug 5, 2016

What are you using to check the noseweight with?
Have you checked the gauge(scales) against another compatible device?
is the tow hitch at the correct height with the tow ball?

WoodlandsCamper · Aug 5, 2016

Move the spare wheel and awning to the back of the van (on the floor) and recheck the nose weight. Not ideal, but 'needs must'.

Is the water tank empty? Have you got anything under the front beds?

Adamj · Aug 5, 2016

Hi thanks a lot for the reply. I am using electrical bathroom scales with the load spread and a cut rod upto the hitch, cut at the height to match my tow ball. The scales seem to work fine when measuring me.

Adamj · Aug 5, 2016

WoodlandsCamper Yes, the water tank is empty. I have a couple of duvets and sheets under the beds at the moment

Raywood · Aug 5, 2016

The bathroom scales method is not accurate as the jockey wheel is behind the hitch. I would get a good noseweight gauge and try again. I doubt it will be within 75kg but at least it should give you a better idea of the actual weight.
I would try woodlands Campers suggestion as the only thing left after that.

ProfJohnL · Aug 5, 2016

Hello Adam,

I have towed countless caravans over the years, some straight from manufactures factories, and others loaded ready for holidays.

Many of the caravans direct from manufacturers do have a high nos load. The solution in those cases was to use water containers put in the rear of the caravan to counterbalance the nose load.

Yes this is end loading, but in most cases it only required 20 to 50 kilos of water to bring the nose load under control. All caravans will be ok with some end loading, but it must not be excessive.

With loaded caravans it usually a question of moving the items around in the caravan.

My suspicions is you have removed too much from the caravan, and you should consider moving the spare wheel to the back of the caravan.

As for measuring nose load, I dispute Rays contention that the bathroom scales method is less accurate than proprietary retail devise. (you will find much about these devises on the forum) But rather than using a wooden post to support the hitch, instead for safety raise the scales on the caravan step and to set the correct height pack it up using magazines. As for accuracy I venture that bathroom scales are more accurate than virtually any other spring based nose load measurement available to users.

Just make sure the nose load measurement is done with the hitch at exactly the same height as when itis coupled to the car. otherwise you are not measuring the true nose load.

Adamj · Aug 5, 2016

Thank you very much for all the advice everyone. I will have a tinker tonight, ready for the tow tomorrow. Thanks again.

ProfJohnL said:
Hello Adam,

I have towed countless caravans over the years, some straight from manufactures factories, and others loaded ready for holidays.

Many of the caravans direct from manufacturers do have a high nos load. The solution in those cases was to use water containers put in the rear of the caravan to counterbalance the nose load.

Yes this is end loading, but in most cases it only required 20 to 50 kilos of water to bring the nose load under control. All caravans will be ok with some end loading, but it must not be excessive.

With loaded caravans it usually a question of moving the items around in the caravan.

My suspicions is you have removed too much from the caravan, and you should consider moving the spare wheel to the back of the caravan.

As for measuring nose load, I dispute Rays contention that the bathroom scales method is less accurate than proprietary retail devise. (you will find much about these devises on the forum) But rather than using a wooden post to support the hitch, instead for safety raise the scales on the caravan step and to set the correct height pack it up using magazines. As for accuracy I venture that bathroom scales are more accurate than virtually any other spring based nose load measurement available to users.

Just make sure the nose load measurement is done with the hitch at exactly the same height as when itis coupled to the car. otherwise you are not measuring the true nose load.

pitpony · Sep 9, 2016

The caravan industry make hard work for the average person to under stand about loading a caravan, simple solution is to revert to road haulage regulations , gross weight , tare weight and pay load which we don't use, in the case of nose weights if you are keeping within the confines of what you are legally allowed to carry on your vehicle I would put any spare weight over the axle use smaller gas bottles, two 6kg gas bottles weigh twenty nine kgs,

WoodlandsCamper · Sep 9, 2016

pitpony said:
two 6kg gas bottles weigh twenty nine kgs,

two CalorLite bottles (full) weigh 21 kg, more expensive but saves 8kg.

Mel · Sep 9, 2016

We had a Swift which was very nose heavy when totally empty. Loading just a bit behind the axle sorted it. Tried to avoid loading right at the back of the van, as found, as the Prof said, that moving some weight just back a bit made a big difference.
mel

ProfJohnL · Sep 9, 2016

pitpony said:
The caravan industry make hard work for the average person to under stand about loading a caravan, simple solution is to revert to road haulage regulations , gross weight , tare weight and pay load which we don't use, in the case of nose weights if you are keeping within the confines of what you are legally allowed to carry on your vehicle I would put any spare weight over the axle use smaller gas bottles, two 6kg gas bottles weigh twenty nine kgs,

One of the problems we have in the caravanning world ( and also for normal domestic trailers) is the plethora or acronyms used to describe various weight related criteria. I don't think it will help the average caravanner to be presented with even more naming variations.

I however agree that the average caravanner does not know about the minute but important differences between some of the commonly used acronyms and how they relate to each other.

pitpony · Sep 10, 2016

I know the feeling having worked in road haulage all my life, EU driving regs, working time directive, axle weights, load distribution, load restraint, and if you don't get all this right you have VOSA breathing down your neck now I'm retired I'm a happy bunny, I think JW did something on this subject on the caravan channel, but with the new series of Practical Caravan TV starting it would be nice to see something practical put together explaining to new comers in to caravanning exactly what is what with the various weight ect with a real caravan and tow car,

RayS · Sep 18, 2016

When necessary I use full 8 litre water containers stood in the toilet room at the back of the caravan. Works well, but if you do this make sure containers are securely capped and stand them in a crate ( full sided not the folding type) and if possible secure with a bungee cord or similar. Being at the back of the caravan they will be subject to considerable sideways forces when you corner, particularly if you have to change direction sharply.
I would also suggest getting an under slung carrier for the spare wheel. Although this won't transfer the weight quite as far back, it will put it very low down which is desirable.Wrap it in a bin bag or similar before putting it in the cradle if you want it fairly clean in the event of having to change it. Don't forget to check the pressure regularly, put it in valve side down.

(Sorry - you probably know much of this already)

pitpony · Sep 20, 2016

When we had the Lunar Chateau which was Belgium built it came with a long A frame, not only that I never had a problem with nose weight because the caravan was that further away from the tow car and giving a better view of the caravan when towing, it would be nice to have a choice of chassis,

RayS · Sep 20, 2016

There is a choce of chassis - in this case with longer drawbar - buy a continental caravan. Most are designed to take a bike rack on the drawbar and they don't seem to worry so much about noseweight and the like.
The longer drawbar does help towing stability - the longer the distance from pivot point i.e. tow ball to main axle the more stable. If you want a demonstration of this try towing a short trailer - domestic style to the local tip and see how easy/difficult it is to reverse.

pitpony · Sep 20, 2016

RayS said:
There is a choce of chassis - in this case with longer drawbar - buy a continental caravan. Most are designed to take a bike rack on the drawbar and they don't seem to worry so much about noseweight and the like.
The longer drawbar does help towing stability - the longer the distance from pivot point i.e. tow ball to main axle the more stable. If you want a demonstration of this try towing a short trailer - domestic style to the local tip and see how easy/difficult it is to reverse.

Good suggestion I will take that on board when I buy my next caravan and buy continental, the Chateau did have a continental build and 'A' frame it even came with a bubble bodywork finish and onboard water tank, it was only Lunar that stuck their name in front of Chateau,

Thingy · Jan 1, 2017

The one thing that hasnt been mentioned is "are you measuring the noseweight on level ground". Even a slight forward slope can make quite a bit of difference to the readings.

Like some of the others, I have had vans that I had real trouble with the noseweight, I recall a Swift Milano (based on the old Baronette) that had a ludicrously high noseweight. Switching to calor light gas bottles is a good suggestion, there is a few kg diffence there to start with. Try moving the awning bag to just behind the axle.

Also, consider lost of small items that weigh little can be a staggering weight when put together.

ProfJohnL · Jan 2, 2017

Thingy said:
The one thing that hasnt been mentioned is "are you measuring the noseweight on level ground". Even a slight forward slope can make quite a bit of difference to the readings.

Like some of the others, I have had vans that I had real trouble with the noseweight, I recall a Swift Milano (based on the old Baronette) that had a ludicrously high noseweight. Switching to calor light gas bottles is a good suggestion, there is a few kg diffence there to start with. Try moving the awning bag to just behind the axle.

Also, consider lost of small items that weigh little can be a staggering weight when put together.

By the same token, a reverse slope will decrease the applied nose load, so measuring on a flat (horizontal) surface is a critical point, as is measuring the nose load with the hitch at its real towing height, which if it isn't, has the same effect as a sloping road.

Thingy · Jan 2, 2017

Liking the Avatar Prof, very apt. B)

20170602yuanyuan · Jun 2, 2017

Search

Nose Weight (Just cant get it low enough)

Adamj

Gagakev

WoodlandsCamper

Adamj

Adamj

Raywood

ProfJohnL

Adamj

pitpony

WoodlandsCamper

Mel

Moderator

ProfJohnL

pitpony

RayS

pitpony

RayS

pitpony

Thingy

ProfJohnL

Thingy

20170602yuanyuan

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts