nose weight?

[dogscenturion]

Hi everybody,
I am very confused about the nose weight, I understand what its for, but I have read different infomation. My log book states the MTPLM is 1200, the caravan MTPLM is 1080 and Nissan say I should have 75 kg nose weight, SO! this is my question, On my noseweight gauge do I try to get the weight as near to 75% ( because of the 75kg thing by nissan) as possible. Yes or No!

 

[Damian]

The maximum load you can put on the towball, as defined by Nissan, is 75Kg. Thats it,simple.

 

[philspot1]

Essentially, yes.
It's always best to aim for as high a noseweight as the car and caravan are designed for (ALKO chassis usually Max 100kg, towcars whatever the manufacturer states. Keep just below 75 kg on whatevet system you use to measure it, then you won't risk exceeding the limit.

 

[dogscenturion]

Thank you danian for that, I have read so many different answers and they bring more questions with them. I know to some it may be simple but ive read to much i was totally confused, but not anymore!!!!!

 

[dogscenturion]

Thanks philspot1.
I dont think there is a book called caravaning for dummies is there?, if not there should be because sometimes plain old english is best, not this technical talk ive read (not on here though) and if you are not technical minded it can be truly baffling and then thats when there can be problems.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

Thanks philspot1.
I dont think there is a book called caravaning for dummies is there?, if not there should be because sometimes plain old english is best, not this technical talk ive read (not on here though) and if you are not technical minded it can be truly baffling and then thats when there can be problems.

hi, it's not so much the technical jargon that is confusing more than the legistlation that it refers to because it is so complex,
is it usually best to grapple with the basics first before trying to absorb the finer details.
noseweight is a prime example if you read all the posts dealing with this issue, it would give you a headache very quickly.
however all is not lost because there is a simple formula.
1. maximum noseweight of trailer "in our case caravan"
2. maximum noseweight that the car manufacturer states,
in all cases the lesser of the two weights is the one that must be used at all times in order to stay legal.
so if your car has a noseweight maximum of say 60kg and the trailer maximum is 75kg the noseweight you must use is 60kg or just under.
if however you had a 4x4 with a maximum noseweight of 100kg and the same trailer with a maximum of 75kg the maximum would be 75kg or just under, because it is the least ammount.
hope this helps
colin

 

[Smith21]

I have learnt from this forum as i am only new, even the tow bar has a max weight so check that as well.

 

[otherclive]

I would be very surprised if your tow bar had a load less than that stated for the car but you can easily check this by getting underneath and looking at the tally plate on the tow bar. It will state the max load for the tow bar. Hope your near distance vision is good!

 

[Steve L]

Simple or not, getting the nose weight of your caravan / trailer right is key to a safe and comfortable tow.
I had to move my brother in law's caravan yesterday for him. My wife guided me with expert skill upto the hitch and had the car towball perfectly lined up with the van hitch. She then tried the hitch weight by lifting the hitch. She very easily lifted the van up!

On inspection we discovered that as the van had no front locker and the gas bottle was stored in it's proper locker just infront of the axle and the van also had a large seperate loo and shower area at the rear of the van. The latter had been used as storage for 2 tv's, wheel clamp and water barrels, which had a very adverse affect on the nose weight. After moving all of the items as far forward as possible we restored the nose weight to 65Kgs. (I always carry my small ball mounted hitch weight guage in the boot of my car).

First of all to comply with the legalitiesof towing you need to use the lower figure between the trailer and the towbar manufacturer as your top limit of noseweight to be allowed. the lowest figure I've come across for tow cars is 50Kgs. The most common is between 75 and 100Kgs. I certainly would not want to tow with less than 50Kgs noseweight as I have found that you get very little "feedback" from the trailer to indicate if it is towing smoothly. Despite my car being able to go to 100Kgs nose weight and the van being rated at 90Kgs max noseweight, I use 75Kgs as my bench mark. This weight seems to give the best control of the trailer and doesn't lighten the grip factor of the front wheels of the car as they both steer and drive the unit as the car is front wheel drive. Also the weight is sufficient to allow the caravan sliding hitch to activate the caravan brakes (over run brakes), without delay or being over sensative.

When I started caravanning some 30 years ago, I used a full 29Litre aquaroll of water to move forward and back on the caravan floor to find the best hitch weight. An aquaroll full of water and stood up on it's base is far more stable then one half empty, as the water surges inside the barrel. Obviously you need to stang it on an anti slip mat and secure it with luggage straps. Once I'd found the best wieght of hitch (75Kgs in my case), I then poured the water on the garden and loaded the van's awning etc on the floor of the van to achieve the same noseweight. Once that is done, I made a loading plan for the van which we stuck to and that gave us a good start point to work from to get the noseweight right.

 

[Damian]

Why oh Why oh Why does a simple question and answer have to be turned into an epistle of what happened to other peoples vans/trailers/dog carts/chicken huts.

The OP questioned the maximum towball limit, which was as per Nissan at 75KG.
It is up to the OP how he achieves this figure but there is already a whole Encyclopaedia Brittanica on thi ssite alone on noseweight etc etc et c.

Talk about wantig a simple reply and then being confused by ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,rubbish, its no wonder people never stay long on the site now

 

[Martin24]

Prozac needed?????????

 

[Surfer]

Why oh Why oh Why does a simple question and answer have to be turned into an epistle of what happened to other peoples vans/trailers/dog carts/chicken huts.
The OP questioned the maximum towball limit, which was as per Nissan at 75KG.
It is up to the OP how he achieves this figure but there is already a whole Encyclopaedia Brittanica on thi ssite alone on noseweight etc etc et c.
Talk about wantig a simple reply and then being confused by ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,rubbish, its no wonder people never stay long on the site now

Agreed with you 100%! Only a woosie would come back for more!