Over loaded axel!

[otherclive]

White lightning

Cannot buy that any longer in Britain. Pity was a good ice breaker at gatherings👍

 

[toad a caravan]

Moonshine?

 

[toad a caravan]

I am a keen fan of 50s music ..my previous post brought to mind the "Fats Domino record White lightning" 🙂

 

[Buckman]

That’s very high for a liqueur normally 35~40%.
85% would fuel a rocket😂

Wait until you try Stroh Rum! Then there is Witblitz (White lightening). Both will blow the top of your head off.

 

[otherclive]

Wait until you try Stroh Rum! Then there is Witblitz (White lightening). Both will blow the top of your head off.

Wait until you try Stroh Rum! Then there is Witblitz (White lightening). Both will blow the top of your head off.

In #45 liqueur was mentioned and my subsequent posts queried the alcohol content being as high as 85%. Liqueurs are different to liquors which being spirits have higher alcohol contents. The SA ones looks potentially life threatening 😂

 

[Slowtow]

I read one where an overloaded fridge was blamed.....that wasn't cool

I bet that was a frosty situation.

 

[trevormonty]

Our our 2011 Lunar TI it made a massive difference to towing as no more open drawers and things shaking about. No idea if it helped the suspension.

When I took 2000 380/2 bailey on long trip last year thought it might benefit from dampers on certain rougher sections of road. Just repeated same trip with 2009 Adria 430 which had dampers . The longer heavier Adria definitely handled same rough sections better.
I suspect dampers are the reason.

 

[Mr Plodd]

I remain unconvinced of the benefit of dampers on caravans.

My reasoning being that dampers are there to "dampen" out the oscillations of the suspension. In a car there is a fair bit of spring movement which is evidenced by how much your car goes up and down if you stand on the towbar, and by how much the rear of the car lowers when fully loaded.

On a caravan however there are no actual "springs" to compress (or oscillate on rebound) only some rubber straps within the Alko axle. So there is very little oscillation for any dampers to dampen. How much does your caravan lower when you stand over the axle??

I have owned two Baileys, an Olympus and now a Phoenix, similar sizes and virtually tHe same MPTLM. The Olympus had dampers, the Phoenix doesn't. I have not noticed any difference in either caravans "behaviour" when being towed by identical tow cars.

There is no legislation to compel their fitment, so clearly the experts feel they are unecessary. Cars, vans and lorries use springs and the fitting of dampers is a legal requirement.

Like I said, personal opinion, but I think it's worth considering, if only due to the fact they are not legally required as a safety item.

 

[otherclive]

I remain unconvinced of the benefit of dampers on caravans.

My reasoning being that dampers are there to "dampen" out the oscillations of the suspension. In a car there is a fair bit of spring movement which is evidenced by how much your car goes up and down if you stand on the towbar, and by how much the rear of the car lowers when fully loaded.

On a caravan however there are no actual "springs" to compress (or oscillate on rebound) only some rubber straps within the Alko axle. So there is very little oscillation for any dampers to dampen. How much does your caravan lower when you stand over the axle??

I have owned two Baileys, an Olympus and now a Phoenix, similar sizes and virtually tHe same MPTLM. The Olympus had dampers, the Phoenix doesn't. I have not noticed any difference in either caravans "behaviour" when being towed by identical tow cars.

There is no legislation to compel their fitment, so clearly the experts feel they are unecessary. Cars, vans and lorries use springs and the fitting of dampers is a legal requirement.

Like I said, personal opinion, but I think it's worth considering, if only due to the fact they are not legally required as a safety item.

When I had to replace a failed axle I fitted the Alko shock absorbers for a relatively small extra cost. I had read an academic report that pretty well aligned with your views but I took the view that if the Alko shock absorbers reduced some of the shock loadings from our poor roads it would be advantageous. In terms of towing I did not notice any discernible difference between the caravan when fitted or not fitted. But the car:caravan weight ratio was 73%

But in Germany caravans with shock absorbers can be registered to travel at higher speeds than caravans without shock absorbers. There are other factors too such as car ABS, tyre speed rating, tyre age, weight ratio etc. So I would think it unlikely that Germany would stipulate the requirement for shock absorbers if there wasn’t a measurable benefit. The link below details German requirements.

100 km/h regulation

nl.humbaur.com

 

[Buckman]

We had shock absorbers fitted to our 2011 Lunar Delta TI and also had the wheels balanced. It made a massive difference and was noticeable.

Our current caravan came standard with shocks, but we still had the wheels balanced for a better tow and hopefully reduce the chances of cracks in panels.