WELL...........Thank you everybody for your comments from since i posted my cry for help.. I can now confirm that yesterday we have now ordered the Twin axle Lunar Delta TL with a Twin mover fitted. We have also gone for the Sorento 2.5 manual and we have never towed before and I am beginning to have sleeples nights for when I pick the van up in less than 2 weeks already.... Hitching, pitching, it`s all Foreign language to me. I am trying to get on a towing course but the dates always seem to have gone with all organisations... Anyway if you pass my caravan in the outside lane and the Kia in the inside lane... please stop and help... Thanks Steven
Hello Steven,
I have just cottoned to the fact that this is your first towing experience, and that has just set an alarm bell ringing. If you passed your driving test after the 1st Jan 1997, you are not licensed to drive the outfit you have, unless you have taken the +E extension to your standard Cat B licence. The standard Cat B only allows you drive an outfit of Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) of 3500Kg. I do not know the MTPLM of the Sorento but its MIRO is at least 2 Tonnes and the MTPLM of the Lunar is 1800Kg so that is already 3800kg = already over the limit and that is without the actual maximum mass of the Sorrie. Please check you licence.
Assuming that you are ok with the licence - Quite a momentous decision, and as new tower please take it easy. I have suggested to a number of friends who took up caravanning and who had never towed before, to think of the outfit rather like a bus, slow to pull away, and needs to take a wide route round bends and islands. Just remember all the things you hate about buses when you are following one in traffic, and do the same. Don't forget your mirrors and use then, especially the near side, they are about the only things that keep you informed of what going on behind and at the sides. Where all the people who hate busses and caravans tend to find themselves and do silly things.
Best of Luck and enjoy the slower pace of life.
I have just cottoned to the fact that this is your first towing experience, and that has just set an alarm bell ringing. If you passed your driving test after the 1st Jan 1997, you are not licensed to drive the outfit you have, unless you have taken the +E extension to your standard Cat B licence. The standard Cat B only allows you drive an outfit of Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) of 3500Kg. I do not know the MTPLM of the Sorento but its MIRO is at least 2 Tonnes and the MTPLM of the Lunar is 1800Kg so that is already 3800kg = already over the limit and that is without the actual maximum mass of the Sorrie. Please check you licence.
Assuming that you are ok with the licence - Quite a momentous decision, and as new tower please take it easy. I have suggested to a number of friends who took up caravanning and who had never towed before, to think of the outfit rather like a bus, slow to pull away, and needs to take a wide route round bends and islands. Just remember all the things you hate about buses when you are following one in traffic, and do the same. Don't forget your mirrors and use then, especially the near side, they are about the only things that keep you informed of what going on behind and at the sides. Where all the people who hate busses and caravans tend to find themselves and do silly things.
Best of Luck and enjoy the slower pace of life.
Lutz
Yes AL-KO is as common on the continent but as the discushion is about T/A and most of the true travellers (not the didys,and tinks)use T/A that is the point i was makeing but not only better chassis quality but better quality allround plus some are modified to suit the travellers ie no toilets copartements.
Steven
At least you are aproaching things the right way keep trying to get on that towing course as you will gain emensaly from it .And the information you will get could not be gained in a lifetime of caravanning without it.
Once you get a feel for it which doesnt take long you will wonder what you were worried about.Good luck and happy caravanning i am sure you will enjoy it.
Ken
You have made the point with your comments nothing to do with price i used a Toyota Landcruiser 4.3 T/D for a number of years .The point i was trying to get accros and the VW is a prime example of a brilliant tow car because as they call it in the trade it has got lowdown grunt reaching max torque at lower revolutions.Most cars built for speed reach max torque at higher revs not a good qaulity as a tow car although the VW scores on both accounts.But nothing to do with the price .
Billy
I tow with a Discovery 3 and tow a twin axle Lunar Discovery 626 and again it is not test track driving but normal everyday driving with varying conditions. I was suprised when I got it as my old van was a S/A Dethleff DL520 and the fuel consumption towing this was appauling. I still do not understand why with a heavier T/A van I am getting more to the gallon.
I tow with a Discovery 3 and tow a twin axle Lunar Discovery 626 and again it is not test track driving but normal everyday driving with varying conditions. I was suprised when I got it as my old van was a S/A Dethleff DL520 and the fuel consumption towing this was appauling. I still do not understand why with a heavier T/A van I am getting more to the gallon.
I passed my driving test in 1987 and on my license it says it has B, BE, C1, C1E, D1, D1E, fklnp all from 2/9/87 to 13/3/2040....
I am assuming this is okay then???
Steve
John L
Thanks for you comments:
I passed my driving test in 1987 and on my license it says it has B, BE, C1, C1E, D1, D1E, fklnp all from 2/9/87 to 13/3/2040....
I am assuming this is okay then??
Thanks
Steven
Thanks for you comments:
John L
I passed my driving test in 1987 and on my license it says it has B, BE, C1, C1E, D1, D1E, fklnp all from 2/9/87 to 13/3/2040....
I am assuming this is okay then??
Thanks
Steven
John L
I passed my driving test in 1987 and on my license it says it has B, BE, C1, C1E, D1, D1E, fklnp all from 2/9/87 to 13/3/2040....
I am assuming this is okay then??
Thanks
Steven
Hi Steven,
Your licence is pre the new regulations that started in Jan 97, so you have rhe required B+E (BE) category - Happy caravanning!
Your licence is pre the new regulations that started in Jan 97, so you have rhe required B+E (BE) category - Happy caravanning!
Hi Russel think your 4x4 bit more modern than my old girl they have improved much over the last few years.A freind of mine tows with the Izuzi think thats how you spell it 3.0 ltr gets several more mpg than what i got from Mitsubishi.Glad now got S/A van and VW Passat so things have improved imensley mpg wise only 50cm shorter inside so not to much to loose happy vanning.
Forgot to say Russel maybe your Deflefs was a bit more slab fronted catching the wind a causing some drag that could efect mpg as the Lunar maybe more streamlined at the front not so much drag just a thought.
Just caught up with this.
Billy I think you constant reference to mpg is irrelevant. The cost differential of 30mpg to 40 mpg over 10k mile pa is roughly
Billy I think you constant reference to mpg is irrelevant. The cost differential of 30mpg to 40 mpg over 10k mile pa is roughly
I can't quite see the direct connection between twin axle and space. Of course, over a certain weight (usually around 1800 to 1900kg) a twin axle becomes mandatory, but there are some relatively big 26' single axles on the market just as there are smaller twin axles. I thought the original question concerned a direct comparison between single and twin, size for size.
Lutz
Steven questioned a choice of a 26' TA versus a 21' SA. External length I think.
Space was important for us and without buying an import from Germany or elsewhere outside the UK, there are no SA's that could give us the TA space. A good comparison here is the Bailey Senator California - v- the Wyoming Internal length 18'6" -v- 21'1".
The same applies to Swift and Lunar. Dethleffs I think do a "big" SA but the Euro rate of exchange isn't very good at the moment .
Thus for the cash available to me the UK manufactured TA met my criteria whilst the SA didn't.
Cheers
Dustydog
Steven questioned a choice of a 26' TA versus a 21' SA. External length I think.
Space was important for us and without buying an import from Germany or elsewhere outside the UK, there are no SA's that could give us the TA space. A good comparison here is the Bailey Senator California - v- the Wyoming Internal length 18'6" -v- 21'1".
The same applies to Swift and Lunar. Dethleffs I think do a "big" SA but the Euro rate of exchange isn't very good at the moment .
Thus for the cash available to me the UK manufactured TA met my criteria whilst the SA didn't.
Cheers
Dustydog
Hiya Dustydog
I thought this discushion was dead and buryed but no as you say if you can afford the difference that the different mpg makes in my case about 20mpg difference so looking at
I thought this discushion was dead and buryed but no as you say if you can afford the difference that the different mpg makes in my case about 20mpg difference so looking at
In view of the much higher forces that occur while towing, for example when negotiating speed humps, I cannot see how manoeuvring slowly with some of the load off the front axle is going to damage the A-frame. It would require obviously violent action to do that.
Hi Billy
You said "No you may not bend the chasis but you will certainly put terific strain on your caravan floor and you wont be the first one to actualy break the plywood floor putting a leg right through the bottom".
I based my mpg cost differential on 10k miles per annum. Even on a limited budget I am glad to see you are still caravanning.
So what did Steven buy in the end??
Cheers
Dustydog
You said "No you may not bend the chasis but you will certainly put terific strain on your caravan floor and you wont be the first one to actualy break the plywood floor putting a leg right through the bottom".
I based my mpg cost differential on 10k miles per annum. Even on a limited budget I am glad to see you are still caravanning.
So what did Steven buy in the end??
Cheers
Dustydog
Hi Dustydog
Yes i see what you was getting at that was somebody recomending levelling the van on the corner steadies as i said be carefull as to much strain on the steadies can result in them going through the floor as they are only fixed to the ply floor.Levelling side to side should be done with the wheels ie wood or ramps four and aft with the jockey wheel only winding down the steadies once van is level.
Yes i see what you was getting at that was somebody recomending levelling the van on the corner steadies as i said be carefull as to much strain on the steadies can result in them going through the floor as they are only fixed to the ply floor.Levelling side to side should be done with the wheels ie wood or ramps four and aft with the jockey wheel only winding down the steadies once van is level.
Hi Lutz
We starting at the begining again but trust me taking the weight of the front axle increases the weight on the a frame by 500kg not the 75kg you get when towing and can bend the chasis on the a frame end .
There's a big difference between levelling with steadies and lifting the front end up by the jockey wheel. The steadies, especially the front ones, are attached to the chassis by relatively weak outriggers so the floor panel has to take most of the load. The jockey wheel, however, is attached to the relatively substantial A-frame that can take a lot more load than the steadies, such as encountered when you lift the front wheels of a twin off the ground.
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