T/A noseweight

[Paul_5099000]

and yet another noseweight question

i run a t/a compass rallye and i cant get a heavy enough noseweight with everything i carry over the front end..ie gas bottles, bbq, awning, aqua role etc....this van doesnt have much payload so to add "balast" would make the thing too dam heavy anyway !!

any ideas ?

thanks in advance

 

[Lutz]

With all that stuff up front I really am surprised that you don't get enough noseweight. Most people seem to have the opposite problem. Are you sure you are measuring it correctly?

 

[Jazman]

I've yet to find a caravan that is tail heavy or with equall balance, all caravans we've owned or know of are nose heavy.

I side with Lutz. I would guess that you are not measuring it correctly or you are distributing weight wrongly when loading.

 

[Cockovan]

Hi Paul,

I have a 2005 twin axle Compass Rallye and with normal load (ie no awning, chairs etc in the van) we have a nose weight of 120Kg.

What nose weight are you aiming for and how are you measuring it?

Alan

 

[Paul_5099000]

Hi Paul,

I have a 2005 twin axle Compass Rallye and with normal load (ie no awning, chairs etc in the van) we have a nose weight of 120Kg.

What nose weight are you aiming for and how are you measuring it?

Alan

well im measuring it with a piece of wood under the tow hitch onto bathroom scales...the wood measured to be matching the ride height of the hitch.....

the cars nose weight is 100kg which is what im aimimg for.....

there is really nothint else in the van to be loaded wrong...

confused....

 

[Paul_5099000]

Hi Paul,

I have a 2005 twin axle Compass Rallye and with normal load (ie no awning, chairs etc in the van) we have a nose weight of 120Kg.

What nose weight are you aiming for and how are you measuring it?

Alan

Alan

according to the brochure..the nose weight should be 100kgs ( http://www.explorer-group.co.uk/downloads/2008/tourer_handbook.pdf)

or the cars noseweight if lower.....?

i tow with a landcruiser which has a 130 kg noise weight...so i try and get to 100Kg as the van says....but cant

 

[SimonB]

We have a twin axel, an Elldis Avante 636 and also have a problem with low nose weight.

 

[Jazman]

Alan

according to the brochure..the nose weight should be 100kgs ( http://www.explorer-group.co.uk/downloads/2008/tourer_handbook.pdf)

or the cars noseweight if lower.....?

i tow with a landcruiser which has a 130 kg noise weight...so i try and get to 100Kg as the van says....but cant

1. You do not say what the nose weight is empty.

2. What is it when you load it.

According to your manual the Rallye range has an alowance of 93 Kilograms Essential Habitation Equipment and then on top of that a user payload of 261 kilograms.

I have to ask where you get the idea that it does not have much of apayload allowance. If yopu are at that limit and had it forward of the front axle it would be way over 130 KG nose weight I'm sure from experience.

You are checking the nose weight unhitched from the car?

As what you say from experience with three large T/A caravans does not add up or make sense.

Sorry.

 

[Jazman]

1. You do not say what the nose weight is empty.

2. What is it when you load it.

According to your manual the Rallye range has an alowance of 93 Kilograms Essential Habitation Equipment and then on top of that a user payload of 261 kilograms.

I have to ask where you get the idea that it does not have much of apayload allowance. If yopu are at that limit and had it forward of the front axle it would be way over 130 KG nose weight I'm sure from experience.

You are checking the nose weight unhitched from the car?

As what you say from experience with three large T/A caravans does not add up or make sense.

Sorry.

 

[Paul_5099000]

1. You do not say what the nose weight is empty.

2. What is it when you load it.

According to your manual the Rallye range has an alowance of 93 Kilograms Essential Habitation Equipment and then on top of that a user payload of 261 kilograms.

I have to ask where you get the idea that it does not have much of apayload allowance. If yopu are at that limit and had it forward of the front axle it would be way over 130 KG nose weight I'm sure from experience.

You are checking the nose weight unhitched from the car?

As what you say from experience with three large T/A caravans does not add up or make sense.

Sorry.

could you please explain exactly how you measure your noseweight.

i mean they talk about making sure the vam is level...but how do u do that ? spirit level the road ? or use the jockey wheel to level the van even if the road is slightly slopping....

would this make differences ??

puzzled

Paul.

 

[Jazman]

Paul. We've a flat driveway. With the jockey wheel up and the nose weight scale or piece of wood on bathroom scales under the hitch the van should be in the level.

You do not load the van to make it level!

Unloaded the caravan with jockey wheel up will go nose down when unloaded on all caravans we've had.

If you then put the top point of the scales at a point that makes the caravan level when under the hitch point you will then have a start point.

Load the van accordingly moving low down heavy weight slightly forward of axles or back to acheive the weight you require.

You can just use the jocky wheel to lift the hitch higher than the level point which will be the top of the scale or block of wood when you lower the hitch onto it. The nose will obviously drop slightly below level on the scales as the weight goes onto it to get the reading!

Have you looked at http://www.practicalcaravan.co.uk/features/noseweight.html

I hope that makes some sense and helps

 

[Lutz]

I have to throw in a correction here. The caravan should not be standing level when you measure noseweight, unless it happens to be level when hitched up to the car. The caravan should be standing on its own on level ground and the coupling should be at the same height as if it were hitched up to the car. The noseweight should be measured at that height. So, if it's nose down when you tow it should be nose down when you measure noseweight. The opposite obviously applies if it is nose up.

 

[Jazman]

I guess I don't know much!

But we've always found that twin axles should and do tow level on the variety of tow cars we've had and used with different twin axle caravans.

Having towed a nose down TA caravan due to the tow cars low hitch and soft suspension I don't advise trying it.

 

[Cockovan]

Hi Paul,

We have a 2005 Rallye 640, I wonder if (assuming yours is not a 640) that the different models may have different loading characteristics leading to our different problems. Having checked our manual I see we should be aiming for anose weight of 100Kg as well, but our problem will be lowering ours from the 120. If I can lower the nose weight I will see how it handles next time out, but unless there is no difference I will go back what I know tows well.

I also have a Landcruiser.

Alan

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Paul

I should not worry too much if you outfit tows comfortably. Provide you have some nose positive weight as different to zero or lift, then reaching the theoretical limit ins not necessary.

Even though the caravan manufacture may allow up to 100kg, there has been some correspondence suggesting that these top end loads can start to cause problems with the overrun brake action beginning to bind.

If your caravan were towed by a different vehicle the nose load limit may only be 75kg so provide you are there or there about then I don't think you will have much of a problem.

T/A's have quite complex interactions between the suspension of two axles and does affect the measured nose load depending on how high the hitch is. It should be at the ride height, regardless of whether the van is level or not. Though the measurement must be taken on level ground.

 

[Paul_5099000]

Hi Paul,

We have a 2005 Rallye 640, I wonder if (assuming yours is not a 640) that the different models may have different loading characteristics leading to our different problems. Having checked our manual I see we should be aiming for anose weight of 100Kg as well, but our problem will be lowering ours from the 120. If I can lower the nose weight I will see how it handles next time out, but unless there is no difference I will go back what I know tows well.

I also have a Landcruiser.

Alan

Hi Alan

yes we to w a rallye 640 (2006)

and a toyota colorado

im getting confused with all the different ways people tell you to measure noseweight..ans also finding a level road that you could stop and unhitch on to measure is tricky too.

sigh..

if im measure correctly....im getting near 70 and she tows like a dream....

ill still keep investigating....

what do u think of the 640 generally ?