Twin Axle or Single ?

[Keith_374323831]

I am new to caravanning, age enforcing a change from Motorhome.

Looking at FENDT caravans, and size required leaves us with a choice of 4 or 2. Have been told, by a seller that Twin Axle is more stable vis a vis snaking ? Is this true ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Keith.

 

[Lutz]

The advantages and disadvantages of both single and twin axle are about even. If you are faced with a choice between the two then you are talking about a relatively large single axle. Modern large single axles are only marginally inferior in towing stability to their twin axle counterparts, so unless your priorities are weighted heavily in this direction, I would not say that this is a major issue worth losing any sleep about. One often overlooked advantage of a twin versus single is that 4 brakes instead of 2 reduce the potential of brake fade if you plan to do a lot of touring in the hilly areas. The advantages of a single axle (its manoeuvrability and less unsprung weight) are obvious, so it's almost a philosophical question whether you prefer the one or the other. You'll probably find as many people championing the twin axle cause as the other way round.

 

[Essexeddie]

I have had both and I must say there is not much in it as regards stability. But it must depend on the towcar.

But a single axle van is far easier to manoeuvre around. also when abroad a twin axle can be refused on some sites, as happened to us in France.

Us, we have gone for a large single axle towed by a large 4X4.

But I still like the look of the twin.

Edd

 

[Darce]

From our personal experience towing a TA is far more stable.

Cross winds and buffeting in particular is far less noticeable.

The down side of a TA is that manoeuvring on a pitch is more difficult and as we live in a close (Lollipop shaped) we used to take the SA home to clean etc and then just spin it round when we wanted to go.

Spinning round 180 degrees like that with a TA is just not possible.

You can help by max'ing the Jockey wheel height and I do wonder if a device exists where you can lock up the wheels of one axle for on site manoeuvres? Lorries do this when unloaded but how practical for a large heavy TA?

Not sure if this would be to great a strain or not though?

Any thoughts anyone?

 

[Essexeddie]

That idea has already been out in the early 90'.

There was a van that you could jack up two wheels for moving.

But the name escapes me.

I'm sure someone will remember.

Edd

 

[BarryB_5039906]

That idea has already been out in the early 90'.

There was a van that you could jack up two wheels for moving.

But the name escapes me.

I'm sure someone will remember.

Edd

hello there

Yep I remember....it was on the Lunar Deltas...but it is not used any more......I think it was quite expensive.....Barry