We have finally bought a van and a tow vehicle. The van is a viewfinder - introduced to the Austrlaian market about 15 months ago. TARE weight is 2200 and Aggregated trailer weight is 2800.
To tow this we purchased a 2008 Pathfinder R51 Deisel, automatic.
We took our shake down trip to Lakes Entrance and at speeds above 80, the van swayed and it was rather frightening so we took it nice and slow and did the round tripwithout problems. However we do need to fix this so I am wondering if there is anyone out there who tows with a pathfinder and may have experienced similar issues and what did you do to resolve them? Or if someone knows something about sway and how to overcome it.
The van was not overlaoded, most stuff was under seats in the middle of the van. We do have an extra battery which sits at the front under the A Frame along with the one normally there. The tanks were empty on the way up and had a minimum amount of fresh water on the way back. Car had only two adults, one 9 year old grandson and one border collie.
Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.
Daydreamer
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Margaret and Graham
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
Does the van sit level when hooked to the tug, there needs to be weight on the drawbar. Get a scale and measure your towhitch weight, guessing is not an option. Have you got a WDH. Sounds like it is loaded too light in the front to me. Where is the water tanks, may be better full. Just some thoughts cheers blaze
Yes, we have a WDH and an anti sway bar - both supplied by the van manufacturer. Once the van was hitched to the vehicle, the back went down noticeably.
daydreamer
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Margaret and Graham
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
Hi Has the van got light truck tyres if not it should. and it is always best to fill water tanks full as this also reduces sway. that may help. IMO Regards
Yes, it does have light truck tyres. The inflation is meant to be 50psi. We can try filling the water tank - but it holds 120l and that is a lot of weight.
daydreamer
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Margaret and Graham
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
As has been said - there shouldn't be any reliance on filling water tanks, or not filling them. However - some poorly designed vans do react adversely to tanks being filled or empty..
From what you say, there's something odd going on.. It might be a few days but I'll get some information and get back to you.
Cannot send pictures as we have not taken any as yet - we have only hd it for less than one month.
If you get on line and look it up it is the viewfinder by Cell - The Ossa. They ahve several photos of it, specs and a floor plan if that helps.
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Margaret and Graham
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
Hot here too. Back of PAthfinder went down when van was put on teh tow ball and remained that way when LDH was attached. No change, then.
By the way, it is Margaret writing.
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Margaret and Graham
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
Cannot send pictures as we have not taken any as yet - we have only hd it for less than one month.
If you get on line and look it up it is the viewfinder by Cell - The Ossa. They ahve several photos of it, specs and a floor plan if that helps.
Hi Margaret, I was looking for pics of your specific setup....not of the brand of caravan. Pics of the van and vehicle hooked up so we could see what was happening.
Can't believe you have had it for almost a month and not taken any pics. I took pics from day 1, even of the handover and driving out the driveway.
-- Edited by Boroma577 on Tuesday 3rd of January 2012 08:07:55 PM
I can understand that but i guess we had different stresses at play. So, no , no pictures taken as yet. It did not seem important but I guess that will be remedied if we can ever get it back and working.
Margaret
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Margaret and Graham
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
Will do. If the ball weight is higher than it is supposed to be, how does one correct that?
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Margaret and Graham
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
As I wrote IMO but there is always one in the forum to nit pick . It seem as though in this site there seem to be a click group and if you are not in it the IMO will not count.
Hi Has the van got light truck tyres if not it should. and it is always best to fill water tanks full as this also reduces sway. that may help. IMO Regards
At the end of 2011 we did a towing course, and we were told to fill the tanks. I have read a few arguments against it though. However, when resolving issues like this, which might just be opinion, I like to get the science behind it all. So far, filling the tanks is winning, and if I remember where I read the physics behind it, I'll post.
Not use about the tyres though- just always thought everyone did this.
Daydreamer wrote:
Will do. If the ball weight is higher than it is supposed to be, how does one correct that?
Your ball weight should not exceed the recommendations for the vehicle, which to my knowledge relates to chassis strength.
You can, I think, either adjust the van (or change it all together) to reduce the weight on the ball, or strengthen the rear suspension of the tug.
The first thing is to ensure the van is constructed and packed efficiently, with most of the weight over the axle(s), and with sufficient weight on the ball.
Then ensure that your hitch is appropriate- WDH appropriate and in place. ... but check the manufacturers specs as some vehicles should not use them.
Lots of people add air bags to the back of their vehicles - but you would need to ask an expert.
However, I'm not sure that this changes the strength of the chassis, but it will assist to keep the back of the vehicle level.
davkar wrote:
As I wrote IMO but there is always one in the forum to nit pick . It seem as though in this site there seem to be a click group and if you are not in it the IMO will not count.
Not sure about this one either. This is the friendliest forum I have ever been on.
As I wrote IMO but there is always one in the forum to nit pick . It seem as though in this site there seem to be a click group and if you are not in it the IMO will not count.
Sounds to me like you are the one "nit picking" because other people have an opinion.
To my mind (IMO) if the van is correctly designed the level of water should not affect the van handling otherwise you would be looking for a tap to fill up every time you had a glass of water from the tank. (exaggerated but you see what I mean).
Caravan sway is usually a sympton of too little ball weight but until the weight of the van and the ball is measured it is pointless guessing.
Cheers Neil
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Neil & Lynne
Pinjarra
Western Australia
MY23.5 Ford Wildtrak V6 Dual Cab / 21' Silverline 21-65.3
Hi,Congratulations on your purchase. I suggest you go back to where you purchased it and ask them. We purchased our van fromCamperland in Bne. andwe were bamboozled with lots of things and we kept going back and their after sales service was excellent. Hopefully yours will be the same. Good luck. Rocket n strop
Thank you to all for your input. You are all trying to help in your own way with the best of your knowledge and experiences and it is appreciated.
The van is now back where we bought it and on Monday , it will be wieghed while attached to a Navarra. This is similar to he Pathfinder and having a test drive with it on the highway will tell us if we have a problem with the van or with the vehicle. If, as I think, it is the vehicle, then we need to strengthen the read of the car. It is well documented that the pathfinders have a very soft end. Putting heavier coil springs and shockers on the back should help that. If the car is then level, we will see if the van is level and if it is not, it may need the height of the hitch adjusted. In any case, this is the understanding of the discussion with the importer/dealer today. They are being very supportive and seem very willing to problem solve. It is obviously to their benefit to ensure that we come out of this satisfied and with a van set up we can enjoy for many years.
So thank you all again, and I promise to let you have updates as we progress as this will certainly be useful to someone else down the track.
Margaret
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Margaret and Graham
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
I am not feeling picked on or blamed, so no need to emphasise that you are not doing so. I have many years of university teaching and in that time, one develops a thick skin.
I am definitely learning. It may well have been the way I was driving. But I took over from my husband driving as when he was driving and complaining about the van swaying, I thought it might have been HIS driving - so I offered to drive. Besides that meant that I could then have something else to concentrate on besides holding my breath as the van swayed.
So, yes lots to learn. I am learning a lot from this forum and will ensure to pass on anything new I learn so that perhaps it may be useful to someone else.
Are you ever going to try towing a van??
All the best
Margaret
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Margaret and Graham
I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. As I woke up I womdered if I was human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human.
I'm not advocating another forum is better but on caravanner's forum at the moment , there is a raging debate about caravan sway and the contributers are VERY knowledgable. Collyn Rivers , who is an engineer as well as half a dozen other things, gives a very good insight to caravan sway and its causes. Maybe can give you some answers