Could someone give me some feed back regarding the following;
I have just bought a Kingswood Kensington 1900 Tare 21ft long 3years old in excellent condition,
I am towing with a 1 year old Dmax auto 4x4,with a H/R WDH,
all things tyres etc are excellent, pressures correct ,I have spent some time levelling the van to the car and if anything it has a slight drop forward of 20mm,if I change the hitch position by one hole its about the same drop to the rear barely noticeable by eye regarding the van level.
Tows well but; heres the issue it is fairly rough in the vehicle as in rear end oscillation, is this just a by product of towing or should I give it a bit more drop at the van front,
What is the Ball Weight. That is, what downward weight is on the Tow Ball. Have you weighed this. Also the actual Weight of the Van have you weighed that recently yourself.
Rasty Hi, If all of Your weights are correct as elliemike suggests It should tow like a dream!! The tow ball weight should be about 200kg.
The leveller that You can get the van the better if You have to have a slight drop go for the front.
What I do, when my van and tow vehicle are pretty much loaded I measure the height of the tow vehicle front and rear both sides (The easiest is from the bottom of the wheel rim to the apex of wheel arch) Hitch the van re measure then load the WDH up to the point where the same differences occur. Say LHR was 725mm LHF 700mm then with van hitched LHR 680mm LHF 745 load the WDH up so that 25mm differences occur. At first it will feel that You are putting too much pressure on the bars they are designed to take plenty of load.
There is nothing wrong with stopping after say 10/15 minutes and trying a different setting on your WDH. HR have an excellent web/instruction site. Those funny hex spacers will give the intermediate adjustments that You can't get with the adjustment holes.
Enjoy the new toy.
Mike.
-- Edited by Explorer on Saturday 19th of December 2015 04:42:40 PM
Hi it's a question I have wonder about often , Is better that the front of the van dipping down at the tow ball or is it better to be slightly down at the back of the van , The answer I don't know hopefully some one might know , It has all to do with the height of the HR receiver . When I set mine up park the van and tug on level standing , Used a level and jockey wheel to make sure the van was level and adjusted the receiver on on the tug to the same height , This sometimes will depend on lining up the holes , So if this is not possible is it better for the front of the van to be slightly down or slightly down .
Who needs a WDH? If the van is loaded correctly with a ball weight under the maximum recommended for the towing vehicle all should be good. WDH's are an Aussie tradition that some people still call ''sway bars'' but do nothing to reduce lateral movement (sway) while towing. Braking & vertical movement (pitch) should also be fine provide that you have the van loaded correctly. Factual information but ducking for cover after giving it.
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Who needs a WDH? If the van is loaded correctly with a ball weight under the maximum recommended for the towing vehicle all should be good. WDH's are an Aussie tradition that some people still call ''sway bars'' but do nothing to reduce lateral movement (sway) while towing. Braking & vertical movement (pitch) should also be fine provide that you have the van loaded correctly. Factual information but ducking for cover after giving it.
DD Hi, agreed that both vehicles should always be loaded correctly.
If Rastys vehicles are loaded 100% correctly He is then going to load approx. 200kg onto the towbar taking leverage behind the rear axle into consideration, that large amount of weight must come from somewhere, the only place that it can come from is the front wheels. A weight DISTRIBUTION Hitch transfers some of that weight back onto the front wheels, that is all.
I believe that it helps my vehicle setup. If I get a better safer ride then the few a $s is worthwhile. I can only offer experiences from my own Towing experiences with & without WHD's and feel that anyone offering advise should do so from their experiences and not from what they think might be the case.
Hi Rasty welcome. I have towed with and without a weight distribution hitch, had several cvans and trailers. As was said in an earlier reply, it depends. Maybe of some help if you visit this link http://caravansplus.com.au/catalog/help-tips10.php and have a good read. Regarding the towball weight, there is no specific required weight to be on the tow ball, all that needs is a positive weight to keep the trailer/van hitch in positive contact with the vehicle tow ball, as little as 60-80 kgs is sufficient. Also when loading your caravan place as much of your heavy stuff close or in the centre area of the van. Dont make the mistake of trying to balance the towball weight by moving heavy items to the rear or to the front of the van as a very dangerous "pendelum" sway effect will occur. Hope this helps and that you have many safe and happy kms travelling this country.
-- Edited by Graden on Saturday 19th of December 2015 10:32:27 PM
Hi rasty We tow a 3 ton van with a 2013 dmax 4x4. Spacecab Auto. It tows perfectly with no shaking or back end movement we donot run aWDH. There is something wrong with the loading of your van or ball weight We have noticed that filling water tanks can affect the van on the ute. We found that the big water tank behind the axles tended to cause the van to shake which we could feel on the ute. We now tow with tank empty. Where your load your van in relation to axles and height makes a big difference to how it tows. Start by checking ball weight. Ours is 180kg. Then look at what weight you have with regard to height and distance from axles on van. Hope this helps pm us if you want more info. Chooknphil
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Thanks for all the replies ,to chooknphil the towball load is 350kg for the 15 Dmax with a 3.5 tonne tow the van is 165kg towball first towed fully unloaded ,I have just towed to the south coast via brown mountain with minimal stuff although I did fill boht water tanks,it seemed to be a bit better with some more forward weight.
I do know that a complaint/winge of the hi-lift Dmax MY15 4wd is a very stiff butt on it ,I will probably find that it will improve over time miles and getting used to it all.
