Tuesday, Jun 28, 2005 at 05:23
When you have the van loaded ready for use, take it and have the ball weight and gross weight checked. It is widely recommended that their should be about 10% of gross weight on the ball for stable towing.
We always use water from the rear tank and work forward, so that if anything we have too much weight on the ball as too little will cause you to loose control very quickly.
As Matt said a WDH makes a lot of difference to towing stability.
Even though you have had the rear suspension strengthened so that it doesn't drop like a standard suspension vehicle would, think of it as a see saw. The rear axel being the centre support of the see saw. When you place weight on the tow bar, this caravan weight takes weight off the front axle and this causes problems with steering and braking, especially when something unexpected happens and you have to take evasive action at speed.
In Steve's comparison between Landcruisers & Patrols compared to the longer wheel based F250's Dodge RAMS etc, the longer the wheel base of the tow vehicle the better TOW vehicle they will make. The Landcruiser off the factory floor is about 2600kg so your van when loaded will be equal to of heavier than the tow vehicle, so it is getting to its upper low limit.
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