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Hi Guy's. Can you tell me if it'll be O.K. to pull a 750K folding caravan with a T reg 1600cc Ford Focus estate, or will it struggle.

Thanks

Joan is that 750kg the gross weight or the unladen weight?

Your 1600 cc Focus should not really have a problem, you might have to change down a gear earlier going up hills but that's how you have to tow with smaller engined cars. The Focus kerb weight is roughly 1230kg, the 85% rule = 1045kg  so your van laden or unladen at 750kg is within its limits. But do keep an eye train weight of the car caravan combination, especially with estate body. Its easy to fill up the huge space in the back of car, exceed the train weight and unwittingly create a problem. If you've a public weighbridge nearby i'd suggest a small detour one weekend either going or coming back from camping to check it out while the combination is loaded and hitched up.

Hi Dark Wader! Thanx for prompt response.

The 750K is unladen, but I havent a clue what "train weight" is. Some folks have said there could be probs towing with an estate, so should I load  gear into the back of the estate or would it be better inside caravan?

Your car manual should give all weight limits , braked & unbraked. Being 750kg I expect your folder is an Esterel or similar & should be braked (just take a peek behind the wheels). Train weight is the combined GVW (gross vehicle weight) of the entire unit i.e car & trailer loaded up to thier max. All should be explained in the manual. You should have no probs towing with an estate ( thier longer wheelbase make them ideal towers) Just make sure its all loaded correctly . Remember the weight of the trailer should NEVER exceed the weight of the tow car. But to achieve that with your combo , there has to be some pretty serious overloading going on lol.

THUMPER.

One thing to watch with a Focus estate is the noseweight. Never, ever exceed the specified limit (50kg if I remember rightly, but check), especially if you've got stuff in the boot.

Like the Escort beforehand excess noseweight leads to the tail wagging the dog!

Glen

Good point Glen.

Joan, to quickly and cheaply check the nose weight of the camper ( the downward force the trailer hitch will put on the car towbar ) pop the trailer's jockey wheel on to the bathroom scales when its packed ready to go ( preferably not with the trailer in the bathroom!) and adjust it so the trailer sits level. This will give you the noseweight to within an few grammes of the actual noseweight because the wheel is'nt quite at the end of the hitch.  If you really want to be picky and go for a precise weight, stick a short legnth of broomshank into the ball hitch and put the other end on a scrap of plywood on the scales and adjust the legnth of the broomshank by sawing small slices off till the trailer is level.

You only have to do this a couple of times in a year until you've settled on how you load the trailer then it becomes a bit of a redundant exercise unless you've changed how you pack the trailer.

When packing the trailer remember heavy items closest to the axle and low down. Lighter items further away from the axle.