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 Topic: Tow Car Help
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27/2/2015 at 11:40am
Location: sunny south east!
Outfit: Coachman
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OP's question is just fine and those that can, will choose to answer it if they wish - surely point iof a forum is for those to share their own experience and what they use car or camping/caravan wise?
That budget possibly would just get you an under 5 year old 5 series Touring BMW which would most likely have a 90kg noseweight and self levelling suspension. A well specced one possibly auto, would be around 1700kg+ kerb weight and good enough match for around 1500kg caravan
Some of the higher spec Mondeo estate will have suitable kerb weight and ability, and will have a 90kg noseweight
I now have a Volvo XC60 that would be fine for towing that weight and a 90kg noseweight on many of then (check as some lower) . Again budget should be fine for a 2010ish model
I also didn't want a car with less than 90kg noseweight just to give extra margin and if you are towing 1500kg then 75+ is certainly more ideal so you are 5% and above
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27/2/2015 at 11:59am
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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Quote: Originally posted by kazo2014 on 27/2/2015what? haven't a clue what you on about tango, of course your going to get different results if you match different vehicles with a particular caravan! would you expect a freelander to be the same details pulling a swift? that is what you are seemingly suggesting
you seem to not understand the figures that they give on whattowcar
Perhaps I didn't explain it clear enough to what I meant. Basically if you enter the details of just ONE specific caravan (in my case a Coachman 450/2) with a specific car say in this instance a Ford Focus 2.0 ltr diesel you will get a percentage match plus other related details. When you click on 'compare two cars' with the SAME caravan you enter the same details for the Focus plus an alternative towcar say a Volvo V50 2.0 ltr diesel but the results for the Ford Focus are different to what you got in the first place when you did the first percentage match. This is why I found the site to be unreliable but if you don't believe me just pick any specific car and caravan and check the match then use the 'compare two cars' and use the SAME vehicle details plus that of an alternative car and I bet the results for the percentage match are different. The problem then is that you don't know which one is correct out of the two.
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27/2/2015 at 1:51pm
Location: North Essex
Outfit: Caravelair Alba 400
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Quote: Originally posted by Skoda Bob on 27/2/2015
I don't know why people want to load there tow balls to the max, putting extra strain and pressure on it, after all its just a lump of steel held on with a few bolts, I have seen a few folk on the hard shoulder of the motorways, with the van detached due to the ball snapping,
You load towball to maximum if it is required for stable tow. So now you do know.
...& don't tell such fibs...
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27/2/2015 at 2:54pm
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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When you are travelling solo, you apply the car brakes and the front end dips directly over the front suspension so the rear end has the opposite effect whereby the rear end lifts from the suspension thus leading to less traction. When a caravan is in tow the caravan brakes function by means of the draw bar that is compressed against the towball so in order to maintain control and stability you need to apply the appropriate noseweight but not exceed that specified limit. From a standing start the wind will push against the front of the caravan which again causes drag and lifts the front of the caravan slightly so it's important to maintain the required noseweight at all times. Due to the reasons mentioned it is recommended to aim just under the maximum towball weight by means of a noseweight gauge because if the noseweight is too light then this will affect the stability of the outfit when braking and especially travelling down hill.
It's not a matter of unnecessary loading on the towball but a need to understand the science behind it as to why it makes sense regarding making the outfit more stable.
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27/2/2015 at 3:56pm
Location: Rochdale
Outfit: Hymer Nova 470 Mondeo titanium 140tdc
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Quote: Originally posted by sunshinetours on 27/2/2015OP's question is just fine and those that can, will choose to answer it if they wish - surely point iof a forum is for those to share their own experience and what they use car or camping/caravan wise?
That budget possibly would just get you an under 5 year old 5 series Touring BMW which would most likely have a 90kg noseweight and self levelling suspension. A well specced one possibly auto, would be around 1700kg+ kerb weight and good enough match for around 1500kg caravan
Some of the higher spec Mondeo estate will have suitable kerb weight and ability, and will have a 90kg noseweight
I now have a Volvo XC60 that would be fine for towing that weight and a 90kg noseweight on many of then (check as some lower) . Again budget should be fine for a 2010ish model
I also didn't want a car with less than 90kg noseweight just to give extra margin and if you are towing 1500kg then 75+ is certainly more ideal so you are 5% and above
ALL mk4 Mondeo mk4 diesels whether estate or hatch will cope with that weight very well and all have a 90kg noseweight limit. With a Budget of 16k then the Op could buy a 12month old car with negligible miles on it from Ford a Direct or may find one slightly cheaper from a non ford main dealer source.
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Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
Mondeo Titanium 140 tdci
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27/2/2015 at 5:30pm
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Quote: Originally posted by Skoda Bob on 27/2/2015Quote: Originally posted by kazo2014 on 26/2/2015skoda yeti still doesn't fulfil their requirements! wont tow 1500kgs min with a noseweight of min of 80kgs! wish people would read properly
They don't say why they need to have 80KG nose weight if the van is loaded correctly you can run well under that,
I don't know why people want to load there tow balls to the max, putting extra strain and pressure on it, after all its just a lump of steel held on with a few bolts, I have seen a few folk on the hard shoulder of the motorways, with the van detached due to the ball snapping, BTW the Yeti and superb 140 or 170 will tow that weight no problem at all.
try looking at the profile of the person that posted! its not hard to see the caravan that they have being a bailey unicorn cadiz! and that is why the car needs to be able to tow over 1600kgs and have a noseweight of no less than 80kgs! Bob get back in your office and spend more time reading your brochures that your trying to flog and once you have then comment but make sure you do so factually instead of sprouting such rubbish as loads of tow balls snapping! utter rubbish, in 49 yrs of caravanning I have never once heard of it happening or like you claim seen any one on the side of the road with one snapped and I seriously doubt that a single member on this website has ever heard or seen it either!
as for the yeti being able to tow it???? it has a kerb weight of 1555kgs so do explain just how they can legally tow the bailey with that car then
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27/2/2015 at 6:49pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: Swift charisma Skoda Scout 4x4
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http://www.caravantrekker.nl/whattowcar/review.php?typeauto=38&merk_x=Skoda&serie=Yeti
http://www.towcar.info/report.php
http://www.towcar.info/report.php
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27/2/2015 at 6:56pm
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like I said BOB learn to read! check your whattowcar post out,
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27/2/2015 at 8:43pm
Location: Blackburn Lancashire
Outfit: Coachman Laser 650 and Discovery
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Tow balls do not snap. Caravans do come off sometimes, but that usually takes a rollover.
Jim
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27/2/2015 at 9:34pm
Location: Lancashire
Outfit: None Entered
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We paid £14000 for our new Antara last October.There are good deals out there you just have to search them out.
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27/2/2015 at 10:05pm
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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You would have to be an engineer to understand what a forging is but this is exactly how a towball is manufactured. Sheet steel and bars naturally have a grain running through it identical to that of wood but on a much finer scale which means it has weak points in the structure that can break across the grain. Because of this reason, components such as lifting hooks and towballs cannot be constructed directly from steel as the stresses involved would snap the steel immediately which is unsafe to say the least. These particular components have to be constructed by forming the grain contained with the component itself very much like the arteries and veins within the body and the only way to do this is by forging which is to heat the metal to a very high temperature and then pound it with industrial hammers into the shape required ie. a hook or towball etc. so the grain never ends to cause a weakness. When the towball has cooled down the only parts that are mechanically machined are the mounting bolt holes and the 50 mm. ball which is the case on both detachable and fixed towballs. A hook is then tested to see what the SWL (Safe Working Load) is before distortion (bending) and the same applies with a towball which is principally tested in much the same way. A towball could be cast from steel to make the grain identical as a forging which would be quicker than forging except that during the process air bubbles can be captured inside the component which is called 'porosity' which is not 100% guaranteed to make every casting exactly the same. Therefore, by forging a component designed for pushing, pulling or lifting will not snap under any circumstance merely because of the way it is manufactured. I hope this explanation will provide the facts as to why a towball will not just snap off and that the theory pf doing so is nothing more than a myth.
You would think that the weakest point an outfit would be at the towball yet when we see a towcar overturned with caravan in tow you will often see that the caravan is still attached to the towball as the caravan will only detach if the stabiliser mechanism breaks during the collision.
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