Message Forums

hi look for noseweight

Caravanners' A-Z

www.ukcampsite.co.uk/redirect.asp?redir=http://www.towsure.com Noseweight Gauge
CLICK ON
W39
Our Price £14.95
View Details

They reckon that the ideal nose weight is 7% of the laden weight of the caravan, unfortunately not so easy to establish. As Gram says its very important not to exceed the nose weight limit for your car. That limit should be the starting point for getting it right. Having caravanned for 25 years I am of the view that a van always feels better with the maximum noseweight your car will allow which on average is 65-75kgs but check the car guide.

David

Is all very well lookong at the car manual but if you lookon the ball it self it will most probably say 50kg or even the tow mount it self all these have to be looked at, the hitch on the caravan will have a weight limit as well which will prob be 50 kg.

You can measure it with bathroom scales, place scales under with a jack then jack up the hitch until it is level as if you were towing

Quote: Originally posted by wilkins76 on 19/8/2006

---

Is all very well lookong at the car manual but if you lookon the ball it self it will most probably say 50kg or even the tow mount it self all these have to be looked at, the hitch on the caravan will have a weight limit as well which will prob be 50 kg.

 

You can measure it with bathroom scales, place scales under with a jack then jack up the hitch until it is level as if you were towing

---

Most towballs have 50mm marked on them as that is the standard size! The down load limits for most caravan chasis is 100kgs. In most cases a 50kgs noseweight would lead to instability.

David

So does that not mean that you can't really estimate nosweight until you have the laden caravan and the nosweight weighing machine ?

If you load sensibly then it should be fairly straightforward to adjust one or two items to achieve the required noseweight.  You do need to load up and weigh, as you said, but it is a good idea to weigh when the van is empty apart from the battery, gas and spare wheel if fitted, that way you will know if it is starting out too heavy.  Our spare was at the front and we had to move it to an underslung carrier to get the noseweight down.

Once you have done it the first time if you always load the same you should be ok.

when you load the caravan it is like a see saw you put more on the back then the front will raise , more on the front the back will come up.  Remember as well to much weight on the rear of the car will raise the front up and make the steering very light.

I did a  NPTC 2 day course in towing last year and it is very very scary the pictures and videos i saw by people not obeying the weights on either the hitch, the tow ball or the tow bracket

 am new to caravaning i have had one trip i used 70kg on the nose and i didnt even know i had the van on,however i have just changed my car this weekend but it is still plenty big enough,steve

hi just a point,if your car towbar has 75 kgs stamped on it you must not go over this.if it does have 75kgs try for a weight of 72 kgs on the noseweight.the heavier the better but not over.(it should be stamped on or a stuck on plate).mine is 92 kgs i i aim for 90 kgs.