I am now sitting here almost in tears. I thought I had checked out the figures properly on the towcar match but now I am wondering if I was right. OH is pouring over the car manual.
Please tell me my calculations were right and yours are wrong or I am going to have to sell my lovely new caravan.
I used the What towcar thing and it came out at 92% ... over the 85% I know but we thought we would be okay especially as we don't tend to overfill our vans with excess weighty items. Towed it 170 miles home at the weekend in very high winds and all the gear onboard the van and it was fine...very stable infact. Obviously noticed a big difference from towing the old lightweight Swift but we expected that.
Please, please put my mind a rest - can't afford to replace the car as well now we have bought the new van.... HELP
Don't know kerbweight. According to what towcar it was 1668, or so I thought. Handbook not helpful on this score. Talks about gross vehicle weight at 1640.
Hmmm well here's some figures from Cuddles Abelgratis that seem to say 1619 for the 2002 and 1640 for the 2005 version. They are not always accurate though.
Tbh your best bet is a weighbridge - this will give you the most accurate figure as cars have so many optional extras that yours may vary from the handbook anyway.
Thanks Snowy - I think it is the 2005 model figures that apply but the weighbridge idea is a good one.
Its a TD4 auto. Lovely car really.
Handbook says between 1640 and 1655 but doesn't say what this depends on, if you get my drift. If it is 1640 then we are at 95%....as you say not ideal but it really did seem to pull it well at the weekend. Perhaps if we took it to Scotland up all those hills we may have difficulties.
I am still all of a tremble. I will have to find a local weighbridge to put my mind at rest .... I've opened a bottle of wine. This is potentially a very expensive mistake and after caravan shopping for all that time we should have known better.
Its only a guideline, the 85% rule isnt law!!Dont panic, are you a member of one of the clubs? They will tell you the proper calculations I would think.
------------- Jan:Braids Gretna, Feb Stanwix Park Silloth & Braids Gretna,
The only legal requirement is that the caravan weighs less than the max towing weight of the car - I would have thought the Freelander would have more than a 1650 kg tow weight, no? Is it a diesel? Manual, auto?
If you were happy towing and all felt safe, then I personally wouldn't worry about the 85% GUIDELINE (not law).
------------- 'In later life, you will be more disappointed with the things you didn't do than with the things you did.' - Mark Twain
Yes, the maximum towing weight for the car is 2000 kg, so well within this limit even when the car and van are fully laden. Freelandeer is a diesel auto.
Wine starting to kick in now....stopped crying. Even so, if it's over the 100% I wouldn't feel happy towing the van and would probably look to replace the car....probably to a Disco (hubby works for LR so don't knock it please). He's going to ask at work about putting the car on their weighbridge, or he knows I will be making his life a misery until we know for sure. Poor bloke.
Patches
Sorry to worry you;
I have checked with my brother who has a 2002 4 door TD4 and the handbook is quoting 1619kg kerb weight.
Your van at 1650 MTPM is 50 kg lighter than my 2002 was but the ratio still comes out at over 100%.
If the cars towing limit is greater than 1650 then with your licence your legal. Also the Freelander's noseweight is fine being above the vans 100kg limit.
Now what I would do in your situation is seriously consider having AL-Ko's ATC fitted to the van.[£500]
Your engine is well up to the job, so all you need to address really is controlling stability and the ATC is very good at doing that.
Also the van itself is exceptionally stable to tow so that's on your side. Its just that if you are forced to make an extreme manoeuvre that the mass of the van is not helping you, but with the ATC it will be very much safer.
Cheers John; Keep smiling you have a really good van.
Feeling a little better now. What's an Alko ATC? We have the usual Alko hitch on the van so how does this work? £500 to solve a potential problem like this would be much easier than thousands for a new towcar.