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Topic: nose weight

brisan12

09/6/2012 at 8:32pm
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Help please; I have a Peugeot 407 with A nose weight of 60kg, I want to tow a swift challenger sport 564 that has a nose weight of 70kg with front locker empty, if I put a 6kg calorlight gas bottle in the locker it will be 76kg.

Any advice on this problem will help, apart from obvious( get a lighter caravan or get a bigger car)

Aceselect

09/6/2012 at 9:05pm
Location: Nottinghamshire
Outfit: Sprite Alpine 2 Caravan

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Look at your loading and place heavier items at the back of the van, this should bring your nose weight down.

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David
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brisan12

09/6/2012 at 9:53pm
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Thanks for the idea,may try it, but don't usually load caravan,apart from empty water/waste containers. I carry most stuff in car

tango55

09/6/2012 at 9:57pm
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450

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Basically the caravan is much like a see-saw balancing over the axle and the advice that Aceselect have given is absolutely right. If you can't do this then it's obvious you're never going to reduce your caravan noseweight.

brisan12

09/6/2012 at 10:37pm
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I am aware that it is a balancing act, as I have caravaned for 15 years 3 different vans, but never had the problem before. Maybe it's because I've never had a swift caravan before,mainly Baileys, but thanks for advice.

Trouble is I am less than impressed with the new Baileys poor interier finish.

peterws

09/6/2012 at 10:49pm
Location: Morecambe
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Would`ve thought a 407 would be adequate for most vans . . have they got that much heavier? The 6kg gas bottle will weigh about 18 lb empty . . . round about 30lb full.ie about 13kg. Hope ya sort this out.

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Peripheral people don`t have as much excitement but they sure live longer

brisan12

09/6/2012 at 10:57pm
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Thaks again for comment,407sv petrol has 60kg recommended nose weight 1490kg kerb weight

tango55

09/6/2012 at 11:01pm
Location: Lichfield
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I also have this problem as well because the towball limit on my car is 75 kgs. but the 7% noseweight recommendation of my caravan is 84 kgs. so I have had to change to 2 x Calor-lite cylinders from the standard steel type and travel with a drained water system so there is no water contained in the hot water tank. This has helped to reduce the noseweight but I carry 2 x empty water carriers, an empty wastemaser and a 25 metre electric hook up lead in the end shower compartment and have finally managed to get the noseweight to between 70 - 75 kgs. It's a matter of doing what you have to do in order to get the noseweight down but once it has been accomplished you know basically how to achieve it each time before hitching up..

brisan12

10/6/2012 at 8:00am
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Thanks for all your help . Maybe I'm a little over cautious when it comes to weights.

Not putting heavy things rear of caravan etc.

corni

15/7/2012 at 7:26pm
Location: Doncaster
Outfit: Peugeot Autocruise Starfire 2 berth

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I have mnaged to get my nose weight down to 65k.

our caravan is a compass magnum classic and weighs nearly 1400k

is this ok? can the nose weight be too low.

cheers

Is that all#60mph!!

15/7/2012 at 7:31pm
Location: yorkshire
Outfit: MG zt 190 estateBailey ranger 550 6

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Put the gas bottle in the car and maybe some lighter items from the car into the van i wouldnt go for putting things at the back of the van wouldnt want the (very heavy tail) to wag the dog my self!

Tonkarav

15/7/2012 at 7:32pm
Location: Fife
Outfit: Adria Adiva 552PH

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Yes, noseweight can be too light. The CC recommends that 50kg is the absolute minimum

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neil and lena

15/7/2012 at 8:29pm
Location: Dumfries
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you may encounter stability issues with the 60kg limit ,
A change of car or lighter van might be a better option also your proposed outfit would be a 97% match so not so good

Post last edited on 15/07/2012 20:41:00

misterg

15/7/2012 at 10:52pm
Location: East Midlands
Outfit: Coachman VIP 575.Santa Fe

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if you have a mover get it fixed behind the axle. Move battery as far back as you can or change to a smaller one if it is in front of the axle or a heavier one if it behind the axle. Move the spare wheel as far back as is safe.

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Mister G

tango55

16/7/2012 at 10:43am
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450

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If you carry the majority of the load in the car then it may be best to share the load between car and caravan. To put the idea into practice you need to ask yourself a question. If an explorer is pulling a sledge behind him over snowy terrain, would he be best to (a) carry everything in a ruck-sack with an empty sledge (b) put everything on the sledge making it heavy or (c) carry the full load shared between the person and sledge? The answer is (c) which needs no explanation so the car and caravan are identical on this basis. Therefore the solution is to share the load between both car and caravan and the items carried in the caravan put on the floor just behind the axle to help reduce the noseweight. It's then a matter of trial and error to determine how far behind the axle you need to load to achieve the required noseweight.

Surfer01

16/7/2012 at 6:04pm
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Quote: Originally posted by Aceselect on 09/6/2012
Look at your loading and place heavier items at the back of the van, this should bring your nose weight down.

That is a very bad idea as the tail may start to wag and that is a snake from which you cannot recover!

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