AnswerID: 71229 Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004 at 10:36
duncs
replied:
Rosscoe,
When you adjust your coupling height be very careful not to have it too high.
I am not an expert about all the physics involved but I do know, from a rather scary experience that if you get it wrong the van will drive the car. I once loaded a box trailer with the aim of avoiding the back of the tow vehicle being too low. This meant that the weight was not evenly distributed ie too much at the rear of the trailer. This was OK until I was heading down a steep downhill with the right foot off the throttle, it dragged the car all over the road. If I baked it got worse and I was to scared to accelerate.
I know you are not talking about reducing your ball weight but simply having the coupling too high could have the same effect. For example if you are moving a loaded trailrer by hand it is easier to lift once the coupling gets above a certain height, usually horizontal. THis is because gravity allways pulls vertically down if the coupling is too high then the centre of mass is moved towards the rear of the trailer and this could casuse problems.
Like I say I'm not an expert buyt I do know how scary it is when the trailer takes over.
Duncs
Reply 2 of 3
FollowupID: 331433 Submitted:
Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004 at 10:59
Rosscoe posted:
Thanks Duncs,
Yes, I know what you are talking about.
I am aiming for a level rig. There's the separate issue of distributing the weight of the trailier. Rule of thumb says that ball weight must be between 10 and 15% of the total weight of the caravan. This means that you have sufficient downward force on the tow bar to maintain vehicle stability.
Fortuenately I've always had a very stable rig and with electric brakes which can be operated manually a quick touch on the manual without the foot brake will help to stabilise a wayward van
Regards,
Rosscoe
FollowUp 1 of 1
