AnswerID: 152637 Submitted: Thursday, Feb 02, 2006 at 22:44
atoyot
replied:
Most likely, with a Tare of 1000kg, fully loaded the can will probably be in the vicinity of 1300kg. Now with the ideal ballweight of 10% of the loaded weight, you could expect the ballweight to be around 130kg. You need to loadup and measure the ball weight, either by going to an expert who might have some towball scales, or using the bathroom scales and some pieces of wood (I'm sure there are links about how to work this out). Once you have your ballweight, it is just a matter of ensuring your towing gear is within spec.
One point that probably should be made here is that it is better to have a bit more than 10% ballweight than less. Lower ballweights, often with boat trailers (for example) can lead to instability more than a higher ballweight. With your setup, if the ballweight is above the rated max, be careful to not just move things around in the van to bring the ballweight down, as the lower you go under the reccomended 10%, the more the chance of stability issues.
Even though all this can be a hassle, it is worth the fiddling around and setting things up correctly, as your safety is paramount (as well as other road users) and with a well setup rig, it is much more relaxing towing as well. I can understand your statement about getting a consistent response, but reputable caravan retailers should be pretty much on the ball. Hayman Reece might be able to point you in the right direction. The only other thing might be to check the rating of the 4 bar levelers, as they may be a bit light. Next step up would be the HR 250kg hitch, but you'll need to get the correct towbar first.
Hope I haven't muddied the waters!
regards
Andrew
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