drawbar on camper
Submitted: Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 20:54
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govo
Thinking about extending the drawbar on the CT by about 500mm, just wondering is this would improve the road handling ..as i've been told it would improve the reversing making it much easier. The current drawbar is two lengths of 100mm x 50mm RHS coming to a join at the tow hitch.
Reply By: member snailbait - Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 20:58
Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 20:58
hi govo
how long is the draw bar
AnswerID:
130126
Follow Up By: govo - Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 21:18
Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 21:18
It is 110mm straight out from camper .The two lengths of RHS are 120mm long and about 90mm wide at the front of the camper.
The full lenght of each RHS is 200mm which takes them back to the alko
suspension axel.....hope you can understand and di'nt confuse
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Blue (VIC) - Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 21:51
Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 21:51
11cm is a pretty short drawbar...;-)
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384598
Follow Up By: blaster7 - Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 07:12
Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 07:12
Rule of thumb is if you have a balanced trailer and want to extend the drawbar for every 300mm you would shift you axle back 25mm.But in saying that I have just extended the drawbar on my camper to carry a box on the drawbar and found it is easier to reverse and still tows ok without shifting the axle back.
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Follow Up By: DiesAl - Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 11:08
Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 11:08
Blaster7, if you extended your drawbar this would increase towball load wouldn't it ?, shouldn't you shift your axle forward to counter this ?
I'm not having a go mate and I really don't have a clue about this, but when I was thinking about it, if you shifted your axle back wouldn't this further increase the towball load or is this what's intended.
Cheers
Al
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Follow Up By: Member - Blue (VIC) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 13:25
Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 13:25
Hi Al, know you addressed Blaster but I do remember some info on this. Before I bought my camper, I was looking at building a trailer. Went to several manufacturers to ask for assistance in design, most were very helpful. One thing I was told was that for every foot the drawbar is long, you must move the axle back one inch... There was a limit though but I can't remember right now. After all this, I recently purchased a 6x4 trailer from a reputable manufacturer for garden/tip duties. The drawbar is 1250mm long and the axle is dead centre of
the tub...???
FollowupID:
384686
Reply By: Member - Blue (VIC) - Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 21:58
Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 21:58
A little more serious now... The drawbar on my
Tambo is approx 1700mm. If yours is 1100mm(as I suspect), another 500mm will make a difference to how it responds when reversing. It will slow the reaction time of the trailer, giving you a little more room for error. Whether or not it will improve roadhandling I can't say. I'd imagine as long as it was loaded evenly, the length of the drawbar shouldn't make a great deal of difference.
Blue
AnswerID:
130145
Follow Up By: govo - Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 22:17
Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 22:17
Thanks Blue...yer it is 1100mm..( blonde here..lol )
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Reply By: Shaker - Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 23:15
Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005 at 23:15
Lengthening it will only make reversing easier, but it will be worse in undulating country.
AnswerID:
130159
Follow Up By: traveller2 - Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 07:58
Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 07:58
As has been said it will make it easier to reverse, but will increase the chances of ground contact midway between the hitch and the trailer axle (decrease rampover). It can also cause problems on tight tracks between trees.
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Reply By: govo - Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 09:21
Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 09:21
Thanks for all the replys guys...helped me out a lot
AnswerID:
130201
Reply By: Member - Nick (TAS) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 19:41
Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 at 19:41
!MPG:13!
This is how I lengthened our draw bar on our
Tambo camper.Although you carnt see the actual length added,it was close to 500mm but I ran the RHS back to the box section of the trailer(coloured red)I just cut a piece out of the angle and the RHS(original draw bar) to accept the new draw bar and welded it in with a support bracket on top.The TREG hitch also had to be cut off and welded back on afterwards.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: govo - Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 02:40
Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 02:40
Nick, your drawbar looks exactly like
mine..any chance of a closer side on pic of it.
and as for the rest of you who replyed a big hearty thanks to you all.
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Follow Up By: Member - Nick (TAS) - Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 17:48
Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 17:48
!MPG:14!
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Reply By: AndyR - Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 05:53
Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 05:53
Gidday Govo,
If you extend the drawbar you will increase the advantage of the moment on the front. ie: like making one side of a seesaw longer. As you know this would mean less effort to hold it up and so a decreased force on your towball. By moving the wheel cntres back you offset this by putting the centre of gravity of the entire trailer trailer further forward and hence more weight on the towball. Sorry. Im a nurd.... used to teach weight and balance in aerospace engineering.
Andy
AnswerID:
130349