Preparing a Vehicle for Towing Feedback

Not the Kingswood!!.......
If you have a 750kg camper, theoretically you shouldnt have more than 75kgs on the towbar. 75kgs on the back of a Kingswood should be hardly noticable are the coil springs weak & sagging with age?
What about a set of air shocks to assist?

Hi there tophat, jeez your going back a few years now lol, great to see the old HQ still going well for you great old reliable car they obviously are. Set of air shocks would be the way to go, had them in the back of my HQ and my HZ for towing the van, 750kg not to much weight anyway but correct weight distribution even with 750kg is still important. If you were towing heavier weight I would say upgrade he springs to heavy duty. In saying that have they ever been replaced ?? They would have well and truly sagged by now if running original ones from day one.Here's a webpage here for you if your interested in the specs on the hq's

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/holden_HQ_technical_specifications.htm

Regards Steve

You should be able to get a set of Polyairs to fit seeing the HQ onward had rear coils. It would be a matter of contacting Polyair to get ones of the correct size.
Better idea than air shocks as the stress goes to the spring mounts rather than the shock mounts which are not built for it.
Regards Philip A

We set a HQ up for towing when the old man had one, air shocks are a waste of time, the best solution was heavy duty coils which would still be available from big name spring places like Carrolls or Lovells.
A good set of gas shocks like Monroe wylies will complete the package.
They were very strong in the rear body and can tow a lot more than 750kgs when set up properly. They are also much stronger than many monocoque (sp?) 4wd's too.

tophat

There is something not quite right here. You say you have fitted new heavy rear springs and the rear is still way down with a trailer of only 750 kgs. You also say the tow ball is too low and the tongue could be too long. The problem could be too much weight on the tow ball, too much in the rear of the car, the wrong tow bar or a combination of the lot.

I think you need someone to have a look at it. It is next to impossible to solve a problem like this on the net. I would suggest you take the car fully loaded to a reputable trailer specialist and see what they think.

Be careful if the tow bar is not a genuine Holden or Haymen Reece. Cars with rear coils have bodies designed to take the rear end weight above the axle. The bodies are usually much more lightly constructed behind the axle than a leaf spring body. They have a major load bearing point much further back at the end of the spring. I have seen Commodore sedans with ripples in the rear quarter panels running down from the bottom corners of the rear window to the top of the wheel arch. They were caused by cheap non genuine tow bars that did not have the very necessary long tubular extension running forward from the bar to the body above the axle. I don't know if the HQ can suffer the same fate but they are a coil sprung vehicle with no rear end support from a leaf spring so who knows?

A correctly loaded HQ with the right bar and a small trailer like yours should be sitting up properly in standard form. You have to work out why yours is not then correct the problem. It should not be necessary to turn to aftermarket parts.