balls (of the tow type)

[lee celtic]

Hi all

Just a quick question .

I have lifted my Disco and put big boots on it too.This weekend I am planning to buy a Caravan to take to the may day mud thingy so can anybody tell me how high the tow ball is suposed to be so I can make up a drop plate tomorrow at work .Please give the measurrment from the top of the ball to the ground not the bolts as there are so many types and I don't know whitch I've got  :D

Cheers Lee..

[DPG]

Same set as your's put a drop plate on and the top of the ball is 19"

[Stormin]

I set mine about 16".  I also make the drop plates with various sets of holes. Gives some adjustment for different trailers. To tight to buy a Dixon Bate. :D

[Merlin]

My c/van, an Elssis Wisp 400/4 , has a top of towball height of 16.5".
Anyone got the Bulldog bracket that goes behind the towball for sale?
Didn't use it for the S111 but now I need it for the Rangie I can't find it anywhere, so much for a "tidy" garage.--Cogs

[lee celtic]

stormin wrote

tight to buy a Dixon Bate.

I've got an ajustable on it but it won't ajustable enough down as me cars got long legs so I'm putting a plate between the car and the tow hitch to lower it a bit so if the average is 16" the I'll drop it about 4" should do th trick :D

[Range Rover Blues]

I belive they should be 18" to the top of the ball, every towbar I've fitted comes to about 17 1/2" on a 'used' car.  It's quite possible that your caravan could be lower, say about 16" to the top of the ball, but remeber that towballs should only ever be lowered by drop plates, not raised.
You should add the correct noseweight for your car to the towbar then measure the height of the towball, then sit your caravan level and measure the height to the top of the hitch, this will give you the most accurate measure of how much you need to lower your towball.

[Wanderer]

You should try to tow with the nose down. If the nose is high then you'll get a pendulum effect off the caravan and be in trouble.
Don't ad weight at the rear to counter excess weight at the front end. Another recipe for disaster.

Ed

[lee celtic]

Thanks Guys

I bought a caravan this weekend from a dealer in Manchester got a good deal too. :D

It says in the book that comes with the van that the hitch height is 16" so it will work spoton .

Me and Dom (v8seriesone) put a tow ball together using some bits he had on one of his range rovers and a bit off a defender and even if I say so myself it looks the mutt's nuts I will be picking the van up next week after the workshop there gives the thing a clean bill if health (they are going to  service every thing and make sure every thing works as it should )

So May day Mudfest here we come 8)

[Wanderer]

Dunno if it's your first caravan or not but just in case and to save you a few quid.

When you go to pick up your caravan make sure you've degreased the tow ball. It may have a friction stabiliser hitch fitted and grease will kna... ruin the friction pads and the hitch is expensive although you can renew the friction pads. About £35 though.

Ed

[lee celtic]

I have heard that grease on the towball can cause problems with woblestopers good thing is the towball me and Dom put together hasn't had grease onit for a good while :lol: hasn't even had a car attached

Thanks for the advice and if anybody else has any more (even if you think it sounds stupid) please give it to me. It is my first caravan and I am a total novice and need all the help I can get. :D

Not too proud to admit being dumb 8)

[Bush Tucker Man]

Use spray-on Brake-Cleaner to degrease the tow-ball before hitching up if it's got a stabiliser-hitch fitted.

Otherwise as Ed says it's (circa) £25 for new pads for an AL-KO (the red hitch)
if it's blue (Winterhoff) not too sure, but presumably a similar price.

[lee celtic]

Hi All

From memory the caravan has a plain silver /galv hitch does this mean it has no stableizer fitted and if so do them bulldog things make a big difference  :?:  as I havn't towed a caravan before I don't know you see :D . Also are there any tips for actual driving I know when on a bike if you get a bad wobble (tank slapper) you nail the throtle and it clears ,is there anything when towing I need to know along the same lines :?:

cheers Lee.

[muddyweb]

Loading the caravan is important... you don't want to get a lot of extra weight in it really, and the weight you do load needs to be evenly distributed and biased to the front of the van.

I've never used stabilisers on trailers or vans, but some people swear by them...  get your rig right and don't drive like a loony is the best way to keep everything stable.

How to deal with snaking is a bit of a controversial point with some people.... one thing is sure, try to avoid braking if it starts to happen.  Keep your wits about you and back off the throttle is generally the best way to stop it.   Pinning the throttle will work too, but you are adding speed to the vehicle which can make things worse sometimes.

Keep your wits about you when passing trucks, other caravans and other such things, they will have an effect on the vehicle.

Hope that helps.

[Digsit]

When we bought our van we bought a bulldog type stabilizer. Our tow vehicle back then was a Peugeot 406 and it did make quite a difference with it fitted, especially on long motorway journeys. It lessend the effect of passing trucks/coaches etc.

However, since buying the Discovery we have not used the stabilizer at all (due to me forgeting to remove the bracket from the Pug when it was sold). We have done a fair few miles without it and to be honest its not been a problem.

As many have already advised, just take care when loading the van. Keep any heavy objects (if you must put them in) over the axle and LOW DOWN and bias the weight towards the front. Our sits and tows perfectly when we have two gas bottles and spare wheel in the front locker.

[Bush Tucker Man]

When we had the Challenger I didn't bother with a stabiliser or quite a while (didn't use one when we had the 90 either)
Never had any problems with it even from passing National Express coaches
But someone offered me a Bulldog 200Q at a good price, so in for a penny....

Ran it for a while & then it got 'creaky', cleaned the pads & re-torqued it.
It was a lot stiffer after re-torqueing, so it was never previously set up properly.

Still never noticed any differance, but the 'blade' type do prevent pitching to a certain degree.

Now when we bought the Elddis that was another story entirely, it had a standard hitch (on pick-up)
Within 100yards of joining the M62 it was snaking, but admittedly it was totally empty & is about 7foot longer than the Challenger, so there's a lot  of side/surface area to catch a trucks slip-stream.

I bought a Winterhoff (as factory-fitted to Elddis) & it's stopped it all dead, bar the occasional sway dependant on the type of artic overtaking - I found that curtain-siders displace the air in a weird pattern due to the non-rigid sides.

Some BWSOW photos here