Peter, I am somewhat perplexed about your measurements VW hith v HR 350mm to 450mm seems unlikely 450 is close to 1/2 a meter maybe you ment 35 to 45 mm, anyway, I have overcome this by having the shank re drilled bringing the distance closer by 65mm..My question re sway controls was the friction control units available as an after market product I don't require a ESC product as this is part of the VW’s electrics
Johannes
I think you may have misunderstood the function of the ALKO ESC and the Touareg electrics with the tow pack. My apologies for not explaining this clearly.
The VW tow pack affects the
Touareg itself, including auto shift points, braking etc, and works on the Treg only.
The ALKO ESC is a seperate system on the Caravan that senses a sway in the van and applies the
van's brakes, and does not affect the cars brakes.
the two would work to compliment each other, not as alternatives but operating on different parts of the rig (car and van).
In that sense the ALKO stabiliser hitches operate on the connection between car and van and again compliment rather than act as an alternative to the electronic stability aids.
From that point of view, I recommend and have found very useful the equivalent BPW stabiliser hitch (equivalent to the ALKO hitch) for use with my much lighter Euro Van (around 1500KG). How well they would work with a van twice the weight, I cannot say. I doubt it would hurt though
Overall I think that stability can very much be aided by reducing the overall mass of the towed van, and many people argue that the van mass should be less than the towing vehicle. Not sure I agree, but if that were the case then most vans on Australian roads would be too heavy for the vehicles towing them.
In relation to the distances, yes I did mean 350 to 450 mm. On mine the distance from rear axle centre line to towball centre is 930mm. Following some data gathering Collyn Rivers has posted on Caravanners forum
Caravaners Forum • View topic - Caravan Stability Update the rear overhang can be quite considerable ...
as the average overhang (based on data provided many members of this forum) seems to be about 1.33 m and the highest I am aware of (for a extended chassis ute (seen in Pt Stephen) exceeded two metres - and was pulling a roughly 7 metre long van! There is also a surprising amount added by some tow ball inserts - most add about 100 mm but one adds 485 mm! (from the above posted link)
Having compared HR set ups with the factory setup on mine, the overhang with the HR is quite a bit more, 350 mm is only around 1.25m which is short for a LC for example. The factory towball insert also helps with the length too, being around 50mm compared to the shortest aftermarket insert I could find (at Repco at a cheap price) that added over 150mm. As I use this for the dump trailer I have not bothered to shorten it, but it does indicate how long some of these normally are.
Might add that my towbar is a factory fit under the spare wheel carrier and is very close to the body - I have attached a photo in this thread
http://www.clubtouareg.com/forums/f67/towbar-question-spare-wheel-carrier-fitted-86605.html and as you can see the towball is tucked well in, and with the short overhang on the Treg I believe stability is enhanced.
Hope this helps
Peter
