[Wizz954]

If you have a dual axle van as the towball drops the weight on the tow ball will also reduce somewhat as it puts more load on the van front axle creating a countering torque and reducing the ball weight. Raise the tow ball with stiffer springs and the ball weight will tend to go up. How big the effect depends on the van and its suspension design.

cheers
Rohan

Ah ok. For dual axle that makes sense. My van is single axle.

 

[Wizz954]

Not the sort of assurance that I consider be the "be all and end all", but, speaking with a caravan GVM upgrade specialist, he commented that in his experience, if the rig (car + caravan) looks level, you've got half the 'battle' with the weight police won. That of course won't save you when it comes to an insurance claim, but it may just save you the hassle of being pulled up and going thru the motions on the scales - especially if you're only just a few kgs over (and I do mean...just a few kgs)

That is some comfort. I’ll certainly be happier with the rear propped up by the springs and caravan level. I should have all my suspension travel. I know with the standard springs towing the caravan it felt hard and bumpy. Not from stiff springs but being bottomed out. That’s the same feeling I got on my motorbike 2 up with a fat person on the back!

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

My new coilovers are being fitted and hoping to get the car back today. They’ve been having difficulties with the rear ones with sketchy installation instructions. I’m having the ride height set to maximum since the lift kit won’t fit. This should give me 20mm lift which is better than nothing. I’ll be hitching up the caravan and heading up to my mates to test his Towpro brake controller on my van. I’m on another thread about that!

I’ll post pictures of the caravan hooked up with the new springs and without changing the hitch height we’ll see if it sits better with the increase in ride height and stiffer springs. Once I get the desired towball height established I’ll then look for a standard (shorter) hitch of the right height to reduce the leverage and rear axle load. It may have to be custom made.

Anyone know who makes custom hitches?

Why a custom hitch?? Just get an adjustable hitch

 

[gatkins]

In Australia for towing we are subject to keeping below the manufactures limits regards max rear axle load, TBM, GVM and GCM
In most cases the adjustable hitches move the ball mount point further away from the rear axle which exacerbates the issues already experienced in staying under the Touaregs 1530kg rear axle limit
[edit] also adjustable hitches are a great deal heavier than necessary this additional steel further adds to TBM which in turn adds at least 1.35 times its own weight onto the rear axle

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

In Australia for towing we are subject to keeping below the manufactures limits regards max rear axle load, TBM, GVM and GCM
In most cases the adjustable hitches move the ball mount point further away from the rear axle which exacerbates the issues already experienced in staying under the Touaregs 1530kg rear axle limit
[edit] also adjustable hitches are a great deal heavier than necessary this additional steel further adds to TBM which in turn adds at least 1.35 times its own weight onto the rear axle

I'm trying to understand what the custom hitch is going to accomplish here

 

[gatkins]

I believe current tow ball height is low for trailer, adjustable hitches a often big and heavy.
A custom hitch neck should be able to give required height with minimum weight snd rear axle offset

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

I believe current tow ball height is low for trailer, adjustable hitches a often big and heavy.
A custom hitch neck should be able to give required height with minimum weight snd rear axle offset

You can buy 2" or 3" drop hitches that are non adjustable...

 

[TommiT]

Surely the real problem here is the poor design of the trailer?

It needs two axles properly located to give a better fore/aft balance when actually loaded with the practicalities of touring.

 

[Wizz954]

Why a custom hitch?? Just get an adjustable hitch

I’m trying to shorten the distance from rear axle to towball. The current adjustable hitch is at least 140mm longer than standard and all adjustable hitches seem to be longer. I’ve seen hitch tongues that are 2” or 4” higher from max hitch and mr hitches. If that is close then they will do the job.

This is what I have which is very long

 

[Wizz954]

Surely the real problem here is the poor design of the trailer?

It needs two axles properly located to give a better fore/aft balance when actually loaded with the practicalities of touring.

Yes my single axle trailer has poor weight distribution which I can’t do anything about. The height of the tow ball on the car is too low for the trailer so I need to get a higher one whilst minimising distance from rear axle to tow ball.
One day in the future I will change the trailer but most will have the same TBM or higher than what I’ve got already. So I doubt the Touareg will be able to cope.

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

I’m trying to shorten the distance from rear axle to towball. The current adjustable hitch is at least 140mm longer than standard and all adjustable hitches seem to be longer. I’ve seen hitch tongues that are 2” or 4” higher from max hitch and mr hitches. If that is close then they will do the job. View attachment 251225

This is what I have which is very long

View attachment 251226

Ahhh, I see. The OEM Touareg hitch is what you need. It's at least half as long as most aftermarket.

 

[meggsy]

I agree on the hitch length. I queried it with the towbar company as well as it is 140mm further back than a std hitch. By my reckoning that adds 14% to the overall axle to towball distance which increases leverage as me also reduces max towball weight. They said it wouldn’t affect it… but laws of physics says it will. I’ll need to establish the ideal ball height for both the caravan and the boat and then buy 2 std hitches of different heights. When the caravan is level the ball needs to be 51cm off the ground once loaded. For the boat it needs to be 43cm off the ground.

My towball scale works fine. What I’m saying is that no matter how I try I cannot get towball weight below 280kgs. The bike engines are virtually over the axle and has little effect on the towball weight. Packing everything else into the back makes little difference. 50 kgs of fuel cans, genset, camp chairs and tools.

I’ll try a std hitch to see effect on sag but it won’t be high enough for the van.

Just a little additional explanation -- I would say that the standard OEM hitch would add some 14% of the TBM mass to the RAL the additional length would increase that even further. see calculations here - this is for utes with a camper on board Extended Hitch Calc (visualsc.com) the theory of the additional extension to the hitch remains the same.

It would be interesting to see just what the measured TBM is at empty

 

[meggsy]

Sounds like the rear axle load is the thing to watch. Does anyone know the load rating? I don’t have a manual with the car. Where can I get it weighed to check I’m not overloaded?

Hi Wizz954 on the North Side Caboolture Public Weighbridge | 70 Tonne Capacity, 24/7 & automated (cabooltureweighbridge.com.au) many caravan places also do it.

 

[Wizz954]

Hi Wizz954 on the North Side Caboolture Public Weighbridge | 70 Tonne Capacity, 24/7 & automated (cabooltureweighbridge.com.au) many caravan places also do it.

Thanks for that. I looked at the Caboolture site. Interesting how they show weighing with the car and van unhitched. How do you know what the caravan is adding to the rear axle when hitched? I’d like to know exactly since the distance to towball has an effect. Or do they have more instructions when you get there?

 

[Wolfy]

A weighbridge is useful for a quick and dirty look at overall weights, but where you need to worry about axle weights IMO a mobile weighing service that does every wheel and both car and van independently is the way to go. One advantage of such services is you can take the time to see the effect of loading options if you're close to a limit. I used Ezi-Weigh https://www.eziweigh.com.au/; another couple that just popped up on a google search for 'mobile caravan weighing sunshine coast 'are https://www.mobilecaravanweighing.com.au/ and Mobile Caravan Weighing Service | Brisbane & Surrounds

 

[Wizz954]

Ahhh, I see. The OEM Touareg hitch is what you need. It's at least half as long as most aftermarket.

Just depends on the height. Do you know the height of the OEM hitch?

 

[meggsy]

Thanks for that. I looked at the Caboolture site. Interesting how they show weighing with the car and van unhitched. How do you know what the caravan is adding to the rear axle when hitched? I’d like to know exactly since the distance to towball has an effect. Or do they have more instructions when you get there?

I guess you just check on the way in.measure the RAL load while the van is not on the scale

 

[TommiT]

Apologies for Witter-ing on about the trailer but have you talked to Trailblazers to see if they have any suggestions?

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

Just depends on the height. Do you know the height of the OEM hitch?

It's at the exact height OEM calls for. Can't remember off memory, 23.x" off the ground maybe? 17.x"? I know, not helpful lol. You can find the OEM height in the manual

 

[Wizz954]

Apologies for Witter-ing on about the trailer but have you talked to Trailblazers to see if they have any suggestions?

I have spoken to them about building a new trailer and immediately they wanted to make it front heavy to counterbalance my maximum payload. I said no, let me decide how to pack my gear and fill up water tanks etc. and build it for my usual payload. Seems that’s how they design them. Same as Royal Flair Raptor toy haulers. Everything is front heavy.
I haven’t asked about the current one as there’s nothing can be done in my opinion. The axle can’t move as the van doesn’t just sit on top. There are wheel arches inside. Everything else like aircon, water tank and slide out drawer is built or located in front of the door and axle and even with the kitchen slide out empty, it is unbalanced. It needs complete re-engineering to relocate the axle and put the door behind the axle.

The only thing that can move is the water tank and it’s 80 litres only.