Tow Ball Height - can you measure?

5096 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Chainsaw, Aug 24, 2016

Trek6006

Discussion Starter · Jul 4, 2016

Have just had a Parkside tow bar fitted and the tow ballseems very high. I just hooked up ourhorsefloat to test the balance and the Touareg goes nose high. The tow bar drops 55mm when I hook up thetrailer which seems excessive. Imeasured the height of the towbar (no trailer), from the ground to the centrepoint of the tow ball the measurement is 470mm. I am thinking of getting Parkside to change the tongue to allow agreater drop in height (about 30mm)

To give me a guide can other people please let me know whattheir measurement is (from ground to centrepoint of tow ball)??

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Steve_L

· #2 · Jul 4, 2016

What year Touareg?
Was the horse float empty/loaded?
Lowering the tow ball hweight won't (IMHO) reduce the rising effect of the nose of the car (unless I have got your description completely wrong).
Are you using Weight Distribution HBitch at all?
Do you have air suspension or steel springed?

K. Go.

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Trek6006

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 4, 2016

Steel springs so can't alter the height
Horse floats are very rigid and short wheelbase compared to caravans or trailers so when towing you need you ball height to be very similar to the coupling height, otherwise the float will simply push the tail of the car downwards and the nose to the sky. With or without horses the weights on the tow ball don't change much as he horses are balanced across the twin axles
Currently with the uncoupled ball being at 470mm and coupled being 415mm there is too much variation. The only way to solve this is raise the float or lower the towball. You don't want to take it too low otherwise you will lose ball downforce.

Just trying to get an indication of standard heights of other cars with steel springs. Either Westfalia / VW genuine / Hayman Reese / Parkside just to see the differences
Any measurements is appreciated

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chrisw

· #4 · Jul 4, 2016

I'm not parked on a perfectly flat surface, but I measured the ball height at 450mm. hope that helps

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Trek6006

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 4, 2016

Thanks ChrisW can you tell me what type of bar you have?

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chrisw

· #6 · Jul 4, 2016

It's not the factory unit. I think it's made by curt manufacturing.

CURT Manufacturing - CURT Class 3 Trailer Hitch #13220

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Ewie

· #7 · Jul 4, 2016

Trek6006
On my steel suspension Treg, I have a factory fitted tow bar, the centre of the 50mm insert on the towbar is at 430mm. The shank has a cranked tongue so the ball height with the crank in the lower orientation is around 460mm. My caravan that applies 210kG at the tow ball drops the back of the car by around 40mm.

At what height is the coupling on your trailer?? It sounds like you may need to adjust either the tow ball height or the trailer coupling .

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schootsie

· #8 · Jul 5, 2016

Does your tandem axle float have rocker type suspension, if so the ball height shouldn't make much difference except to restict axle travel on one of th axles depending on if the float is tilting up or down when connected. If not the rocker type then another option to match the heights is to pack under the trailer coupling if the float is too low. On the ca r end if you have a goose neck style tongue, just turn it over, but that may make it too low possibly. Send pics maybe? John

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SpaceSaver

· #9 · Jul 11, 2016

Toe Ball Height

Trek6006 said:
Have just had a Parkside tow bar fitted and the tow ballseems very high. I just hooked up ourhorsefloat to test the balance and the Touareg goes nose high. The tow bar drops 55mm when I hook up thetrailer which seems excessive. Imeasured the height of the towbar (no trailer), from the ground to the centrepoint of the tow ball the measurement is 470mm. I am thinking of getting Parkside to change the tongue to allow agreater drop in height (about 30mm)

To give me a guide can other people please let me know whattheir measurement is (from ground to centrepoint of tow ball)??

Hi Trek6006,

I'm going to take a direct quote out of "The national Caravan and Recreational Vehicle Towing Guide Edition 7" page 13.

With the tow vehicle loaded to GVM, the tow bar/ball [also referred to as the ball mount or tongue] on the towing vehicle must be capable of being mounted (adjusted) to any one height within the range of 350mm to 460mm (from the ground to the centre of the tow ball).

I have an aftermarket Heyman Reece tow bar and ball mount. The ball mount is is a very straight bar leaving the centre of the tow ball at 550mm of the surface. I bought an aftermarket (SuperCheap Auto retailer) ball mount which is adjustable and now the ball sits at 450mm from the ground.

The Heyman Reece 'tongue' is on the right of the picture and the SuperCheap Auto one is the left of the picture. It has 3 height setting options. Its currently at the preset middle height option. This has put the tow ball at the upper end of acceptable range.

Normally I'm no stickler for regurgitating legislation however I'm new to the towing of a camper trailer and am learning the entire do's and dont's.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

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schootsie

· #10 · Jul 11, 2016

Hi Spacesaver, the only issue I would have with the adjustable unit is that it looks like the ball is a god 15cm further away from the back of the vehicle which makes a reasonable difference to the towing stability. I cringe every time I see one of those massive (seemingly over engineered) adjustable setups with load equalizer mounts sitting WAAAYYY out behind a vehicle. Serious case of dog wagging tail issues as far as I'm concerned. John

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Chainsaw

· #11 · Aug 24, 2016

Hi All, Just happen to read about this when downloaded a lot of info from Erwin.

Touareg 2015 ➤ , Touran 2003 ➤ ,

Vento 1992 ➤ , e-Golf 2014 ➤ ,

e-up! 2014 ➤ , up! 2012 ➤

Guide for using trailers up to model year 2016

Edition 03.2016

2.3 Ball head

Height:

350 to 420 mm, measured from centre of ball head to road surface

Distance:

Minimum of 65 mm, measured from centre of ball head to bumper

Hope this helps.

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Tow Ball Height - can you measure?

Trek6006

Steve_L

Trek6006

chrisw

Trek6006

chrisw

Ewie

schootsie

SpaceSaver

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