Tigger Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 At motorway speed, I sometimes get a bit of a wobble on, it's not all the time but when it does happen, it's a bit worrying. Trailor is a Woodford but it has a rather heavy alloy cover over the top and weighs a ton. Do I need to put a bit more weight at the front or rear to try and compensate for it? I've tried putting an almost full 20ltr fuel can at the front of it but didn't seem to make much difference? Towing car is an Audi A4 TDI and the tow hitch is pretty low!! Cheers Tiggs Quote
Terry Everall Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 Can you move car further forward on trailer? Quote
peterg Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 Tigger, whatever you do, don't try to add weight to the rear to 'balance' it. You can try to move weight to the centre over the axles but first you need to check the noseweight - use bathroom scales and a bit of wood that leaves the towhitch at the height of your towball, it should be around 50-100kgs (check you Audi handbook for the max advisory weight) I had a VW Passat estate a while ago and it was 75kgs maximum but was OK up to about 90-95kgs with a huge box trailer and a bootful of spares/tools etc but the wind did catch it occasionally and give a wobble. Quote
Tigger Posted June 23, 2008 Author Posted June 23, 2008 Terry, Car is as far forward as I can get it, it's also up against steel chocks Peter, Thanks for the tip, I will check it out when SWMBO isn't looking, just hope I don't crack them as out scales are glass Tiggs Quote
Nick Algar - Competition Secretary Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 Hi Tig, Check the towbar height, should be between 17" & 19" high unloaded. This seemed high to me, but both Nissan Navara and latest Motorhome at this height and happily tow at a good lick The Maxda Bonog I had previously was set at 15.5" which seemed OK, but sidewinds could affect it at high speed. Agree with Pete's comments on noseweight. Nick Quote
pete g Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 paul to be fair it was windy and my car was being blown around on the way home. did you get stuck in traffic on m1 Quote
Crazy Eddie Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 Well it sounds to me like you may have too much front weight already and so this could be causing it. Is it single axle or twin? Mine is twin and I had a bit of a wobble when I used the front tool and jerry can holders - too much nose weight. Then I put tools in back of westie and jerry cans in seats of westie and it was much improved. Basically as has been said really you want the weight balanced over the axle with a little bit of nose positive but not too much. (naturally not tail positive that is even worse! ) Also do you load the boot of the car up - that will also make things worse as it lowers the hitch more and so if you can try to relocate stuff from boot into trailer. Quote
Asterix Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 When my trailer gets a wobble on I tend to slow down to 90mph. Quote
stephenh Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 It was particularly windy on Sunday. Maybe slow down in strong crosswinds? I agree that you need to get the greatest mass over the trailer axles or as near to them as poss., to reduce the moment of inertia. If you have the weight at the front and back of the trailer then it will tend to swing the back of the car from side to side, and the tail starts to wag the dog. If the trailer laden weight is quite high for the kerbside weight of the car you may benefit from fitting an anti-snake device. I used one years ago for towing a caravan, and it certaily helped. Quote
dombanks Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 having towed horse about for a while using our frontera i get little wobbles all the time. i just accelerate slightly and the lot straightens up. dependant on the conditions is how much sometimes. mostly it is worse over thetherwall viaduct. there i just try to tuck up alongside a truck what i found more scary is when using the bigger ifor trailer you sometime feel like you get sucked backwards when big turcks but mainly coaches overtake Quote
Darrell O'Neill Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 Just a thought, but would reversing the car on the trailer make a difference, so that weight was further back.. I know it all depends on the axel posistion in relation to the car position... I have a clubman 1200, rear of car flush with the end on the trailer, spare wheels, tool boxes and fuel in front of the car and balance 'feels' right for me. I can see motorway speed (and above) with no probs. (Traffic van) Make sure the hitch is correct height too, Ive had to purchase a extension plate to lower the hitch when towing with my Shogun. Quote
Tigger Posted June 23, 2008 Author Posted June 23, 2008 Trailer is a twin axle and car is put in forwards. Interesting stuff about the nose weight, never knew about that so I'll have to check it out before next sprint. Yes Pete, got stuck in the perishing traffic on the M1, at least the trailer was stable then Thanks guys, food for thought. Tiggs Quote
pete g Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 what time did you get home i got off at junction 16 and went cross country but still did not get home till about 8.45pm Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.