Thread: What happened to your Discovery 2 today?

I totally agree you have some right points, but I am sure there are many cases this 10% is not need or not applied. Many of European 4WD have 3.5T towing capacity (Mercedes, Land Rover, VW...) but they only have 250gk towball rate.

Im not towing for living, but I do tow several thousands kms with 3.5T trailer and boats behind. Also I have towed through some of worst storm when the wind gut was around 90 -100km/h. (Not with my current D2a though).

I believe anyone tows 3T - 3.5T boat trailer/trailer frequently would agree that there are hundreds of small activities, checks, notices, and essential skills that the driver needs, beside the 6% - 10% tow ball weight to make sure it is a safe drive.

Originally Posted by trout1105

Any trailer/Van should be loaded so that 10% of its gross weight should be pushing down on the towball, Having the the trailer loaded with less than 10% towball weight is dangerous not only to yourself but to other road users as well.

With a boat trailer it is pretty important to have the weight on the towball especially with the leg up while pulling up a steep boat ramp.
It is also handy to take the weight off the trailer wheels when launching/retreiving off the beach as 4WD tyres are designed to run in sand and as a general rule boat trailer tyres don't offer too much floatation even after you have dropped the air in them

Originally Posted by gavinwibrow

Trout - for once I disagree with you, as do many northern countries.
I find around 6% towball downthrust perfect for my D4 pulling the 3.5T brick, and it was the same with the D2a (albeit a bit slower up the hills) - but much more relaxed driving. HOWEVER, I always made sure that I also had a slight lower trailer front end than the rear.

Don't claim to be as expert as some on here, but 50 years of heavy vehicle driving might count for something.

My thoughts are the sme as yours. I think 10% is too much ball weight for heavy trailers and for the Disco2 also.

The high ball weights unload the front too much and they don't stop, and they push the back of the car around too much in corners generating instability and twitchiness. Thats why the D2 goes to a high tyre pressure whenever a trailer is coupled up. I actually measure the coupling height before loading, and for car trailers, heavy loads etc I look for no more than about 1" drop in towball height. They stop properly like that and they corner like the trailer isn't on the back. You're also blinding less people when towing at night.

Successful day,
1. new accelerator pedal and throttle hiccups appear to have gone
2. New in tank fuel pump and all running smoothly...seems smoother on acceleration and at slower speeds....placebo affect..???

Just got this headrest for the boy. Its LCD is much more awesome vs. my 10.2 inch headunit LCD.

What happened to my Discovery today? ....Well, not much at all, she didn’t even turn a wheel today, cos she’s enjoying a break from service atm...

Just on towball weight. Of course a boat with maybe 500 kg swinging off the back will need high towball weight.
Have you blokes seen the UK university study that is years old now that shows that it is where the weight is that matters and the heaviest weights should be over or near the axle to reduce the pendulum effect.
They concluded that if that was done that 5% was OK and UK caravan manufacturers generally follow this. AFAIR Swift or another manufacturer paid for the study.
Regards PhilipA

Originally Posted by onebob

What happened to my Discovery today? ....Well, not much at all, she didn’t even turn a wheel today, cos she’s enjoying a break from service atm...

looks like the spider invasion we have here has hitch hiked with you and then made home on your disco, forever cleaning cob webs on the cars here Rob