Petrol VS diesel?

My friends I grew up with had a caravan Hire service.

They had 10-15 vans from 13' to 28'6".

They towed them everywhere ...at highway speeds with a 55hp petrol engined vehicle from 1956 until 1967 when they bought a powerful petrol engined vehicle.

The first one was an FJ ute , the second one was a HD X2 wagon....which I think had 100hp

The vans towed perfectly because they set them up properly with the centre lines of the towbar and the centre line of the hitch triangulated exactly to the wheels , and believe me in the 50/60/70's , torsion bars on the hitch.

They were probably ahead of everyone then , but how many people actually align their towbar/hitch/wheels?

Not very many...this why the vans start to sway, because they are actually off centre.

And many are built to a floor plan the client wants rather than one that’s balanced and safe.

See plenty like that....

Kicker was one that had En-suite at rear with Granite benchtops. The kitchen area was stone benches and solid hardwood cabinets were everywhere. 3 water tanks on board and then every conceivable item in, under, on, throughout. All behind a 200 series with a GVM/GCM upgrade.

Owner told me they loved it but dare not go over 85km/h as it was easily shaken. No ****!

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Originally Posted by Tombie

And many are built to a floor plan the client wants rather than one that’s balanced and safe.

See plenty like that....

Kicker was one that had En-suite at rear with Granite benchtops. The kitchen area was stone benches and solid hardwood cabinets were everywhere. 3 water tanks on board and then every conceivable item in, under, on, throughout. All behind a 200 series with a GVM/GCM upgrade.

Owner told me they loved it but dare not go over 85km/h as it was easily shaken. No ****!

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Mines an 80's caravan. The kitchen and heavy stuff is over the axles. its setup perfectly as far as i can tell. Its a handful in gusty winds, particualy swirling side winds (the worst spot i've found is leaving Ballarat), the moutains to the side of the highway seems to create the "perfect storm" for winds that affect caravans. A couple of the mountain ranges up in Queensland were almost as bad. Some days with no winds you can tow it at 100km/h and it's bloody perfect. Other days your doing 80km/h .... and the bastard is walking you all over the place (you have one hand ready for the brake controller ..... as your waiting for it to take off.... the worst is a B double overtaking you without leaving enough room between you and them). Its never swayed badly on me, but as soon as I feel it moving .... I'm on the side of my seat, and put the brake controller on and knock 10km/h off the speed.

A lot of modern caravans have big grey water tanks to the back ... so if you free camp you end up with little nose weight. The craziest thing I've ever seen is the "toy hauler". Any heavy "toy" in the back of one of those things and it's a recipe for disaster.

Everything in industy either uses dog trailers or 5th/semi trailer configuration. Simply because there not nuts enough to use such a dangerous combination of "axles in the middle.... lets cross our fingers and hope its stable) type deal.

Interestingly if you investigate it the worst for safetly are the caravan that "never move". If you watch the bailey caravan videos these are the ones with the weight at the ends... eg: generator, battery system, LPG bottles and full front boot .... two big massive offroad spare wheels and water/fuel drums on the rear bumper. Its takes a lot to get them to start swaying and moving around ........................ But once they do, its all over, you can't "bring them back". The caravans with all the weight over the axles walk around a lot more, but can be recovered (and you probably have a lot more warning when it is about to go pear shaped).

YouTube

the weights at the ends is your typical aussie caravan.

seeya,
Shane L

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Originally Posted by 1nando

Thanks for confirming, like I said BS!

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More like 80 to 85 km/hr holding everyone up[bigsad]

Might be worth a reminder that until about 20 years ago NSW limited the speed of all trailers over 750kg to 80kph - a nice little earner from interstate visitors! And NSW still has no problem with L and P drivers being restricted to 90, even on busy two lane roads with few overtaking opportunities and a speed of 110. So you are going to get a lot of vehicles travelling below the speed limit anyway, quite apart from those who just want to travel slower, and, of course, the ones that cannot travel anywhere near the speed limit, such as a lot of machinery, some overdimension loads, etc.

The speed limit is a limit, not a target.

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Originally Posted by JDNSW

The speed limit is a limit, not a target.

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i dont agree.

if you cant do 30kmh over the limit and weave in and out of traffic, then you shouldnt have a licence.

Choosing to go 20km/h or more below the limit when capable of higher is a breach of the RTA and you can be fined.

Bit different to a vehicle never designed to reach such lofty heights.

P2s can do 100km/h btw....

We did this all as a safety analysis a few years ago. The simple fact remains - willingly holding up traffic or travelling at a pace significantly lower than the general flow of traffic - actually increases your risk.

It’s one of the prime reasons in the USA that vehicles on interstates etc all doing well over the posted limit won’t be booked if going with the flow - it’s about smooth safe traffic flow.

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Originally Posted by Eevo

i dont agree.

if you cant do 30kmh over the limit and weave in and out of traffic, then you shouldnt have a licence.

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30? Have you slowed down?

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Originally Posted by Tombie

Choosing to go 20km/h or more below the limit when capable of higher is a breach of the RTA and you can be fined.

Bit different to a vehicle never designed to reach such lofty heights.

P2s can do 100km/h btw....

We did this all as a safety analysis a few years ago. The simple fact remains - willingly holding up traffic or travelling at a pace significantly lower than the general flow of traffic - actually increases your risk.

It’s one of the prime reasons in the USA that vehicles on interstates etc all doing well over the posted limit won’t be booked if going with the flow - it’s about smooth safe traffic flow.

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We are Not living in the US (Thankfully) and once on the open highway you can travel at whatever speed you like without getting into strife with the constabulary (up to But Below) the posted limit Unless you are "Deliberately" impeding the flow of traffic.
In WA if you are towing ANYTHING, in a truck or a bus the speed limit is 100kph So even by your odd standards 80kph IS acceptable.

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Originally Posted by Tombie

30? Have you slowed down?

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[bigwhistle]