Thread: D4 sway when towing heavy caravans

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

With that much distance from tow hitch to front van axle it shouldnt sway in a hurricane,,,,

Tyre pressure on the van isnt a load thing,, its to stop the sidewalls flexing, (which is the first part of a van that "sways")

During the design on my van I was given some pearls of wisdom. One of these was to ensure that there was more body surface area forward of the axles than behind to aid stability. The Op's van looks perfect in that regard. Along with the distance from the hitch to the first axle, this van 'looks' like it should tow extremely well, even in a hurricane.

When we talk about sway, it is impossible to quantify. One person's mild sway might be another's white knuckle ride. As noted by an earlier poster, all vans move around behind the tow vehicle, just what is sway & not natural movement has to be learned by experience with the van/tug combination.

I used to tow my van with a D2. Sway or severe moving around was always a feature. Every time a truck passed in either direction, the van moved, when the wind blew, the van moved. I won't even talk about the porpoising, sea sickness inducing motion induced by some of the roads we travel. But all of this became the normal feel of the tow & never felt like it would spiral out of control. It was never affected by water/lack thereof in tanks.

Enter the D4. Same van, packed the same, same generator & spare wheel on the rear bar. Same stuff in the D4 boot as was in the D2 boot. The D4 absolutely owns the van. It's a totally different feel. Passing trucks have little effect in either direction, same for the wind, little effect. Still a bit of porpoising on undulating surfaces but nowhere near that of my D2.

Looking back, the D2/van was my white knuckle ride & the D4/van is just plain boring in comparison. So to the OP, if your ball weight is around the 10% mark & tyres are inflated sensibly, is your van swaying or just moving around as it naturally does?

Glad you have sorted the problem. Thanks for letting us know.