Can a Disco 4 tow a van with 350kg ball weight... I think not fit for purpose..

just noticed this in the D4 era manual (acutally rrs but i imagine its there too)

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Nose weight must be the greater of 50 kg or 7%
of the actual trailer laden weight, up to the
maximum tow hitch load. Nose weight can be
measured using a proprietary brand of nose
weight indicator.

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on another note, i found a weight distribution hitch works for me to shift about 80kg off the rear axle

taking car spare tyre off takes appx 35kg off the rear axle

taking the gonads off takes appx 47kg off the rear axle

about 50% of the weight added to the rear bar of my 23ft caravan is removed from the ball weight of the van

also i saw a video on yt that demonstrated that when self leveling suspension pumps up to level, it actually puts more weight on the rear axle than with the sag, so air bags (even the manual ones added inside coil springs) just make the car level, at the cost of rear axle load, but WDH helps both.

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Originally Posted by haydent

taking the gonads off takes appx 47kg off the rear axle

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That's some big gonads! :lol2:

I suspect a missing decimal point.

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Originally Posted by Graeme

I suspect a missing decimal point.

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nope, they are 32kg themselves, and then due to the offset behind the axle, contribute 47kg to it

Suggestion for lowering GVM and Rear Axle load when towing a van

From my recollection they didn't look to weigh anything like 16kg each, but I didn't remove them and weigh them.

Before our last trip I weighed the car and van, very disturbing rear axle weight but won't go into that but what I did find interesting was that even with self leveling suspension when the van was hooked up it removed 100kg from the front axle and put it onto the rear.
You would expect weight transfer if a car sagged on the rear and lifted the front but not when the car is still level, I hate to imagine what happens to the average Ute that tows with the rear down 3 inches and the front pointing to the sky
Asa side note I didn't think weight distribution hitch could be used on a LR with air suspension

Self-levelling won't affect weight transfer.
To set a WDH, before lowering the coupling onto the ball, open a door, press the raise switch, lower the van onto the ball then set the WDH to raise the rear perhaps half-way to levelling the car. The lower switch can then be pressed then the door closed to remain at normal height. That ensures that the WDH isn't set too high.

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Originally Posted by Graeme

From my recollection they didn't look to weigh anything like 16kg each, but I didn't remove them and weigh them.

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I did and they are dense as f

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Originally Posted by discomatt69

Before our last trip I weighed the car and van, very disturbing rear axle weight but won't go into that but what I did find interesting was that even with self leveling suspension when the van was hooked up it removed 100kg from the front axle and put it onto the rear.
You would expect weight transfer if a car sagged on the rear and lifted the front but not when the car is still level, I hate to imagine what happens to the average Ute that tows with the rear down 3 inches and the front pointing to the sky
Asa side note I didn't think weight distribution hitch could be used on a LR with air suspension

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all it does is change the towball weight, the same way this is done through normal mechanisms, a sagging car will actually have less weight on the rear axle than one that has air bag and is pumped level

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Originally Posted by Graeme

Self-levelling won't affect weight transfer.
To set a WDH, before lowering the coupling onto the ball, open a door, press the raise switch, lower the van onto the ball then set the WDH to raise the rear perhaps half-way to levelling the car. The lower switch can then be pressed then the door closed to remain at normal height. That ensures that the WDH isn't set too high.

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it does, ive seen it and can show you the yt video, ill get it after posting this, regards to your porcess i think that might be back to front, as if you start high, hitch up then lower you are acutally putting more load on the bars than you could put on manually, which might be deemed unsafe. in the beginning i would just have the car off, then lower hitch, and start car. but now i know what chain link i like to have them on, i just lower while running, let it level if it wants to and then just hitch the bars to my favourite chain link setting.

The Effect of 4 Corner Auto Leveling on a Weight Distribution System

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj2oqAiltsk

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Originally Posted by discomatt69

Asa side note I didn't think weight distribution hitch could be used on a LR with air suspension

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i was just pointed to this Tow Ball Download weight confusion with state legal where it does refer to them as equalising hitch
pity there's not more detail there as to why, if they think its just not necessary or something else