Thread: Towing my caravan with my D2 is very ordinary

Sorry S_B, maybe my FU,
and helpfull suggestions are never premature,,

Sharkee
Hope you solve the towing issues, here are some suggestions I have applied over 40 years.
1st rule of towing anything successfully is ball weight (yours seems to be in the ball park- little light)
2nd rule. measurement between centre of the tow coupling and the wheels MUST be equal or it will tow like a "three legged dog" and give you tyre trouble as well.
3rd rule. Ensure you do not take to much weight off the tow vehicle steering wheels, it will almost guarantee sway.
Unable to see in your pics if the Tandem Set Up has "Rocker Springs", if so check that is not one that is "Walking" as some of them do and therefore almost impossible to keep in a straight line.
Best Regards and hope you solve the problem
Harry

Originally Posted by Nanna Truck

Sharkee
Hope you solve the towing issues, here are some suggestions I have applied over 40 years.
1st rule of towing anything successfully is ball weight (yours seems to be in the ball park- little light)
2nd rule. measurement between centre of the tow coupling and the wheels MUST be equal or it will tow like a "three legged dog" and give you tyre trouble as well.
3rd rule. Ensure you do not take to much weight off the tow vehicle steering wheels, it will almost guarantee sway.
Unable to see in your pics if the Tandem Set Up has "Rocker Springs", if so check that is not one that is "Walking" as some of them do and therefore almost impossible to keep in a straight line.
Best Regards and hope you solve the problem
Harry

Thanks Harry, I'm hoping that filling the water tank might put a little more on the ball but in saying that it probably will take a little more of the steering something I feel that can only be fixed using level rides/WDH. I will measure it over the weekend to see if axles are right. Yes it does have rocker springs and I will have a look at them also.
Thanks
Steve

Did'nt get the testing done was too busy but hopefully this weekend

Originally Posted by Sharkee

Thanks to everyone for the replies and advice its much appreciated.I never thought that it could be too light on the ball. Just a question if its light I should be able to lift or near lift the drawbar up should'nt I ? I went out and tried lifting it and its way too heavy for me to even look,like budging it and I'm not a small bloke. Slug burner thanks for the diagram, sounds silly I know but I dont have access to any scales. I do have access to a weighbridge though but how can I weigh just the ball weight only on a bridge? I'm thinking of taking it there tomorrow to weigh it.
One thing I was wondering that might contribute to my problem a little too is, the coupling on the van sits very slightly uphill I feel. So van is not dead level, its not a lot but could this be part of the problem too?.
The van is very low and not a great deal of clearance so I was thinking of underslinging the axles to bring it up clearance wise as even changing a wheel is hard cause if jacked by suspension you cant get the wheel out from under the wheelarch and by doing this that would also give me a downward angle on the coupling which I can rectify with the rear spring conversion to compensate the rear of the disco and level it up with the hayman reece level rides. My annexe walls may not reach the ground but I need to make the whole thing more user friendly.
Thanks again
Steve

put the car on the weighbridge,van off the bridge. Take weight.Unhitch van, support on jockeywheel.Take weight. Difference is the ballweight.

Thanks heichen I've done that already.
Van only weight = 1950kg
Disco only weight = 2360kg
Disco on bridge connected to van with van off the bridge = 2520kg
Ball weight = 160kg

Other weights
Disco front wheels only on the bridge
With van attached = 990kg
Without van attached = 1070kg
So van weight takes 80kg off the steer tyres when attached.

Bit of an update I removed the SLS airbags from my vehicle and put springs in. I had lift springs to go in it but could'nt get them in were too long and they needed the brake lines disconected to fit and I am not keen on playing with them so I fitted standard height springs with polyairs. Unfortunately the rear is higher than it was and the van is on more of an uphill angle. I hooked up my HR WDH setup took the van for a run today and was only slightly better .I then played with tyre pressures a bit, the hitch height, filled the water tank in the van and went up another link or 2 on the chains and is heaps better but still not happy with it. I will do the suspension checks/measurements on the van next. I feel it definately tows better with the springs/polyairs. Still more testing to do.
Thanks to all that have replied

Steve

Good luck with it Sharkee, I tried nearly everything to get my D2a to tow safely both our van and various trailers we use with work to no avail. Fitted new Bilstein shocks, changed hitch heights, checked the ball weight which was just over 10% even repacked the van and tried different ball weights etc. No matter what I did it towed like a dog, in the end I bought a D3 and the world changed overnight for the better.

On the weekend we drove down the coast and caught up to a line of vehicles behind a single axle flash new off road caravan that was wobbling and swaying all over the road at just 80 kph, it didn't surprise us when we overtook it that it was being towed by a D2.

Sure plenty of people tow with D2's and have no issues, but obviously others like us did and in the end we couldn't be bothered with the on going hassle to try and get to the bottom of the issues. Plus with a D3 you can keep up with the traffic safely and not be a slow moving road block.

A bloke that used to be a member on here used to tow a 2.7 ton 21' off road van with his D2, to get it to tow well he to went down the path of coil springs with internal airbags and a WDH. He reckoned in the end it was pretty good but from memory it took him some time to get it sorted.

cheers,
Terry

Gee I don't know, it maybe that I have not towed my van with anything else but I feel my D2a does a preaty good job concidering it's got 2300kg and 23ft of van hanging off the back of it. We just did a 4500km tour of Victoria and experienced all road conditions, stiff headwinds and some gnarly hills. I was able at most times to sit on 90-95km/h and did not hold up traffic. All the while she returned 13.5 l/100km. Sure, on the steep hills, I got back to second gear (mainly to keep the lid on the EGT's) but she just kept on plugging forward. All the trucks that passed me on the flat were despatched with on the hills. I did get some trailer sway but it was always caused by either cross winds or passing semi's. So for now I'm a preaty happy camper.
Regards
Robbo.