Thread: stabiliser bars ?

Hi Glenn,

Using weight distribution setup, is pretty much an individual thing. There is no doubt it works well, but if your caravan is light you may not even need it. It is important your tow vehicle is in good shape, and the vehicle and caravan are level under tow. You also need to get an idea of the ball weight of the caravan.

A good acid test to start with, is how the caravan and vehicle behave under tow. If the caravan feels lively and is pulling the vehicle around, you obviously have to do something.

A further check on how the weight of the van effects the vehicle is also pretty simple.

Get the vehicle and caravan on flat level ground. Measure the vehicle heights without the van connected. It is not critical how or where, but you need to be consistent. I find the bottom edge of the wheel rim, vertically to the inside lip of each arch/flare works well. It cuts out variations in height due to tyre pressure. Now connect the van, ensuring the van is level once connected. ( most vans have a level built into the front A frame ) Remeasure the vehicle as previously. Typically the rear end will drop and the nose of the vehicle will lift, once the van load goes on. If this variation from unloaded to loaded is say more than 10-15ml on the front, and 20-30ml on the rear, you may need some help to level the vehicle. IMO, pretty hard to put a definitive figure on this, as each vehicle/van is different.

Note that you can get a variety of towing lugs with different offsets, to allow the vertical position of the towball to be moved to allow a level tow. If you decide to go to a WDH ( weight distribution hitch ) the std coupling allows vertical movement of the ball, and some angle adjustment.

The other point I would make, is that if you are using up your vehicles load capacity with internal loading such as fridges and draw sets etc, and then intend to add a caravan to the equation, you are undoubtedly going to have to mod the vehicle. The WDH can handle the van, but you are asking too much for it to also fix up your vehicles issues.

Airbags are an option on the vehicle, or if the load is constant, such as draw sets and wheel carriers etc, I would recommend a heavier coil.

Hope this helps.