Thread: Weight balancing hire car trailers.

Originally Posted by nrs91

A few notes from my experience towing with my 90, 110 and Disco2 all over the UK:

Keep the trailer level or at worst slightly nose up
Car trailers rarely have load sharing suspension meaning that for the weight to be distributed evenly between all four trailer wheels the trailer must be level, if it cant be level then have it slightly nose up so the weight is more on the rear axle than the front, making the trailer behave like a longer more stable trailer.

Run a decent amount of noseweight
Land Rover weights are normally designed with 150kg trailer nose weight in mind (Gross Vehicle Weight is normally 150kg lower than the max axle weights added together).
That 150kg nose weight helps the back of the car grip and stabilises the trailer (the cigar and cocktail stick scene in the film "The Fastest Indian").

Dont run too much noseweight
With the large rear overhang of a 110 or a Discovery large noseweight starts taking weight off the front axle... making the steering vague and handling unpredictable at least.
90s dont suffer this problem anywhere near as badly.

Strap down the wheels of the vehicle being towed
If you hold the wheels to the trailer the vehicle on the trailer will not be going anywhere (unless its a half finished project with lots of bolts missing).
Strapping to the chassis or body will only lead to lose straps as the vehicles suspension cycles over bumps.
Though if you have a vehicle with a large body like a Marshall bodied 109 ambulance then extra straps to help control the body movement can be a blessing.

Hope these observations help!

Not sure I agree with this opinion (in Australia). Load sharing is quite common (once again, in Aus) and a requirement with some specific exceptions. If your suspension does not have load sharing I believe there is a % reduction applied to the GVM. IIRC non-load sharing components need to be capable of 120% of the load.

Originally Posted by pop058

Not sure I agree with this opinion (in Australia). Load sharing is quite common (once again, in Aus) and a requirement with some specific exceptions. If your suspension does not have load sharing I believe there is a % reduction applied to the GVM. IIRC non-load sharing components need to be capable of 120% of the load.

Fair enough Paul,
In the UK its almost like they cant be arsed to make a decent trailer due to the cheaply available off the shelf components (the trailer manufacturer is pretty much just a chassis and wiring loom manufacturer).
So some trailers run leaf springs but most run the indespension rubber torsion bar style units, neither of which provide any inter axle load sharing.
It makes them ride like crap unladen too!

What load sharing designs do you guys have in Aus?

Beam type rockers, leaf springs with a rocker in the middle rather than eyes/slippers. They're just the most common off the top of my head

Originally Posted by donh54

Beam type rockers, leaf springs with a rocker in the middle rather than eyes/slippers. They're just the most common off the top of my head

load share springs.JPG