Single axle Carapark van. Don't know how old - I bought it S/H in 1964.
Towball to axle 2750
Overall length, back of van to towball 4500
Towball to front of van 780
Tandem Regal. Don't know the age, I bought it S/H in 1993.
Towball to mid point of axles 4050
Overall length Back of van to towball 7000
Towball to front of van ~1000 (depends which bit of front you measure!)
John
JDNSW
1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol
I suspect that they were both designed long before trayback utes were at all common, and they were designed to be towed by cars, with the towbar well behind the rear bumper, and furthermore, narrower than the typical trayback that most vans must be designed to be used with. The Carapark has nothing on the towbar, the Regal has a single gas bottle.
John
JDNSW
1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol
I have two "box" trailers -
#1: Draw bar length to axle, 3.0, to body, 1.9. This one only has a box on the drawbar.
#2: Draw bar length to axle, 2.65, to body, 0.55. This one has spare wheels (horizontally) on the draw bar.
As already pointed out, a longer draw bar gives less sway; lower ball weight; easier reversing.
I don't think this is related to age - I can think of examples of 50s design that had long draw bars, but there were also examples of stupidly short ones from that era too.
Yeah - they used to make them very short. The measurement I gave of 1260mm for my old Viscount is from the hitch to the front of the chassis but the vans front overhangs that by just over 300mm so hitch to front of van is around 900mm. JUST enough not to dint the van if you jackknife it when reversing.
If you need to contact me please email homestarrunnerau@gmail.com - thanks - Gav.
In 1967 I lent my Carapark and my 2a trayback to a close friend for his honeymoon. ......... It still has the puncture in the front skin where the corner of the tray hit it!
John
JDNSW
1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol
Hi, that is correct, but it should be noted that when you decrease the ball weight you increase the GTM (or load on the axles) if you maintain the same ATM and if the ball weight is less than the rule of thumb 9-10% of ATM (ATM is the GTM + Ball Weight added together) then you may produce a more UNstable tow since the van may porpoise and try to lift the back of the tug vehicle. Just saying
On that note, a correctly loaded van (that is the payload inside the van distributed between the tow ball and the axles, so centre of mass is just forward of the axle centre) will have a far greater affect on the towing stability of the rig (ie: tug and van together) This is easier said than done, but you should try anyway, it all helps.
Further, many vans are likely to be overloaded, creating an even more dangerous scenario compared to the poorly loaded van. The weigh bridge is your friend. I also weighed every bit of kit I carry on scales and tabulated the data and I have tow ball scales too.
Another thing often overlooked is the length of the tow ball tongue on the tug. This should be as short as practical to put the tow ball as close to the rear axle of the tug as you can. The best scenario here is a fifth wheeler where it is right over the axle. A shorter tongue will give the van less leverage to move the tug vehicle around. I am afraid those long tray back vehicles aren't ideal for heavy towing.
OK, off the soapbox and onto my measurements.
For the record, I, along with a certified automotive engineer, have redesigned the dual axle leaf suspension using adjustable air to increase the van's ATM, and added 4 shocks to reduce sway. The work was completed by a certified heavy vehicle engineer firm here in Townsville. It tows really well, very very stable.
My van is a 2006 Galaxy Starion G21 21.6ft, ATM 3500Kg, GTM 3150Kg, Tow Ball 350Kg, Tare 2280Kg, Max Payload 870Kg. I usually carry a payload of 450Kg ish and a tow ball weight of 310Kg
Metres --- Dimension ----------- Description
8.85 ------ Length Over All ----- Ball to back of spare tyre
7.30 ------ Length of Body ----- Curve of boot to flat of tail end
0.30 ------ Rear Overhang ------ Bumper & Spare Tyre
1.25 ------ A Frame ------------ Ball to curve of boot
5.37 ------ Axle Centre --------- Ball to mid point between axles
Hope that is helpful, Cheers n beers, Mick
Last edited by Rat_RR02; 8th May 2018 at 11:56 AM. Reason: made the table prettier
By all means get a Defender. If you get a good one, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
apologies to Socrates
Clancy MY15 110 Defender
Clancy's gone to Queensland Rovering, and we don't know where he are
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