Some newby advice please

Barry4990

Hi All,  have just bought a little Baily Ranger 460/2 and am towing with a Honda Odessy which is a 2.5 litre 7 seater.  I have never towed a caravan before, only a trailer tent and I can feel a constant pull and push from behind over 30mph regardless of
any gradient either way.  It's not terrible  but I never had any such feelings with my trailer tent which was obviously lower.  Is that just normal?  If so, I'll have to invest in some travel sick pills for the passenger.

Barry

Metheven

No its not normal, I would experiment with the noseweight guessing that its pitching that is giving you that effect.

commeyras

Barry, welcome to caravanning.  No you should not get a constant push/pull as you describe.  There could be several causes the most likely being wrong loading or inadequate nose weight on the hitch.  The CC Handbook gives advice on loading: basically, heavy stuff over the axle and low down and heavy stuff should not be put at either end as this will induce  pitching.  Nose weight should be as near the max as possible; I assume you have an Alko hitch with a max nose weight of 100kgs, if so aim for 90kgs + noseweight but ensure it is within your cars allowable weight on tow hook. Are your caravan breaks adjusted correctly?  Check car tyre pressures and condition of car suspension.  Let us know how you get on.

JVB66

Do you feel the van also "bumps" into the car when brakiing if so it could be the shock absorber on the hitch needs replacing 

reynoray

I agree with the comments made.  I bought my first caravan 3 years ago and felt very disappointed at the feeling I got when driving - push/pull as you say.  After playing with the loading and tuning the nose weight it all but went away (about 4 or 5 trips
down the line).  Do be wary though if anyone says "I don't know my caravan is on the back",  in my experience you know your van is there and you should.

DougS

Is the towball height correct giving a level or slightly nose down alignment of the van?

Capricorn12

Do you feel the van also "bumps" into the car when brakiing if so it could be the shock absorber on the hitch needs replacing 

.Totally agree with this comment and also it could be that the brakes/hitch has been badly adjusted.

Wildwood

My first thought was the shock absorber in the hitch. The caravan will be a few years old so it could be wear and tear on this.

Greygit

Don't forget to drain the water from the boiler, we did and it led to a very unstable tow experience.

Lutz

Is the towball height correct giving a level or slightly nose down alignment of the van?

Whether the caravan is nose up, level or nose down is only a cosmetic issue. Correct noseweight adjustment determines the attitude of the caravan and that is more important.

Don't forget to drain the water from the boiler, we did and it led to a very unstable tow experience.

If stability of the outfit depends alone on the relative small volume of water in the boiler I would think that the whole outift is fairly borderline in that respect.

Greygit

Yes someone else has commented on that but  all I can say is without water we don't know the van is behind us , with we defiantly do...... guess which way we go.

Rocky 2 buckets

Gg, one word-'Mirrors'. nuff said

Greygit

Mirrors, what mirrors?