Snaking Caravan
Hi
Can anybody please advise, the last three times I have taken our caravan out it has started snaking it is a Twin Axle Coachman Laser 650 and I tow it with a Mitsubishi Shogun
It is ok until I get up to around 55mph then it starts snaking. The maximum load is 1810 had the caravan weighed on a weighbridge and it came out at 1940, at this point the nose weight was 130 so I reuced the amount of weight under the bed to get the weight
down and then it pushed the nose weight up to 145, now at this point I was told to add more weight to the back of the caravan which I did and it actually bought the nose weight down to 105, then I took the caravan out for a test drive and it was still snaking
but not quite so bad, any ideas how I can stop this happening.
Comments
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Putting more weight in the back of the 'van to counterbalance it is a serious no-no and will certainly contribute, if not totally cause, the waggling van. Load the car up as much as poss, the caravan as little, but get the nose weight to be exactly (or under)
what the manufacturers state it should be.your nose weight is wrong and i suspect your van is too heavy.
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It sounds as if you have been ill advised re adding weight to the back following your removal of weight from under, what I assume, is a fixed bed behind the axle. If reducing the overall weight raised the nose weight, then you need to lose weight from the
front - we have the same issue. Most Alko A frames are limited to 100Kg, regardless of your car tow ball limit. Another issue is to keep the centre of gravity as low as practical while towing. This may mean laying clothes on the bed rather than hanging, storing
tins of food etc near the floor. Another imatter affecting stability is tyre pressures. I'm not familiar with your model of van, which might make a difference if it's say 15 years old. They didn't tow as well in ' the good old days'. With a well balanced modern
van it should be possible to tow at 70MPH, which gives a good margin at our legal limit of 60MPH. To a chorus of "you shouldn't test at 70" my reply is "I know"!0 -
Mitsubishi recommend selecting 4wd when towing. Did you do this, HC? It could help.
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Are your tyres the correct load rating and correctly inflated? Just a thought that has not yet been mentioned.
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As you say in your OP the maximum load of that model caravan is 1810 according to coachman.
so you need to discard some of that weight back onto the towing vehicle,and move items remaining over the twin axle position to achieve a nose weight recommended for the towing vehicle. 80 kilos would be a good starting point.
if you get the maximum weight down to 1810 or less and have the remaining loads in van over axles it should tow a lot better.
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The tyres/suspension of the tow vehicle (esp rear) are also something to check thoroughly. Your caravan has been 130kg overweight, perhaps one of the Alko suspension units has given up the ghost? With such a high noseweight, I would also check the draw
bar tube for free play/wear in the bushes.0 -
Hi Harry are you sure that what you call a snake is the real thing,or his the van just skipping.(maybe tyre pressure on the van when you are towing at 130 kg over).What year is your van, your van at full weight should be between 90kg & 126kg but with it
been on a Alko then has been stated the limit is 100kg.the only thing you can do is put most in the car but be carefull not to over load the cars rear axle.I tow a Crusader twin axle with a Discovery Mk 2 caravan nose weight 130kg car towbar nose weight 150kg or
no rear passengers 250kg. No it will not tow a tank allthough i have seen one tow a articulated lorry up a slight incline in snow.By the way i do know what a snake is like and if you have had one you don't go back for another,without some change.Empty the
van and take it out for a run on a motorway or duel carrageway if it continues go see a dealer to check everything out.Steve
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Agree with most of the feedback. My T/A van had been inflated after service to too high a tyre pressure and it behaved like a pig until I lowered the pressures to the correct setting. Also would not load the back to reduce noseweight, I took spare wheel
out of front locker and carry inside. Get van on the flat and spend some time with a noseweight gague and moving things around until you get below 100kg, unless you have one of the few vans with the uprated Al-Ko hitch that can take more.0 -
Interestingly, after posting on this thread just a week or so ago, we experienced our first snake in years. We'd stayed at a CL for four nights, no problems outbound but on leaving the site we had to cross temporary duckboards due to work in progress on the main access. The transition was bumpy. Heading home we felt the beginnings of a snake ar 55mph on GPS, that's radically different to our normal towing experience. The condition was repeated at 55mph. So on return we made a thorough chassis check, blaming the duckboards. Prior to a a further road test we loaded the hitch to 80kg as opposed to 75 previously. Then checked the tyre pressures which should be 64psi. 52 on one side and 58 on the other was read. Tyres topped up we enjoyed complete stability, overtaking a lorry at 65mph (GPS). So we've fixed the problem and can drive safely at 60Mph - all dhe to tyre pressures.
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..., and today's road test was very much 'grip the wheel, heart in mouth'.
Fortunately, I've never had one of them ...... & I ain't planning to have one anytime soon.
Write your comments here...
I can't say that we planned one ourselves - but it happened nonetheless, and it could happen to anyone.
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..., and today's road test was very much 'grip the wheel, heart in mouth'.
Fortunately, I've never had one of them ...... & I ain't planning to have one anytime soon.
Write your comments here...
I can't say that we planned one ourselves - but it happened nonetheless,
and it could happen to anyone.This is so true. White van man passing too close at warp speed in our case. Only time in 11 years. I am certainly not planning a repeat.
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