Nose weight match over 100%
Hi
thinking of buying a sorento to pull my Bailey Orion 430/4 and the tow match states as below
"The car's nose weight should be fine to safely tow this caravan. If this figure is high, however, (typically over 100%) care will be needed to load the caravan so that the car’s nose weight limit is not exceeded, but this should be practically achievable.
Aim for 5-7% of the caravan’s actual laden weight without overloading the car. "Not sure it sure what it means ?
Comments
-
Move some weight from front to back of van
0 -
Move some weight from front to back of van
I'd suggest try the middle of the van first, then further back only if necessary. You don't want to encourage instability.
0 -
does the 109% refer to the noseweight match or the towing weight match? if you let me know what sorento you are looking at i will give you more info. But basically the car will have a maximimum weight for the towhitch in kg which should not be exceeded and
the caravan will have a maximum noseweight for the hitch in kg, i assume the 109% refers to the caravan max noseweight being over the towcars maximum by 9%, as your bailey is listed at 1250kg maximum weight your noseweight should be between 65-85kgs i cannot
see the sorento being less than this.0 -
I think you may be reading too much into the matching results. The recommended noseweight for towing stability is generally in the region of 5% to 7% of the caravan's actual laden weight, and if say your Kia's maximum noseweight is 80kg then the 5/7% figure would come in at about 89kg giving you the 109%. But with careful loading you can still come under OK, and the Bailey is not a particularly heavy van so in all other respects its well matched..
0 -
The Club advises that a KIA Sorento 2.2 CRDi 4WD Auto 7-seat KX-3 (2010)
is o.k. to tow a Bailey Orion 430/4 (2012)
1 Kerbweight ratio: 65%- The caravan's laden weight is within 85% of the car's kerb weight, and therefore meets Club guidelines.
- 1 Towing limit ratio: 62%
- The caravan's laden weight is within the car's stated towing limit, and therefore meets legal limitations.
- 1 Gross train weight ratio: 83%
- The sum of the car and caravan’s fully laden weights is within the car’s gross train weight. This outfit can therefore be used legally with both the car and the caravan fully laden.
- 1 Nose weight ratio: 109%
- The car's nose weight should be fine to safely tow this caravan. If this figure is high, however, (typically over 100%) care will be needed to load the caravan so that the car’s nose weight limit is not exceeded, but this should be practically achievable.
Aim for 5-7% of the caravan’s actual laden weight without overloading the car. - 1 BHP per ton : 59
- The car’s engine power should be fine to safely tow this caravan.
0 -
Thats a match that should give no problems at all.
Suggest you load up the caravan with the heavy stuff over the axle and middle of the caravan (dont put heavy stuff at the very back) then get either a noseweight guage or inverted hammer and bathroom scales and see what you have.
If your cars max noseweight is 80kg move stuff about until you get 80kg remembering heavy stuff in the middle over the axle.
Go caravanning and enjoy.
0 -
And put as much of the heavy gear in the car ( awning etc) and drain the water before each journey. Get a good nose weight gauge too. Ultimately the CC data needs to be checked against the car V5 and caravan details by you, the matching service data is not always correct
As a cross check I always use Towcar which also has user towing reviews.0 -
fysherman is correct the noseweight for the vehicle you are looking at is 80kg (100kg for the manual) But as people have said if you move the weigh about in the van and try and place most of your heavy items central,(or in the vehicle) hasten to add Not
to the rear as was suggested earlier. Then you should achieve 80kg which will be more than adequate. Dont be tempted to increse this as it would make your outfit illegal Even if it was still perfectly safe. Hope that helps0 -
This idea that the noseweight should be around 7% of van loaded weight is highly misleading. My van is plated at 1800kg. 7% of that is 126kg. The alko hitch maximum is 100kg. How does that work?
It is misleading, and is probably the figure used in the site calculation, so confusing and worrying people.
0 -
I think the following cc documents sums it up quite nicely if a bit long winded:-
http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/12354614/noseweights-mo__2_.pdf
0 -
This idea that the noseweight should be around 7% of van loaded weight is highly misleading. My van is plated at 1800kg. 7% of that is 126kg. The alko hitch maximum is 100kg. How does that work?
It is misleading, and is probably the figure used in the site calculation, so confusing and worrying people.
I understand that nose weight is important , but as long as the caravan is loaded sensibility & tows stable all heavy items are in the car it's something less of a concern to me .
I have checked in the past & it's been over max limit , but with very little kept in the front locker I really can't see any way I can reduce it to any where near perfect .
0 -
I know that my noseweight is high. It was high when I bought the caravan and that was just with the 2 gas bottles fitted. At one stage I was cosidering removing one of the bottles. The good news is that I have not (as yet) experienced any towing problems.
Could be that it is only a 2 berth van and according to the chart, a good match.0 -
I know that my noseweight is high. It was high when I bought the caravan and that was just with the 2 gas bottles fitted. At one stage I was cosidering removing one of the bottles. The good news is that I have not (as yet) experienced any towing problems.
Could be that it is only a 2 berth van and according to the chart, a good match.But is your noseweight just high or actually over the manufacturer limits for the car and the caravan, hope its the former as the latter would be illegal
and also invalidate your insurance were anyone to check(i.e roadside weight checks)0 -
This idea that the noseweight should be around 7% of van loaded weight is highly misleading. My van is plated at 1800kg. 7% of that is 126kg. The alko hitch maximum is 100kg. How does that work?
because the recommendation is not 7% but 5-7% so the lower figure would give 90kg.
0 -
I would absolutely never exceed the car manufacturer or bar manufacturer vertical load limit, potentially dangerous.
0 -
Athough the NW limit is 80kg i do know off a couple of people that load to 100kg, the chassis and bar is i'm told the same, and the maker can offer no technical reason why its not 100kg as the manual version.
Indeed the latest model is 100kg for both auto and manual.
The advice is also 5 to 7% of the MTPLM.
PM Alan Stanley on the caravan talk forum for the details.
0 -
I know that my noseweight is high. It was high when I bought the caravan and that was just with the 2 gas bottles fitted. At one stage I was cosidering removing one of the bottles. The good news is that I have not (as yet) experienced any towing problems.
Could be that it is only a 2 berth van and according to the chart, a good match.But is your noseweight just high or actually over the manufacturer limits for the car and the caravan, hope its the former as the latter would be illegal
and also invalidate your insurance were anyone to check(i.e roadside weight checks)Write your comments here...On stopping at our first site after buying the van, I checked the noseweight with the recommended spring ballance and if I remember correctly it was about 85 or 90 kg. (Must check again soon). Hope this answers your question.
0 -
Blimey seem to have started something here, think I am starting to understand what it's all about thnx guys
Most threads go like this
the first few pages give answers then its dissected word by word and with it's complexity's ends up in total confusion 
0 -
Going over the manufacturers limit for the tow bar would be illegal but your insurer could only turn a claim down if it was the cause of or contributed to an acvident and even then they would have to show you were aware of this or were grossly negligent.
0 -
Going over the manufacturers limit for the tow bar would be illegal but your insurer could only turn a claim down if it was the cause of or contributed to an acvident and even then they would have to show you were aware of this or were grossly negligent.
But why risk it when its easy enough to avoid
0 -
Going over the manufacturers limit for the tow bar would be illegal but your insurer could only turn a claim down if it was the cause of or contributed to an acvident and even then they would have to show you were aware of this or were grossly negligent.
But why risk it when its easy enough to avoid
l agree but was just covering the legal position.
0
