Swift Challenger 584 noseweight
Evening all,
We are fairly new to the world of caravans and started last summer with an old 1994 Lunar Sunbeam to see if we liked it, which we did.
To cut a long story short, we recently upgraded out tow car to a Ssangyong Korando 2.2 FWD with the intent of getting a bigger van, which I picked up today. A very nice looking 2013 Challenger 584. Before leaving I asked the dealer to check the nose weight as it was (pretty much empty of everything) and he said that all new Swifts were 100kg. This is something I neglected to ask when we looked at the caravan and they did not ask what car we had. My maximum tow hitch weight is 80kg so I am way under. Now I know I can move things around, but we really don't have much in the way of equipment to move at floor level towards the back of the caravan to lower the weight on the hitch. Our other problem is that our driveway is not level so it's rather difficult to check what the actual weight is (I was going to use a bit of wood and bathroom scales) Our first trip out to test everything is tomorrow so a bit concerned.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Comments
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Sorry, that should have read 'My maximum tow hitch weight is 80kg so I am way over'.
Is it not possible to edit a post?
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We love the korando but this is the reason we didn't get one. Our Moonstone has the same issue and we have never managed to get the noseweight low enough. We made a mistake 2 cars back and had to change in the end due to the outfit being unstable ( felt like car doing a wheely). This was costly led us to be uber careful on the next two cars.
I'm sorry not to help with your query but you will have problems I feel.
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I have just bought a new 580 from Swift. Whilst my car has a heavier tolerance for noseweight, my first measurement was 130kg with very little in the front and only one gas bottle!!. I resorted to taking the awning out of the car and putting it to the rear of the van which is the opposite of what I have always done with putting the heavy stuff in the car but found it impossible to get it down to where I want to be
I'm having another go this week and will measure it empty but think I'm going to have to resort to taking the battery out whilst travelling rather than adding in loads of weight I don't need as ballast. Really annoying as never had this problem with my previous Swift
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Yes the dealer is referring to the Alko chassis NW limit of 100kg.
I'm taking delivery of a Conqueror 570 shortly, having just got rid of a Unicorn which had an exworks NW of 88kg, I'm confident that i can get any caravan down to 80kg.
It does involved back loading which in theory isnt a good idea, in practise however i did this for six years with zero stability problems.
Your spare wheel is around 25kg or more, put this as far back as possible, i had a fixed bed so the wheel was put there upto the bulkhead, with the bottle jack inside it, mains lead also to the back, and the aqua rolls x2 with waste master into the rear shower room.
Only one 6kg gaslite in the front locker, these weigh around 10.25kg full.
And nothing else upfront of the axle.
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Xtrailman. We have the same layout by the sounds of it and my spare wheel is located at the backend of the fixed bed, so a little back from the axle The lowest I got was just under 100 with the awning in the rear washroom. Having it under the bed took me over the limit. I am going away this next week so will have more time to play with it and try different aspects of weight distribution
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Thanks for all of the replies.
After a weekend away I have now checked the nose weight (bathroom scales and a cut down broom handle) although it was on very slight slope (nose slightly down) so not sure how much this would affect the readings? Our caravan has a fixed bed and it came with a rather heavy awning which is under the bed about 2 foot back from the axle. It also has a motor mover fitted and a gas light cylinder in the front locker. The nose weight was about 74 kg so I was happy with that. I removed the awning and the weight went to 82 kg. Removing the gas bottle and some books and shoes that were in the front drawer unit and it went to 78kg.
I did drain the boiler down and I have an AL-KO spare wheel carrier which is behind the axle.
As to the handling, it was a bit bumpy and I did have a bit of wheel spin when I pulled away quickly at one point but then comparing this to our old 1994 Lunar which was only 800 kg I expected it to not be as smooth. I took a picture of the setup and the car doesn't look as though the back end is being dragged down much. Big test will be when we take a trip up to the lakes in a few weeks time which will be a 500 mile round trip.
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It looks as though you are OK with the nose weight but not sure what you are doing with the gas bottles which need to be secure and the locker is the best place for them. Personally I would leave them in and use the awning where you had it as it does not appear too far back to be a problem. With the nose down I think your readings will be higher than on a level surface so you should be safe but it might be better to do the check on site if you get a flat pitch.
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I was planning on putting the gas cylinders behind the front seats and held in place with soft packing but you are right, the best place is the locker where they are meant to be. We won't be using the awning that much, at least not on short breaks and will be getting a porch awning which will be a lot lighter. Still a bit playing around me thinks. By the looks of it I should be okay. Must remember to pack the scales next time out!
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