Towbar Height

Noalos
Noalos Forum Participant Posts: 3
edited December 2023 in Towcars & Towing #1

Hi everyone, some help please!

I have just purchased a new towcar (Toyota RAV4) and had the dealer fit a tow bar for me. It is marked up as a Toyota towbar but they have said that it is actually a Brink tow bar.

My concern is that with my towcar unladen, the height from the ground to the centre of the tow ball is 510mm which seems very high to me.

I am aware of the EC Directive which states that that the tow ball height should be between 350 and 420mm from the ground with the vehicle in a 'laden' state.

My "laden" payload will be approx.155kg of caravan equipment plus myself and one other passenger.

Although I haven't tested it yet, I cannot see the towball height dropping by 90mm (510 minus 420) with my payload to meet the requirements of the EC Directive.

I have attached a photo of my installation plus 2 from the Brink website of how it looks.

Any help or advise would be much appreciated.

Comments

  • Vulcan
    Vulcan Forum Participant Posts: 670
    edited December 2023 #2

    It looks far too high to me, how high is your van coupling when the van is level, ideally the van should ride level or slightly nose down.

  • eribaMotters
    eribaMotters Club Member Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭✭
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2023 #3

    It does look a bit high, but a few things:-

    - is your car totally level

    - there is a lot of space over the rear wheels in the arch for the car to settle on the suspension

    - what is the height of your caravan hitch as "towball heights are 350-420mm, and trailer hitches are between 385-455mm from the ground" - I got this bit from https://www.towbarexpress.co.uk/guide/towball-heights/

    Add all these together and the problem may not be what you expect it to be.

     

    Colin

  • LLM
    LLM Forum Participant Posts: 1,555 ✭✭
    500 Likes 1000 Comments
    edited December 2023 #4

    Does your car have self levelling suspension?  

  • Noalos
    Noalos Forum Participant Posts: 3
    edited December 2023 #5

    Hi LLM,

    No, my car does not have self levelling suspension. Thanks for responding 

  • Noalos
    Noalos Forum Participant Posts: 3
    edited December 2023 #6

    Hi Colin,

    yes my car is level and I’ll check how it looks when trying to hitch up when I go to the caravan storage next week. I’ll update then

  • eribaMotters
    eribaMotters Club Member Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭✭
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2023 #7

    I had a very similar situation in 2007 when I collected a new VW Touran with tow bar. I seem to recall the centre ball height was about 490mm and I was concerned. I contacted the dealer and tow bar installer. Both directed me to the same figures you have regarding "loaded height". My problem was the Touran would need to be loaded with 660kg to get to fully loaded.  That summer, when both car and van were loaded within limits for a month in France the van was slightly nose down. The attached is not very clear but supports my memory.

    Colin

  • Lutz
    Lutz Forum Participant Posts: 1,564 ✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2023 #8

    Two possible explanations come to mind:

    1. Perhaps they fitted the wrong towbar

    or

    2. Is the car fitted with standard rear springs or is the rolling radius of the wheels perhaps larger than standard?

     

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