Towing a caravan

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slobodan

slobodan

New Member
Posts
109
Location
Novi Sad, Serbia
I know its not specific to Land Rovers but maybe you guys can help.
I bought a caravan and plan to tow it home (to Serbia) in a couple of weeks.
I will be towing with a disco mark 1 V8, I have never towed a 'van before.
my question is about loading. I have quite a bit of stuff to take home, tools, a welder, million cans of baked beans etc.
Would I be better putting all the stuff in the back of the Disco? or can I put it in the caravan? I read somewhere that the nose weight should be around 45kg. is this about right?
any tips?
 
nose weight for a disco is significantly higher than 45kg...

what size / make type of caravan is it?

Basically the discovery will tow anything including the factory it was built in.. (ok not really but it will certainly tow any caravan on the road) so then you need to consider the caravan itself.. most of them have a maximum load in weight you can put in them and a maximum nose weight of their own.. which will be less than the discovery's max nose weight..

if the caravan is in very good condition you can probably load most of what you want in there happily but be sure the load isn't going to move around when you drive... if the caravans a bit old then the floor is likely to be weaker than when it was first built so I would recommend strictly adhering to the manufacturers weight limit
 
The max nose weight for the trailer is 75kg. This added to the weight of goods carried in the rear of the disco must not exceed the max allowed weight for the rear axle, which is from memory 1800kg. So you can put a fair old bit inside the vehicle. I'd prefer it evenly distributed in the trailer personally.
 
It should also be said to much nose weight will put a strain on the towing vehicle but a tail heavy trailer is downright bloody dangerous so even weight distribution is important.
 
checked and the LR recommended is 150kg...

good point, if you have never towed a caravan before then you need to think about how you can best match the caravan to the car.. for stability you should be aiming for the caravan to weigh 50-80% of the cars weight... lower and the van will be skittish on the road, higher and there is a chance that the caravan will overcome the car on braking or cornering... it's a long drive, better to spend an extra couple of hours loading right than spend day being recovered from a hedge when the caravan pushes you off the road - or worse
 
well in the user manual that came with mine it is 150kilos.... 98 v8iES - can't imagine it changes from model to model but may well change from model year to model year so slobodan you should check your own manual..
 
mjltigger said:
...

good point, if you have never towed a caravan before then you need to think about how you can best match the caravan to the car.. for stability you should be aiming for the caravan to weigh 50-80% of the cars weight... lower and the van will be skittish on the road, higher and there is a chance that the caravan will overcome the car on braking or cornering... it's a long drive, better to spend an extra couple of hours loading right than spend day being recovered from a hedge when the caravan pushes you off the road - or worse
Click to expand...
The max towing weight for a disco 1s 3500kg. Not many caravans, even loaded would approach that much. As for the caravan "overcoming" the car on braking, this wil only happen if the caravan brakes are not working. Likewise being pushed into hedges is only likely to occur if the caravan brakes are at fault. If the trailer brakes are working correctly you should feel them start to retard the towing vehicle slightly as son as you apply the vehicle brakes. Most caravan accidents are caused by faulty brakes and driver panic which ensues when they feel the trailer getting out of control.
 
mjltigger said:
well in the user manual that came with mine it is 150kilos.... 98 v8iES - can't imagine it changes from model to model but may well change from model year to model year so slobodan you should check your own manual..
Click to expand...
He states in his original post that it is a disco 1. The max nose weight for a disco 1 is 75kg. Fact.
 
in fact page 153 of the handbook that comes with the rave cd says 150kilos as well...
 

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I had heavy duty rear springs on my previous 110. I carried all luggage and extras in my landy and towed the empty caravan. My current landy has standard rear springs. It still tows just as well but when I loaded my landy up with all my gear and then hitched up to the caravan the tow ball was 1"-1 1/2" lower than on my previous one. I have an adjustable hitch so it's not a problem. I did notice a lot more bounce than on my old one. Although it still handled fine I will be fitting heavy duty rear springs to improve the ride. As you are a first timer I would advise carrying your load in your landy and towing an empty caravan.
 
Load the weight in the caravan over the caravan axle not as hughesy sez evenly.However i do agree with ratty that you should stick most of the weight in the car
 
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