Grayston Spring Assisters

Hi All,

I have ordered a pair of Graystone GE15, spring assisters today as I tow a large caravan with an MPTLM of 1600kg. I know you are supposed to boil them in water for ten minutes before fitting but just wondered if there were any other tips to make fitting a little easier.

is it a good idea to clean the springs before firring the assister's or does it not matter.

Cheers

Grayo

never heard of boiling them before on my granada just put them on and they did a great job

teddywood1 said:

never heard of boiling them before on my granada just put them on and they did a great job

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Yes i've read a few posts in the search and they mention boiling them. I've not got them yet so don't know what the instructions say. lol but nobody has given any tips.

My caravan is a little over 1700kg. I can't say I have a problem with the back end "squatting" when it's on there. Are you overloading the nose of the caravan? I purposely leave mine light, as in, pick it up with one hand and hitch it on.

mines the same, comes in at 1675, tows really well, rock solid really, didn't notice it being there much, only when I looked in the mirrors !

mick 1986 said:

My caravan is a little over 1700kg. I can't say I have a problem with the back end "squatting" when it's on there. Are you overloading the nose of the caravan? I purposely leave mine light, as in, pick it up with one hand and hitch it on.

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Optimus Prime said:

mines the same, comes in at 1675, tows really well, rock solid really, didn't notice it being there much, only when I looked in the mirrors !

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Hi Lad's,

Thanks for the replies. I think it's because our last caravan was 1460kg, we changed to our present caravan in September, last year. With the previous caravan as you say we didn't know it was there it was rock solid, but with the new van being 1600kg we do notice the difference with a bit of bounce, the nose weight is always near enough spot on give or take the odd 5kg, I've not got a problem with it but the wife isn't the best passenger when towing anyway and say's she can feel the bounce more with this van than she ever did with the old van.

On a different note I'm towing at 96% with my freelander, what are you two towing at.

Cheers

Grayo

Grayo said:

Hi Lad's,

Thanks for the replies. I think it's because our last caravan was 1460kg, we changed to our present caravan in September, last year. With the previous caravan as you say we didn't know it was there it was rock solid, but with the new van being 1600kg we do notice the difference with a bit of bounce, the nose weight is always near enough spot on give or take the odd 5kg, I've not got a problem with it but the wife isn't the best passenger when towing anyway and say's she can feel the bounce more with this van than she ever did with the old van.

On a different note I'm towing at 96% with my freelander, what are you two towing at.

Cheers

Grayo

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Taking my MTPLM and the kerb weight of 2080kg (on the passenger side door trim), it's just under 85%. It's a TD4 53plate. It knows it's on, and I know what you mean about the bounce, we have speed humps both ways in my estate, it does bounce over them, but other than that it's perfectly fine.

mick 1986 said:

Taking my MTPLM and the kerb weight of 2080kg (on the passenger side door trim), it's just under 85%. It's a TD4 53plate. It knows it's on, and I know what you mean about the bounce, we have speed humps both ways in my estate, it does bounce over them, but other than that it's perfectly fine.

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Cheers Mick,

Do you know what I've never checked the kerb weight on the door post I've only ever taken it from the hand book, I'll go and have a look now. Cheers.

Grayo said:

Cheers Mick,

Do you know what I've never checked the kerb weight on the door post I've only ever taken it from the hand book, I'll go and have a look now. Cheers.

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I checked online first, that have me a weight of around 1700kg, which I didn't believe, so checked the plate and hey presto, 300kg more.

Let us know what you come up with mate.

Just been out to see what I've got.

2505
4080
1-1100
2-1460

Any Idea's

Grayo said:

Just been out to see what I've got.

2505
4080
1-1100
2-1460

Any Idea's

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Max Kerb weight
Max Gross weight (inc trailer)
front axle max weight
Rear axle Max weight.

Try this link

http://www.towcar.info/type.php

ya enter ya vehicle make and model and the exact caravan ya wanna tow. and it tells you iof ya can pull it, how well it'll pull it nose weight Percentage of towing limit etc etc

redhand said:

Max Kerb weight
Max Gross weight (inc trailer)
front axle max weight
Rear axle Max weight.

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Thanks for that, So with a max kerb weight of 2505kg and a caravan at 1600kg that =4105kg so that means I have exceded the max gross weight of 4080kg

Is that right???

just googled it and it's saying 2000kg towing limit for a freelander??

redhand said:

just googled it and it's saying 2000kg towing limit for a freelander??

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Ok thanks for that, I was starting to get a bit worried there.

Cheers

Grayo

Just done a caravan - car match and it say's I'm towing at a 64% match which dosen't seem right to me ?????

Kerb weight of 2505kg multiplied by 0.64 = 1603kg. The mtplm of caravan is 1600kg, so if this is correct I'm towing at 64%

I'd be grateful for somebody to check this for me please.

Thanks

Grayo

Grayo said:

Just done a caravan - car match and it say's I'm towing at a 64% match which dosen't seem right to me ?????

Kerb weight of 2505kg multiplied by 0.64 = 1603kg. The mtplm of caravan is 1600kg, so if this is correct I'm towing at 64%

I'd be grateful for somebody to check this for me please.

Thanks

Grayo

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I just used that site above, it says mine is 111%. Something is wrong with the sites calculator or data it has.

To find the tow % take the caravan weight, divide it by the car weight, then multiply by 100.

Mine is 1700/2080 x 100 = 83.1346%

mick 1986 said:

I just used that site above, it says mine is 111%. Something is wrong with the sites calculator or data it has.

To find the tow % take the caravan weight, divide it by the car weight, then multiply by 100.

Mine is 1700/2080 x 100 = 83.1346%

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Yep just followed your calculation and it works out at 63.8722%, if that the case I'm well happy I always thought I was towing at 96% in fact my caravan dealer told me it was 96% as well. Very strange.

Cheers anyway

Grayo

Grayo said:

Yep just followed your calculation and it works out at 63.8722%, if that the case I'm well happy I always thought I was towing at 96% in fact my caravan dealer told me it was 96% as well. Very strange.

Cheers anyway

Grayo

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That's a much better figure than you were told. At least you know for certain the tow % now.

What freelander is yours?

mick 1986 said:

What freelander is yours?

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06 5 door TD4. what you got??