Towing a caravan

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
heavy weight at the bottom OVER the axle of the van,
150kg nose weight, do not put anything in the top lockers of the van, this makes the van tow **** an really unstable,
take your time an make sure you have a good stabaliser, it will make towing so much more of a pleasent experience
 
thanks for your replies fellas, I will go with putting the heavy stuff in the back of the disco, nose weight 75kg.
measured with a stick up the tow hitch onto bathroom scales right?
and lod the other stuff evenly.
Any tips for driving?
 
slobodan said:
nose weight 75kg.

measured with a stick up the tow hitch onto bathroom scales right?
Click to expand...

You not read that above then? Looking like 150 mate
Advice leaving plenty of stopping distance, take your time, when pulling out on junctions and roundabouts make sure you've got a nice big gap in the traffic.
generaly be careful
 
take it slow and steady, find yourself a truck to sit behind, concentrate on keeping a really safe distance, don't sit in the middle lane.

when something as tall or taller than your disco overtakes you move as far away from them in your lane as possible before they draw alongside and be ready for the unit to go sideways when they pass

pay attention to advisory speed limits on corners and low gear warnings on down hill stretches

slow down in side winds

remember your braking distance will at least double

plan to take plenty of brakes and pack the caravan so you can use the loo and cooker when you stop so you can have a coffee, use wet wipes to clean up rather than trying to get water running in a lay by - always remember to turn the gas off before you drive off

fit towing mirrors both sides - even though the discovery is wider than the average car it is not wide enough for your normal door mirrors to get a clear view of the road behind your caravan

sure there's more.. personally i don't think I would want my first ever journey with a caravan on the back to be all the way to Serbia... if you have time go out for a decent drive to practice before you have to do the whole journey

oh one more specific to discovery's and based on my first tow with mine - towing with a car as capable as the discovery is pretty easy, DON'T forget the caravan is there
 
goonarmy said:
You not read that above then? Looking like 150 mate
Advice leaving plenty of stopping distance, take your time, when pulling out on junctions and roundabouts make sure you've got a nice big gap in the traffic.
generaly be careful
Click to expand...

Sorry, I thought it was a joke about BBQ's :eek: I didn't scroll down.
I've read it now :mad:
Tigger, thanks for the advice, I need it.
I will be towing from the Midlands down souf' a week before I leave so if there are any issues I'll try and sort them before I leave for Serb land.

caravans fetch blinding money out there so i may be doing the trip regular :eek:
 
if you start a buisiness buying over here and selling there watch out for knock offs and also one's that were flooded and write offs some about where flooded with ****e and will course sickness later on when they get warm and mould spores grow at least would make kids ill
 
Hi, I pull a large caravan, my van can be a max weight loaded, of 1700kgs. My van can carry upto 350kgs which is more than most. The important thing to be aware of is, The trailer/caravan should only be 85% of the weight of the towing vehicle. If you are an experianced tower you could tow upto the wait of the towing vehicle. Most landies are capable of towing 3500kgs but that is not at fast road speeds. I think you are resricted to 20mph. The max speed on dual roads and motorways is 60mph. On single carrigeways it is 50mph. When you load the van/trailer try to put most of the wait over the axel, or it can rock back and forth. It is against the law to over load any vehicle. If the trailer/caravan weight is greater than the towing vehicle you get the efect of the tail wagging the dog. You would proberly not have a caravan with a greater weight than the V8. I think you will have more to be concernd about the fuel consuption. All the very best, just take you time and build up you speed slowly and break well in advance.

Good luck, Mike
 
I suggest you have the caravan brakes serviced ,or at least check them your self. have a good look at the tyres and check the pressure, i run mine at 50psi , tip when loading car/caravan place spare wheel jack where you can get at them,, so if needed you wont have to unload on the side of the road to get at them . as for weight you should have a plate on the van , the plate tells you what the van weighs empty , and then tells you the max weight , the difference between the two is the weight you can load in the van , as someone says make sure you can access cooker/toilet make sure you got water for a cuppa..:D :D above all take your time and use a stabilizer...............:)
 
Update... I picked up the caravan last week, towed it down to Hertfordshire, towed great, even found myself doing 70mph at times.
anyway I had a look at the rear shocks on the Disco and decided to get them changed, while they were being done the rear discs looked pretty shagged so I done them and the pads as well.
stayed in the caravan that night, woke up, checked the nose weight. it was about 100kg. so I headed to Dover.
I have done this drive over 60 times, and I knew that there is a steep hill in Liege on the E40, it would be the first test.
as I was half way up I could felt I was losing speed (down to about 45mph) so I clicked the auto down to 3. and went up the hill no problem at about 45-50 mph. just as I got to the top there was a terrible smell of oil burning, like I had fried the gearbox or something. I pulled over, let it cool down and started checking everything (wot I should have done before I left!!)
Anyway, the only thing out of the ordinary was that the auto oil seemed a bit overfull.
So I jumped in and pressed on, ****tin meself at every hill, and there are plenty through Germany and Austria.
I didn't ever change down into 3 again, just pressed on in 'D' letting the auto sort it out.
I'm home now, trip took about 24 hours (driving time) the Disco was great, it just plodded on and on. I got the hang of towing the caravan and I saw a lot of foreign petrol stations!

Anyone got any ideas as to the oil smell? the engine was at about 3000 to 3500 rpm. should I fit a tranny cooler? or at least a temp gauge.
 
sounds like a bit of a road trip, but now you know how to do it, will you come back and take all the rest of the bloody things home with you and keep our roads shed free:)
 
slobodan said:
Wish I had seen this before I left....:mad:

I kept looking at the caravan tyres thinking they were down. I checked them and they were at 30 psi. I pumped them up to 35 but they still looked flat. still, I got here.
Click to expand...

not unusual.. when we had ours ultrasealed the guy asked us what pressure they should be and I didn't have a clue... went and got the owners manual and yep, 30... every bugger I have ever talked to about caravan tyres says they should be up around the 50 mark but I follow the MFR's directions and have never had a problem... they do look a little soft and I would definitely have concerns about a car with those pressures but for the van they give it a little bounce which I notice others on the road don't have and that suits me as an aid to the suspension in keeping the crockery intact
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Rolling chassis trailer build. Head scratching
Replies
5
Views
1K
damiendada
D
TD5 Pilot
Can a 4.2 Range Rover be towed?
Replies
9
Views
937
TD5 Pilot
TD5 Pilot
G
New member
Replies
2
Views
537
Glenn Peterson
G
W
I'm new here, could I get some advice with a vibration problem
Replies
17
Views
1K
Wendy L
W
W
I'm new here, could I get some advice with a vibration problem
Replies
3
Views
705
Anaconda
A
Back
Top