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Toss up between these or the additional progressive springs that you fit and leave in place (or possibly remove when not needed).
Why not balance the load in the caravan/trailer instead. They way you are SUPPOSED to?
Honestly.
Clueless numpties towing overweight badly laden trailers is my pet hate #1783635734.
Agreed with above, plus get a proper car with self-levelling suspension.
Why not balance the load in the caravan/trailer instead. They way you are SUPPOSED to?
I do that. Ballast in the car, accurate noseweight gauge used to get bang on max noseweight, mass moved towards centre of van and kept low down. New tyres to optimum pressure, trailer stability programme installed on car.
Anything else you would like me to do?
I asked if anyone had used assisters, not for advice on towing.
Agreed with above, plus get a proper car with self-levelling suspension.
Well I was going to spend 60 quid on springs, so what's another 14,940 quid eh? 🙄
Fair enough, what do you need to bodge your springs for then?
I've got airbag helper suspension on my truck. Not for towing but for carrying loads. Works well.
Because a) it's low on the springs when loaded as above and b) I suspect that a higher spring [i]rate[/i] will reduce the downward movement of the back of the car as the van pitches on its single axle.
Seems that airbags are widely used, which is good, but you still need to keep some air in the aftermarket ones which could annoy me if it messes up the normal ride characteristics.
[Edit] cross post.
I'd try and back off on the nose weight a bit - the 75kg or whatever is a maximum, not a target to aim for - I used to try and get 50kg max with my caravan and it didn't sink the car down or cause a lot of pitching .
I'd be more inclined to suspect old dampers if you're getting a lot of back end movement in the car when movign along.
Less stuff in your boot.
Lower speeds.
General advice is to load to the max noseweight for increased stability. More noseweight = more stability and my own experimentation has borne this out. Lighter on the nose did help with the pitching but had a negative impact on tendency to snake.
Less stuff in the boot means more stuff in the van, which again I think does not help stability. Stupid van has all the storage compartments at the far front and the far rear.
Speeds are 56mph on motorways along with the lorries, any slower causes a rolling roadblock.
How many miles on your car? Knackered springs / shocks is what it sounds like to me unless you are overloading it
Stupid van has all the storage compartments at the far front and the far rear.
think of those compartments as for when you're stationary, not when the vans on the road - spread you're chattels low and even across the floor. Like a teenager's bedroom.
EDIT
you are also going to get deminishing returns for your effort - no matter how optimally you load the car and the caravan there is a fundimental wrongness about towing with a car that can never be addressed - and that is that caravans and trailers connect to cars in the wrong place. If like an artic truck your caravan hitched around the centre of the rear axel they'd be fine. Having the hitch out behind the car is wrong and if you tow you have to accept the trailer is going to shove the car around. You can make it a bit less wrong but you can't make it right.
70k miles on the car, everything is lovely and taut in normal driving, no sign of damper or spring wear.
spread you're chattels low and even across the floor of the van
Already do that, it's just a tad annoying but that's just one reason why the van's layout isn't ideal.
I don't think it's as bad as you lot are assuming. Drove 900 miles to Munich without any issues. However it's clearly not as comfortable as not towing, so I'm looking to improve it wherever I can rather than fix a specific problem. Lots of people have said that assisters help, which is why Volvo fit the self levelling shocks and lots of vehicles intended for more rufty tufty towing duty have the airbags like 5e's truck.
What I want to know is how the airbags or assister springs affect non-towing ride when retrofitted to a normal car.
What I want to know is how the airbags or assister springs affect non-towing ride when retrofitted to a normal car
Airbags always have some pressure in them. It makes the unloaded ride noticeably harsher. My truck was harsh enough stock, so with the airbags I do occasionally bounce rear seat passengers off the roof (luckily I don't have people in the back often).
Hmm.. were they a retrofit to your truck?
Yes. Very simple bit of kit. Literally an air bag wedged between the leaf spring and the chassis (on proper suspension it goes inside the coil spring). Hoses join at an valve and gauge. Air it up with a compressor.
On my car they have to go inside the coil springs which is fine, but you need residual pressure to stop the bag chafing. That's making me think it'd affect ride, but I dunno how much. The other idea is shorter progressive wound springs to fit inside the existing ones but that requires the car to be down on its springs before they'll work.
70 000 miles? I bet the springs and dampers will be less effective than new. The deterioration is slow so you don't notice it. before any aftermarket thing get the original equipment in tip top condition
This is quite a specific question about aftermarket assisters. My dampers are fine, trust me. Spring rate is what I am looking to modify.
On my car they have to go inside the coil springs which is fine, but you need residual pressure to stop the bag chafing. That's making me think it'd affect ride, but I dunno how much.
My arse-o-meter says about 10% stiffer.
I use a set of Airlift 1000s for the rear springs of our Bongo. They really help when the van is loaded and w/ 4 bikes hung off the back. You can tune the pressure, so when unloaded the ride isn't harsh. B*ugger to fit though.