mike wrote: peridot wrote: lektroshok wrote:
Do any of you use one of those anti-sway attachments when towing? wondered if its worth getting one.
You won't get any benefit from one on a Dart. The smaller Dandys are rock solid towing. It's only when you get up to the larger Discovery / Destiny modes that they may be worth considering.
Enjoy your planning - will you do something for the first May Bank Holiday?
Sorry but i need to disagree with this statement in the sense you wont get any benefit with any dandy unless something goes wrong, then its handy to have on any trailer. Size of trailer is fairly irrelevant blow out on the trailer tyre, clipped trailer by some idiot pulling in due to misjudged overtaking of a car behind you,emergency stop with oil on the road.
These i admit are unlikely and most of the time never happen but a stabiliser is for the unexpected event nothing to do with controlling a large trailer correctly loaded during normal towing,i dont use on even on my six and only had one occasion when it would have helped and that was being forced too close to the verge by a lorry and hitting potholes, with 40 years of towing some commercially for a plant hire company with four wheel trailers that have front steering i managed to keep it to a twitch.
You should be ok with out one but if it makes you feel better fit one.
Nothing like a bit of controversy I'll go for the opposing point of view.
The problem being you either substantiate your argument by a knowledge of maths and physics or by practical experience.
My maths isn't good enough to do the sums and my experience is possibly far too limited to understand the possibilities but here goes this is what I think the truth is:
Geometry. There is a thread that I started on the subject of
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] There are lots of articles within this but to my mind the most relevant piece WRT to the rear entry Dandys is a reference to the ratio of the distance from the tow hitch to the axle to the distance from tow hitch to the end of the trailer
From
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] A study by Darling, J., Tilley, D., Gao, B., 2009. ‘An experimental investigation of car-trailer high-speed stability’ published in the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, 223 (4), pp. 471-484) indicates that dominant factors affecting stability are trailer yaw inertia, nose mass (mass distribution), and trailer axle position.
The ratio in a rear entry dandy is about 6:9 as against the ratio of a Dandy 6 of 5:8 (best expression of 7
1/
2/12) it doesn't sound a big deal but the rear entry Dandys are unshakeable. My rod braked 4 doesn't have perfect brake adjustment but apart from the odd skip on braking I've never felt any issues. I may have towed it and my Designer at speeds above that legal in France. I have never felt the merest shimmy, nothing nada.
So I think the short Dandys are supremely stable.
The problem or possible problem with stabilisers. I have towed a trailer that was prone to snake. It slows you down no end. No matter how you may attempt to play with things snaking slows you down. I defy anyone to push a snaking trailer your nerve runs out. The allegation against stabilisers is that they damp out or remove this low level snake but should a catastrophic situation occur they do not have the ability to contain the forces exposed at that point. Side points are that by damping out low level snaking they enable bad loading with excessive or no nose weight and poor mass centralisation. (not sure about the high noseweight as this assists stability.)
See the end of page 6 and the beginning of page 7
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] A friction layer around the hitch has been shown to smooth down minor snaking, to reduce settling time. Trials however show that such (Coulomb friction) devices have no effect on forces beyond that.
The author at least, is concerned that the restraining forces built up within such devices, add suddenly and possibly dangerously to the disturbing forces, when such devices are suddenly overwhelmed - and let go.
The new brake applying sensors are reconed to be brilliant other than some fears of over aplication and reduced MPG but these cost a fortune. They might be suitable if you had a Highside Destiny.
Overview from Dr J Darling in:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Abstract
Previous work on car-trailer stability has been largely limited to theoretical studies with some reference to practical experience or accident statistics. In this study, extensive and systematic experimental investigations were carried out oil a combined car-adjustable-trailer system. The influence of different trailer parameters on the system high-speed stability was examined by changing the mass, dimensions, and inertial characteristics of a fully adjustable trailer. It was found that the dominant factors affecting stability were the trailer yaw inertia, nose mass (mass distribution), and trailer axle position. The tyre pressure also affects the stability, although this effect is less significant. It is interesting to see that the trailer mass alone does not dramatically affect the high-speed stability, as this runs contrary to current guidelines relating to limits on the relative mass of the car and trailer. Experimental tests on a friction stabilizer and on car electronic stability programs demonstrate that both of these improve the high-speed stability and help to delay the onset of 'snaking'. Author Dr J Darling
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