Nose weight

Asking for a bit of honesty here wonder if it will happen,

Do you know the correct nose weight for your dandy and car combination and do you check it,the reason i ask is with my six the only thing i can find that relates to it is an old broacher that states a minimum of 25lbs,now the latest info i can find is it should be 7% of the trailers normal weight,so shall we say 650kg normally that makes a nose weight of 45.5kg or 100lbs or less if the car handbook states it.
The one thing i would have not thought of is the old way of checking with the bathroom scales states the trailer should be level,now though with the new tow ball heights and the older trailer coupling heights it says the hitch should be at the same height as the ball when checking.
With the dandy 6 a bit of adjustment can be made by how far back you store the folded roof.

mike

I can honestly say I haven't got a clue but did assume that our car would cope

helen wrote:I can honestly say I haven't got a clue but did assume that our car would cope

Its not just cope if the nose weight is wrong it can cause handling problems,there are reports that insurance company's take it into consideration after an accident,if the trailer is in a condition to be checked

i checked our nose weight its 37kg i am thinking that our dandy is close to 500kg with gas bottles propex heater and the other bits and bobs that are always stored in the dandy.

I will get it checked, thanks for raising the point and reasons

ah enlightenment dawns, now i know what that sticker on my windscreen means

i'm pleased that this means my nose weight limit is 75kg which is quite a lot since i have the smaller dandy

oh no, now i'll be tempted to put more in it

Eilis wrote:ah enlightenment dawns, now i know what that sticker on my windscreen means

i'm pleased that this means my nose weight limit is 75kg which is quite a lot since i have the smaller dandy

oh no, now i'll be tempted to put more in it

Well nearly but not completely,your cars maximum nose weight may be 75kg but your dandy should be set up nearer nicks 37kg,to keep it balanced.

mike

mike wrote:

Eilis wrote:ah enlightenment dawns, now i know what that sticker on my windscreen means

i'm pleased that this means my nose weight limit is 75kg which is quite a lot since i have the smaller dandy

oh no, now i'll be tempted to put more in it

Well nearly but not completely,your cars maximum nose weight may be 75kg but your dandy should be set up nearer nicks 37kg,to keep it balanced.

mike

well that's just putting a downer on my excitement

why does the sticker say 75kg if i'm only allowed 37kg??

The 75kg is the max for your car but you need to use the correct one for your trailer, which is 7% of its normal loaded weight,which in your case i took to be the full 500kg like nick

well how complicated

i'm glad you are good at explaining that sort of thing or i would have broken something at some point lol

what is a 'nose weight' and what does it have to do with trailer weight??

Ali wrote:what is a 'nose weight' and what does it have to do with trailer weight??

Nose weight is the weight being applied to the tow ball by your trailer when its loaded and hooked up,you can check it by putting a piece of wood under your trailer tow hitch and balancing it on bathroom scales,care should be taken as it will be unstable while doing this and it should be sat at the same height as it is when hooked on the car.
Your cars handbook will show a max nose weight for your car,you then take 17% of the loaded dandy weight and which ever is the lowest is your trailer nose weight,you correct this weight by moving stuff around inside the dandy,i cant see a problem if you are a little bit out but without checking you could be as much as 20 kg out.In some ways the dandy six berths are easier to set up because of where you store the roof can change the nose weight.

mike

should have added correct nose weight makes the trailer safer to tow its not pushing the back of the car down too much or trying to lift it,you are a lot safer if you get it right.

mike

I've just been reading through this thread. I understand about the nose weight, or tongue weight in America.

My question is, what is the nose weight figure of a VW 1500s? It's not in the handbook, or any book for that matter.

Been having a google but cant find anything on how to calculate if nose weight not given,i suppose if there isn't one you cant break the law, so it may just be a case of finding one that works,if it was me i would go on the light side as you already have the engine in the back,and find one that feels ok,but that's just a guess.

mike

mike wrote:Been having a google but cant find anything on how to calculate if nose weight not given,i suppose if there isn't one you cant break the law, so it may just be a case of finding one that works,if it was me i would go on the light side as you already have the engine in the back,and find one that feels ok,but that's just a guess.

mike

Cheers Mike, we don't have a front box for exactly that reason, we also load the Dandy eventally and lightly, there's loads of room for more stuff.

By the time there is a couple of gas bottles in the front box, the nose weight does increase massively.

no probs got VOLVO BIG ONE

Caz1960 wrote: no probs got VOLVO BIG ONE

I bet my daily drive is bigger than yours.

Sorry I couldn't resist.

mike wrote:

Ali wrote:what is a 'nose weight' and what does it have to do with trailer weight??

Nose weight is the weight being applied to the tow ball by your trailer when its loaded and hooked up,you can check it by putting a piece of wood under your trailer tow hitch and balancing it on bathroom scales,care should be taken as it will be unstable while doing this and it should be sat at the same height as it is when hooked on the car.
Your cars handbook will show a max nose weight for your car,you then take 17% of the loaded dandy weight and which ever is the lowest is your trailer nose weight,you correct this weight by moving stuff around inside the dandy,i cant see a problem if you are a little bit out but without checking you could be as much as 20 kg out.In some ways the dandy six berths are easier to set up because of where you store the roof can change the nose weight.

mike

Mike

Noseweight gone up a bit is this the noseweight for Gerard Depardieu? 17%
Split opinions on front boxes.
They're ¹/₂ the way in from the wheels (With the exception of the 6) so the CofG of anything loaded is at worst ²/₃rds the way along. So if the box has a mass of 5Kg a couple of gas cylinders and a battery 25Kg from a total mass of 30Kg you are still only adding to the noseweight by 20Kg. (Like a lever 20Kg at the nose 6ft from the wheel lifts 30Kg 4ft from the wheel)
You balance this against the wisdom of storing the gas and battery in the middle of a folded Dandy.
Yet if anything goes wrong you have put your heaviest items about as far out as you can get from the axle.
So you then have a 30Kg pendulum acting if things get unstable.
To be honest though the Dandy is so small and balanced I wouldn't think twice, though if you have really loaded things up putting all your other weight at the back end to give a balanced noseweight it is beginning to invite trouble.
I can see why my old large trailer tent got a bit squirrelly at times.
For all you heavy packers remember the noseweight is not not considered part of the trailers mass (Traffic regulation terms not mine. At least my sentence with both mass and weight in it used the terms in their proper place.{Mass is a scaler quantity. Weight is a vector it is an applied force})
So a 535Kg Designer with 35Kg on the noseweight is bang on at 500Kg. Not that this is the sort of level of overloading that invites prosecution.
This touches on noseweight a bit. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Kevin.

and I thought you just had to pack and go!

Good job I don't have anything stored in the front box! I only have a windbreak, 2 chairs, table and bbq in the empty sections on top and under the bed inside!

Quote from kevin

Noseweight gone up a bit is this the noseweight for Gerard Depardieu? 17%

Well done spotting my deliberate mistake

I once made the mistake of running a camping trailer with very little nose weight because my car was a reliant robin. Over Keel bank when it got up to 50mph it started snaking and again passing Birmingham. Coming back from Devon I put the large heavy groundsheet on the a frame and never had any more trouble in 4 years of towing. You will notice most caravans that flip over are going downhill.

back_to_the_boats wrote:I once made the mistake of running a camping trailer with very little nose weight because my car was a reliant robin. Over Keel bank when it got up to 50mph it started snaking and again passing Birmingham. Coming back from Devon I put the large heavy groundsheet on the a frame and never had any more trouble in 4 years of towing. You will notice most caravans that flip over are going downhill.

Only ever had one snaking do towing a four wheel unit,nearly kept the underpants as a souvenir

This could add a little too much to most nose weights


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It would, imagine trying to lift that. It's high anyway with the axle so far back.