3 FOR Free
HITCHING UP A CARAVAN ISN’T A DARK ART BUT, FOR
THE UNWARY, IT CAN BECOME COMPLICATED. THESE
THREE TOP TIPS MIGHT MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE…
MEASURE TOWBALL DOWNLOAD
Not knowing how much weight is pushing on your
vehicle’s towball when towing is risky business.
It’s all too easy to exceed the maximum towball
download rating and not know it, and every trip
can be different in terms of what you’re loading
into the van and what it weighs.
The cheapest way of tackling this is to use your
bathroom scales – just slide the scales under the
coupling and use two pieces of timber, with one
placed across the top of the scales to spread the
mass (so as to not damage them) and another fitted
vertically between the scales and the coupling.
The negatives are that unless you know that
your caravan’s ball weight is likely to be low, the
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bathroom scales won’t read the ball weight other
than to tell you it weighs off the scale (of about
130kg, roughly the limit of most bathroom scales).
Also, the newer glass bathroom scales are more
easily broken unless you’re really careful, and
the old faithful steel scales you’ve had for years
– and have relied on to lie about your weight –
will faithfully underestimate your caravan’s ball
weight too.
There are dedicated trailer ball weight scales
available for less than $100 and one would be a
good investment.