Monday, Feb 06, 2023 at 16:57
The 10% of the trailer weight is a convention in Australia apparently followed by most trailer manufacturers, and appears to have been derived initially from American practice.
European vehicles guidelines are usually based on 5%, so my VW has a 2000kg tow limit with a 100kg ball weight.
The European trailer industry seems to therefore build around these lower ball limits despite their higher road speeds.
The arguments around ball weights concerns a lot of anecdotal experiences with trailer stability.
The problem as I see it is that most of our stuff is built big and heavy instead of smart ,strong and stable.
Trailers move in three dimensions so height and shape, ie roll centres, centre of gravity,
suspension type and aerodynamics all play a part in stability, not just the two dimensional aspect of ball and trailer weight.
With some vehicles you may get away with exceeding your ball weight, however that brings in other factors such as .
Stressing the structure of the rear of your vehicle.
Overloading your tyres
Overloading your rear axle and or wheel bearings.
Interfering with the actions of stability controls, ABS and traction controls.
Causing your bum to drag.
You may also find that trying to compensate by adding load levellers is not recommended by European manufacturers due to the stresses that
places on the rear floor pan via the towbar.
So what is the answer?
Well if we push trailer (caravans, campers etc) to build smarter not heavier, then we would have greater choice without having to change to heavier tow vehicles.
Regards
A
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Follow Up By: Member - nickb aka"boab" - Monday, Feb 06, 2023 at 20:46
Monday, Feb 06, 2023 at 20:46
They have to be built strong & heavy to carry all the crap the people want in them on there travels
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