RV FEATURE
IN PRACTICE
Back to our initial scenario. You’ re towing the van along the highway and it feels twitchy, as though it’ ll pick up a gut-wrenching sway at any moment. The first thing to do is to pull over and assess how you’ ve loaded the van.
Anything with a bit of heft to it that’ s located to the rear of the van must be moved over the axles and / or gradually towards the front. Remember, the vertical force of the weight of that rearward cargo is not being supported by anything( other than the chassis, of course), and it’ s levering the towball weight upwards, off the towbar. So let’ s shift that payload to where it will be properly supported and won’ t cause the tail to wag the dog.
Overhead lockers should be reserved for lighter items.
Take your van for another tow. Has that helped? If not, it could be that your van still has insufficient ball weight. Try shifting some gear a little further forward, perhaps moving some into the tunnel boot.
This is something of a dark art. Again, there’ s no hard and fast rule beyond what I have described. It’ s a controlled trialand-error situation.
How much weight are your full jerry cans adding to your van ' s ball weight?
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