Towing with Multivan

[Hillbilly]

A similar thing happened recently to VW guy........He was towing a Kombi on a trailer behind a Commodore. The kombi was driven on the trailer with the nose to the front. As you know, most of the weight on the old Kombi's, is in the rear.
It was on the news, as he blocked a major highway.

As for my car trailer, it is only rated to 2000kg, so no electric brakes on it. The trailer itself weighs 440kg.

Now, if you are towing a heavy caravan etc, the standard towbar is not correct for your van. You should have a class 4 or heavy duty towbar fitted.

Remembering of course that a heavier towbar does not increase the towing capacity of the vehicle.

As per the regs The towing capacity of a vehicle is either the capacity of the Towbar or the manufacturers recommended towing capacity WHICHEVER IS THE LESSER.

EG in the early 90's a Landcruiser was rated at 2500kg However HR were making 3500kg towbars for them.
It was not legal to tow over 2500kg on that vehicle with that towbar.
Lots got caught through ignorance more than anything.
Also your car trailer hopefully has overrides on it.

Its a minefield, been there done that learnt a lot along the way about bars and people using 500kg D shackles to hold a 3 tonne van. Connecting breakaway cables to removable tongues etc.

[Mk1@4Motion]

Hey bud,

I don't have a VW Multivan but I do have a Iload, and I towed a Mk1 Golf with that from Sydney to Canberra and I had no issues what so ever with her.


Only The Good Die Young 45

[Hillbilly]

Hey bud,

I don't have a VW Multivan but I do have a Iload, and I towed a Mk1 Golf with that from Sydney to Canberra and I had no issues what so ever with her.


Only The Good Die Young 45

And your point is ????

[petenkaz]

Hi Wardy, the towball weight is a real issue. Our van is a jayco flamingo, towball weight of 82, and around 1,400 kgs I guess. We've now been travelling for 2 months and whilst it can do it reasonably comfortably I can't help but feel I'm caning the poor VW, it is ok for towing to one spot and setting up for a week or so, but through the hills I feel it, fine on the highways though...sat on 130 k's to get into Yulara the other day to avoid animals. We had a week down south before this trip and I had bikes hanging off the back door and various other crap and it scared me in the rain. So choose carefully your caravan, with the benefit of hindsight I would have bought a 4wd for towing and saved my VW! I also bought some weight distribution bars which make a difference too, just makes handling a bit more confident

[pjondeck]

In Europe the down mass on the ball is specified as 5% of the towed mass. Hence my VW T5 MY11 has a rating of 2000Kg towed and 100Kg on the ball. (actually VW updated that to 2500Kg but didn't change the ball mass spec). This would imply a legal 4% on the ball, bit low for my liking. This is why European caravans eg. Adria tend to be light on the ball. I have a genuine VW bar and Hayman-Reese advise me that they can't do anything that would rate it higher. They are limited by the vehicle manufacturer rating. Seems that the only avenue is to have an automotive engineer examine and possibly re-rate the hitch. I am in the throes of getting an automotive engineer look at my T5 with that objective. Has anyone had experience in this area or tried to have their hitch rerated? There are two main issues, the ability of the actual towbar to carry the weight and the ability of the vehicle structure including suspension to take the weight.
I will post the result of my efforts for interest.
cheers

[Sunny43.5]

Some years back a friend of mine had the T5 dual cab purchased back by the dealer because it would not pull the rated weight from stop up any small incline without slipping the clutch , I would hope that you have better luck than he did towing .I felt bad as at the time I had given him a glowing review of that model and it ended up being a disaster .

[Hillbilly]

In Europe the down mass on the ball is specified as 5% of the towed mass. Hence my VW T5 MY11 has a rating of 2000Kg towed and 100Kg on the ball. (actually VW updated that to 2500Kg but didn't change the ball mass spec). This would imply a legal 4% on the ball, bit low for my liking. This is why European caravans eg. Adria tend to be light on the ball. I have a genuine VW bar and Hayman-Reese advise me that they can't do anything that would rate it higher. They are limited by the vehicle manufacturer rating. Seems that the only avenue is to have an automotive engineer examine and possibly re-rate the hitch. I am in the throes of getting an automotive engineer look at my T5 with that objective. Has anyone had experience in this area or tried to have their hitch rerated? There are two main issues, the ability of the actual towbar to carry the weight and the ability of the vehicle structure including suspension to take the weight.
I will post the result of my efforts for interest.
cheers

Good luck with this It is illegal in Aus to make ANY alteration to a towbar. EG I bought one with the D shackle connections underneath. I asked the seller to weld a piece on the top to make it easier He said "impossible" to do anything like that.

Likewise in the 90's Toyota Landcruisers had a towing limit of 2500kg. HR towbars that fitted were 3500KG but you couldn't legally tow that because of the manufacturers limit..
Same as with towball weights. States in Aus don't have limits on towball weight and all state that manufacturers limits apply.

Unless you upgrade suspension and chassis or body components I would think any engineer would be reluctant to alter it higher.
Insurance problems will rear their ugly head if anything should happen and it can be attributed to overweight ball weights.
Like bolts ripping out of car and letting van come free Yes have seen one do it when it sheared off a hitch and rolled back down a hill.
Put more weight on the back and your steering will be lighter and maybe dangerous in wet weather.
Where I live a guy had a big Coromal van on a Patrol and no distribution hitch and a very overweight ball weight. At times the front wheels were nearly off the ground..

Far better to buy a vehicle suited to what you want to do than overstress a totally inadequate one.

In Europe the vans are built totally different to Aussie vans and hence the lower ball weight due to the way the weight in the van is distributed..

Its not the hitch that is the problem, its the basic design of the vehicle as a unitary body usually cant support higher weights like a ladder chassis can.

Also just to clarify a point from a previous post Weight distribution bars DO NOT LOWER BALL WEIGHT.
The ball weight of any trailer is measured while disconnected from the car and whatever it is CANNOT BE ALTERED by a distribution hitch.

In fact I would suggest a hitch could put even more pressure onto the vehicle chassis and make things worse over an extended period.

Also adding weight to the rear of a van to lower it is the most dangerous thing you could do as it induces fishtailing in less than perfect suspension..

Also a van with a GTM of 2001 kg or more must have electric brakes on all wheels.

if under 2000kg it must have override brakes.

Some of the things I learned from several years of living in a Caravan and trying to stay legal when towing a 2850Kg van and a rig of 6400kg and 16 M overall.

[pjondeck]

250Kg on the ball and towed mass 2750 Kg T5 Multivan Tow Hitch upgrade.
I have just completed the upgrade of my tow hitch.
The upgrade was done by an approved automotive engineer. The upgrade involved fabricating plates that attach to the rear cross member just in front of the lateral tow bar member and provide vertical and lateral support . The threaded holes were already there to do this except for one that was added. The existing towbar mount has little vertical or lateral support, the mount being via two plates mounted on in line members and at least 400mm from the tow ball. No modification to the suspension or anything else was ever even suggested. The cost of the fabrication and fitting was $700 and the cost of the engineering design, load testing and comprehensive report was $850. ACT Motor Registry got in for their bit too charging $61 to test my headlights, brakes, you name it, everything but the towbar. (pri..s). So for $1611 it was not a cheap exercise but the T5 is such a good towing platform and such a utility vehicle for caravanning that for me it was worth the money and a lot cheaper than changing the vehicle.
Interesting stuff eh? Let me know if more info desired.
regards
PeterD

[Speedy]

Hi Peter, I am looking to buy a Tiguan to tow a caravan 1.5t loaded with a ball weight of 150kg, could I get the Engineers contact details please.
Thanks Scott.

[pjondeck]

Hi Scott
The Engineer's name is Ray Spence. He is on 0409360171. He can modify to Australian standards so it is acceptable in all states.
Contrary to Hillbilly's advice it IS legal to make engineering changes to a tow-bar, it can of course only be done by an engineer qualified and licenced to make those changes. On the multivan there is a beam across the back just behind the towbar which even had threaded bolt points that looked like they were meant for it. The Tiguan might be a whole different proposition and he would need to see it to know if it can be done. You probably wouldn't achieve much gain in towed mass but the down-mass on the ball is usually the issue with European vehicles. The problem for you might be that he is in the ACT and you would want to know before you make the purchase.
I'll keep an eye on the forum if you have any more questions that I might be able to help with.
Good luck
Peter