Who tows what with their Tig?

[epilot]

i'd like to occasionally tow a loaded car trailer gross mass about 1500kg- i'm figuring on 500kg trailer and 1000kg car.

is anybody else towing anything like this weight with their Tig?

thanks

[team_v]

I don't tow since hte tow package was an excessive cost.

See here for some info on the US Tig towing.
VWVortex.com - First Towing Experience - New Trailer - GoAPR Power!!


I have seen a Tiguan towing a small fishing boat (10-12ft tinny)

[Peter Jones]

i'd like to occasionally tow a loaded car trailer gross mass about 1500kg- i'm figuring on 500kg trailer and 1000kg car.

is anybody else towing anything like this weight with their Tig?

thanks

I tow that sort of weight with my 4mo Bora, no issues, it's only rated at 1400kg and the Tig is rated for 2000kg.

I've got more horsepower but the torque's about the same. I'd imagine you'd be fine.

Pete

[Transporter]

More about Tiguan towing capability http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f97/...ity-15388.html

I remember reading here that Tiguan is a great towing vehicle.

[Large Fruit]

I don't see why that would be an issue, the tsi engine is a great little thing. My father in law has towed cars with his Rodeo which is a heap of crap compared to the Tig.

I'll be towing a small trailer carrying 2 motorbikes which is about 500kg or so. Will do it no probs.

The VW tow package was insanely expensive. I'm going to grab the hitch and wiring harness from etrailer and slap it on.

[Mountainman]

It seems the practical limit for the Tig is not the 2000kg tow limit but the 100kg towball download limit. Once you get into bigger loads it will be easy to go over this limit because for good balance it is generally accepted that about 10% of the tow load should be on the hitch.

[NZTiguan]

It seems the practical limit for the Tig is not the 2000kg tow limit but the 100kg towball download limit. Once you get into bigger loads it will be easy to go over this limit because for good balance it is generally accepted that about 10% of the tow load should be on the hitch.

I've seen this 10% quoted over and over but I'm not at all certain it's a real "necessity", plus if you have a dual wheeled trailer the tow-ball load is greatly reduced so you can certainly tow more than the 1000Kg that's calculated using the 10% rule.

Cheers

[Peter Jones]

We're having the same discussion over in the transporter area, this is a cross post.

Actually the 10% thing is pretty much urban legend, there's not a lot of science behind it. It's not even mentioned in the ADRs applicable to trailer design.

The Tow ball weights on the European cars are based on science though.

I've previously a bit of reading on the back ground and found this quote here

Among all these very precise guidelines is one major variable: tow ball load. There’s a convention that sets tow ball load at around 10 percent of the trailer ATM, but this rule of thumb developed in the days of small trailers. It’s still the practice by many North American and Australian trailer makers to specify 10 percent loadings for heavy trailers, but in Europe, where there has been considerable testing done, the tow ball load range is specified in EC E94/20 regulation as a minimum figure of 25kg and a maximum of 100kg, for trailers up to 2000kg ATM. Even above that figure the heaviest gazetted coupling for cars, light commercials and 4x4s is rated at 120kg tow ball load.

Not being one to blindly accept stuff I read on the internet I looked up the referenced regulation Directive 94/20/EC but I can't extract the same opinion on first glance, there's a few calculations to be done. I'll figure it out one day. It's an interesting read though, gives you a new appreciation of the engineering involved.

In answer to the original question though, it's pretty easy to balance the trailer (caravan) to drop the tow ball weight, you just need to pack all the heavy stuff in the rear behind the axle.

A ball weight scale only cost about $20 from a caravan shop, but you can also use bathroom scales to measure the load.

Just put an axle stand on top of your bathroom sales and adjust to read zero, and place it under the ball hitch. That's the ball weight!

On my tandem car trailer moving the car on it back and forth 4 inches will alter the ball weight from negative to 85kg.

I'm towing 1400kg with 85kg on the ball no issues. That's 6% ball weight.

[Mountainman]

The European caravan makers have obviously done a lot of research into safe towing and are renowned for making their vans with a light towball download. In comparison you see a lot of Australian vans and especially camper trailers that are set up with a high towball download. In fact in the extensive camper trailering I have done it never ceases to amaze me to see some of the extreme set-ups some people have simply because they are trying to carry too much on the A-bars. That said, you are better having too much than too little and the more the weight can be concentrated around the axle the better.

[russtiguan]

I have a TDI Tiguan and tow a Windsor Rapid Caravan (14'6" x 7') that would weight about 1450kgs loaded. I had to be careful on the towball weight by distributing the van loading, as it is only 100kgs. Recently towed it to Adelaide from Sydney with 3 adults and averaged 10.5 lit/100kms (3460kms), tows extremely well, very stable. I watch the oil temperature on long climbing hills (such as coming out of Adelaide on way to Murray Bridge, very long climb to Mt Lofty) and adjust the speed accordingly. Also towed it to Port Macquarie