Tammy Middelweerd
The importance of the correct nose weight during your journey!
The well-deserved camping holiday can begin and before you leave with your caravan, check whether the nose weight of your caravan is correct. After checking this, the camping fun can begin. You drive with your caravan behind your car on the motorway into a traffic jam. Annoying, but sometimes it cannot be prevented. After a while, the traffic jam clears and you see a car with a completely destroyed caravan on the hard shoulder. Fortunately, the family whose caravan it is has nothing, but a camping holiday is no longer an option for the affected family.
A jackknifed combination or a caravan in the verge: these are the fears of many caravan owners. Various causes can cause a single-vehicle accident with a car-caravan combination. These are accidents in which no other road user is directly involved.
These accidents can be caused by an incorrect weight ratio between car and caravan, an incorrect or too heavy load of the caravan and a nose weight that is too high or too low.
This article explains various subjects that can prevent an incorrect nose weight.
Contents
1. What is nose weight?
Nose weight is the weight with which the drawbar of your caravan or trailer presses on the tow bar of your car. In technical terms: the weight with which your tow bar is vertically loaded.
It is important that your nose weight is not too high or too low, as this affects driving with a caravan. When a caravan is too heavily loaded in the front, the pressure on your tow bar is too high. This causes the back of your car to be pushed down. The exact opposite applies the other way around. When your caravan is too heavily loaded in the back, there is too little pressure on your tow bar. This causes the back of your car to be pulled up.
Both of the above situations are undesirable. An incorrectly loaded caravan, and therefore an incorrect nose weight, affects the road holding of your car. This makes the car with caravan or trailer more difficult to steer and can cause an accident. Such an accident could have been avoided.
2. Methods to determine the nose weight of your caravan
Before you set off with your beloved caravan, it is important to check the nose weight. There are various options for measuring your nose weight. Three of these options are discussed below.
Personal scales
You can measure your nose weight with a personal scale, for example. The steps below describe exactly how to do this.
- Make sure that your loaded caravan is horizontal. You can check this by placing a spirit level on the drawbar or with our E-Level module;
- Place a plank on the scales. This plank ensures that the weight is evenly distributed over the scales;
- Place a vertical beam on the horizontal plank;
- Place the coupling of your caravan on the vertical beam. You can now read the nose weight from your scales.
Drawbar weigher
A drawbar weigher is a type of retractable stick. You place the caravan coupling on the top of the stick. You can then read the nose weight on the side of the drawbar weigher. The drawbar weigher is less accurate than the example with the personal scale. In addition, it is important with the drawbar weigher that you put your caravan on the handbrake. This prevents a drawbar weigher from shooting away, which can cause damage to you and your caravan.
E-Load
E-Trailer believes it is important that you travel safely and comfortably. This is possible with the E-Load! With the help of this module, you can read the nose weight very accurately on your smartphone. The nose weight that you read on your smartphone is very accurate. In addition, you no longer need any additional accessories to measure your nose weight. You replace your current nose wheel with the E-Load. The E-Load does all the work. If you want to know more about the E-Load, click here.
3. What is the ideal nose weight?
Both car, caravan and tow bar have a maximum nose weight. Because there are three different values (that of your car, caravan and tow bar), you must take into account the lowest nose weight of the three. This lowest value therefore determines the maximum nose weight of your vehicle combination.
You can find the maximum nose weight of your car or caravan in the instruction booklet of your car or caravan or in the accompanying documents.
The maximum nose weight of your tow bar is determined by each manufacturer. The nose weight of a tow bar is therefore not universal. If you do not know what the maximum nose weight of your tow bar is, you can easily find out. The maximum weight is stated on the type plate of your tow bar. This maximum weight is the nose weight of your tow bar.
4. Too low nose weight
If the caravan does not lean enough on the tow bar, the nose weight is too low. This means that the stability between the car and the caravan is not good. The caravan can start to sway a lot, for example in the event of a crosswind, an overtaking car or when you drive past a lorry. This can cause dangerous scenes. In addition, driving with a nose weight that is too low also costs more money, because the stability between the car and the caravan is not in proportion.
If the nose weight is too low, it is important that you increase the pressure. You can do this by moving items backwards from your caravan to the centre. It is also possible to put more weight in the drawbar box. The centre of gravity is then shifted. However, we do not recommend the latter, because it is important that the centre of gravity remains as close as possible to the wheels (axle) in the middle of the caravan.
5. Too high nose weight
When the nose weight is too high, the back of your car will sag. This means that your car has less grip with the front wheels. This means that the road holding of the car is not optimal, which means you will spend more money on fuel. It is also possible that when you drive over a threshold or bump, the back of your car can be damaged.
If the nose weight is too high, it is important to reduce the pressure on the tow bar. You can do this by moving items from the front of your caravan to the centre of the caravan. If the pressure on the tow bar is still too high, check whether the spare wheel of your car is in the back. For example, by placing this spare wheel in the caravan (above the axle), the pressure on the tow bar will quickly be reduced.
If you have gas bottles in your drawbar box, you can also choose to replace them with lightweight gas bottles. It is important that you leave the gas bottles in the drawbar box in their safe place.
6. Consequences of incorrect nose weight
If you set off with an incorrect nose weight, it is quite possible that your caravan will start to sway. Swaying starts with an external influence: a gust of wind, a road surface unevenness or a steering movement. This influence does not have to be great. Even if the caravan makes a small swinging movement, the caravan in combination with the car can start to sway a lot in a short time.
This swaying can cause serious accidents. You may have seen a completely destroyed caravan on the side of the road. A small swaying movement can lead to a jackknifed caravan (a caravan that is standing crosswise behind the car).
When your caravan starts to sway, it is important that you slow down and brake gently. This is the only way to stop the caravan from swaying.
In short, to prevent inconveniences and accidents, it is important that you always drive with the correct nose weight and therefore measure it before you set off. Would you like to know more about nose weight and how to measure it properly? Watch our presentation about nose weight!