Towing a 3 tonne caravan - WDH

[bigleonski]

Question for the caravanners please.

I’ve only ever towed a 1.5T offroad camper, and will soon be tripping in a 21’ 3T semi offroad caravan. It’s my inlaws, and we will use it on and off over the next couple of years until we retire and buy something more suitable to us for the sort of trips we want to do in retirement.

My question is. Towing behind the grenny, do I need to use the weight distribution hitch that the inlaws have always used with the van, or does the grenny come with electrickery negating the need, or even making a wdh dangerous as I have read elsewhere.

I get that you don’t use them in an offroad situation, but I will only be using this van at worse on our standard corrugated “highways” like the Plenty, Birdsville track, Strezlecki etc and dirt outback roads.

Cheers for the advice.


Sorry - forgot to mention- standard suspension no airbags, standard tyres at this stage only.

 

[Tazzieman]

First , watch this video RP has just put up

View: https://youtu.be/M4PX08Twtbk?si=c_y3La7OnMjEIHLs

 

[bigleonski]

First , watch this video RP has just put up

View: https://youtu.be/M4PX08Twtbk?si=c_y3La7OnMjEIHLs

Timely thanks Tazzie - haven’t looked at youtube since the xmas break much. I know Cado has done a few vids on this as well. Just after first hand long timer grenny tower input now that there’s probably a few 2 years towing experiences now.

 

[Tom D]

I have never used a WDH, I do have several 3.5 ton, 6-8m long plant and car trailers which have similar characteristics to a big van. Be aware that WDH's transfer a lot of force to the caravan chassis. I have read that some manufacturers will deny warranty claims if a chassis cracks with a WDH. Personally I would not use one, I'd do a test run with the van and see what its like, then if its not great I'd fit some air helper springs to the rear axle of the G. As pointed out above loading the caravan correctly will help a lot.

 

[ecohen2]

@Tazzieman I do a similar demonstration with a broom and some weights to explain why 50/50 weight distribution on a front or rear engine car is different than a mid-engine car.... Good video...