Caravan Towing experience

[HHL]

I have a jayco flamingo camper trailer that i have just started towing with it has a GVM of 1400kg and towball weight of 140kgs. Driving in charge mode on relatively flat highway and speed of 80_90km/hr the engine cannot maintain or increase the SOC. It just keeps dropping.
..

Is the battery pretty full when you press charge mode?
I guess running in parallel mode there is not much power available for the generator as the revs are not that high at that speed.
It should really drop back into serial mode at some point.
Haven't towed with mine yet, I have a small 1 ton van, hoped it would be ok, however, going to cross the Nullabor next month and will stick to my Nissan Patrol for that job.

 

[rkde]

I tow quite frequently, sometimes for track days and other times to take cars off to body shops, tuners etc.

The first time I towed I used the charge button but now I find that as most the place I tow cars to are local I just leave it in normal and do not need any more power.
Car tows quite well and only once have I thought I am not going to make it over a large hill but I did and all was good.

 

[simonrh]

I have a jayco flamingo camper trailer that i have just started towing with it has a GVM of 1400kg and towball weight of 140kgs. Driving in charge mode on relatively flat highway and speed of 80_90km/hr the engine cannot maintain or increase the SOC. It just keeps dropping.
Is this normal? Its not much use if you know there are some large hills coming up and you have no batt to assist.
Also experiencing significant sag in the rear of phev when hitched. Have measured ball weight and redistributed stuff in van and car to eliviate without much change. Has anybody had success with WDH (weight distribution hitches) or leaf spring additions like
http://www.ironman4x4.com/category-products/suspension/load-plus
Think i need a bigger tow now but dont want to part with the phev as i love it..

The PHEV has a max nose weight on the ball of 75kg so you would have to lose a heck of a lot of nose weight to get within the specified limits?

Doesn't help with the SOC situation I know but worth bearing in mind.

 

[MartinH]

A normal load from the forrest, about 2000kg, the battery lasts for app. 20km.
Have not had any problems with towing this, even in rather steap starts, i use to check the Power meter, and just add as much Power to make the car+trailer accelerate slowly.

 

[Vpctv]

I have a jayco flamingo camper trailer that i have just started towing with it has a GVM of 1400kg and towball weight of 140kgs. Driving in charge mode on relatively flat highway and speed of 80_90km/hr the engine cannot maintain or increase the SOC. It just keeps dropping.
Is this normal? Its not much use if you know there are some large hills coming up and you have no batt to assist.
Also experiencing significant sag in the rear of phev when hitched. Have measured ball weight and redistributed stuff in van and car to eliviate without much change. Has anybody had success with WDH (weight distribution hitches) or leaf spring additions like
http://www.ironman4x4.com/category-products/suspension/load-plus
Think i need a bigger tow now but dont want to part with the phev as i love it..

The PHEV has a max nose weight on the ball of 75kg so you would have to lose a heck of a lot of nose weight to get within the specified limits?

Doesn't help with the SOC situation I know but worth bearing in mind.

--

This is INCORRECT the PHEV has a max trailer nose mass of 150kgs.!
Manual page- Specifications 12-5.

 

[Hypermiler]

Sorry, but per the Mitsubishi website it is 75kg. The diesel is only 100. The shogun is 140. Perhaps you have different specs in aus or a different definition?
H

 

[HHL]

Sorry, but per the Mitsubishi website it is 75kg. The diesel is only 100. The shogun is 140. Perhaps you have different specs in aus or a different definition?
H

I have a sticker for the towbar on the driver side pillar and it says max 150kg.... must be aus spec... bigger and betterer

 

[simonrh]

I inadvertently towed a trailer with a noseweight pushing 150kg a short distance last yearand it utterly killed my witter towbar and I had to have it replaced as it was so bent.

 

[HHL]

I inadvertently towed a trailer with a noseweight pushing 150kg a short distance last yearand it utterly killed my witter towbar and I had to have it replaced as it was so bent.

The generally accepted wisdom here for maximum trailer stability seems to be that the weight on the towball be about 10% of the trailer mass.
So, with a 1500kg maximum tow weight, that makes it 150kg.......

 

[simonrh]

There are components in the Witter towbar system that are common to the diesel version by the looks of things and they are all clearly marked "10kN" max (100kg approx). The UK rating for the car is 75kg



This trailer only weighs about 700kg unladen but lots of that is carried on the nose, the car looks fine, did 20 miles like that but the bar was twisted through about 15 degrees down and to the side afterwards.

I weighed the noseweight after the event and am now wiser and my employers poorer!

 

[MartinH]

10kN= app. 1000kg !!??

 

[simonrh]

Yep, sorry my bad. The D value is 10.7kN. Moved a couple of cable ties so I could see the rest of the label and the S value is 120kg.

This is on the beam that goes across the rear of the car tucked behind the bumper.

 

[anko]

120 kg. So, why did it fail on you?

 

[simonrh]

The trailer I towed was a bit over 150kg nose weight. Can't weigh it accurately but the CAD file shows it will be over 150kg.

 

[anko]

The trailer I towed was a bit over 150kg nose weight. Can't weigh it accurately but the CAD file shows it will be over 150kg.

'Only' 25% overloaded and it gave way. I wouldn't expect that ....

 

[simonrh]

Thanks for the really very clever response - very helpful, if you go back to the beginning of this bit of the thread you will see that my comment was about the Australian PHEV being rated for 150kg nose weight.

I inadvertently bent mine by towing something too heavy by not properly checking the nose weight (no, it wasn't a surprise after the event when we realised how high the nose weight was compared to what we were expecting / believed) but the Aussie bars are obviously way more substantial than the Witter ones as well as the vehicle having a higher approved rating.

 

[anko]

Thanks for the really very clever response - very helpful, if you go back to the beginning of this bit of the thread you will see that my comment was about the Australian PHEV being rated for 150kg nose weight.

You must be getting me wrong. I was not being cynical. The tow bar is rated at 125 kg. I seriously would not expect that tow bar to give way when overloaded by only 25%. Especially taking into account the the car itself was overloaded by 100%, apparently without problems.

 

[simonrh]

Wholehearted apologies then, I suspect the British hear sarcasm and cynicism in everything maybe!

I debated at the time whether the single axle trailer might place much higher dynamic loads on the towbar than a twinaxle trailer over bumps etc as more of the resulting load is born by the hitch. I think it is relatively rare to have a heavy trailer running on just 1 axle.

 

[anko]

Wholehearted apologies then, I suspect the British hear sarcasm and cynicism in everything maybe!

Haha. don't worry. Happens to me all the time ...

I debated at the time whether the single axle trailer might place much higher dynamic loads on the towbar than a twinaxle trailer over bumps etc as more of the resulting load is born by the hitch. I think it is relatively rare to have a heavy trailer running on just 1 axle.

Maybe a twin axle is more stable, but this can work against you when the road is not even. Think about speed bumps. When the heart end of the car mounts the speed bump, the hitch must lift the beam up. At that point, the rotating point of the trailer is mainly the rear axle, making the beam far more heavy to lift than with a well balanced single axle trailer. Try by hand and you will know. Going down on the other side of the speed bump, you have the reverse effect, when the trailer mainly rotates over the front axle.