I've finally got hold of a car transporter trailer. I've never towed anything before so - dim question - I knowt needs to be loaded a little nose heavy and the nose wight can't be mroe than 75kg with my car, but how do I check that?

Do I just load it so the towcar looks level or is there a scientific approach?
Obviously can mark where the wheels go once I've got it figured but first time may be fun!
Thanks
Ed

Bath room scales and a bit of wood
put the wood in the hitch and on the scales
Jacko

Hi ed!
As suggested above, why not use bathroom scales under the nose wheel?
If it's like my trailer you will need it to be attached to the car whilst loading. Then either put the brakes on or chock the wheels and unhitch the car and put the scales under.
If you plan to carry spare wheels or fuel cans etc. in the car or on the trailer then have these in situ.
I aimed for a noseweight close to the max allowed.
I use a proper noseweight gauge, by the way but scales should do the job.
The trailer may, or may not, be level at this stage, that will depend on the height of your towball and design of your trailer.
Geoff.

[Edited on 27/2/10 by SPYDER]

Thanks. Noseweight gauge ordered. I'll put pictures of the mess when the car falls of up later.
Ed

lift the trailer from the towing hitch. If you can manage it with a degree of effort then you have decent amount of nose weight.

If you cant lift it then either you have too much or you're a great big girls blouse!!!

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve G
lift the trailer from the towing hitch. If you can manage it with a degree of effort then you have decent amount of nose weight.

If you cant lift it then either you have too much or you're a great big girls blouse!!!

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75kg won't trouble me enough to know....

Definitely better to go for the heaviest you can manage within the limit as it reduces the risk of that 'wooly' feeling

Don't ask me how I know

rule of thumb - if you need a jack to lift it up, or cant get it down even if you stand on it, its no good. Failing that, you're not far off.

Responsible driving is more important than precise nose weight!

Whatever you do, make sure you get it right.

I'm honest enough to admit to having loaded up a trailer completely incorrectly before.
I put my GTM Rossa K3 on - nose first.

With the engine at the back..

40-42mph was absolutely fine.

Get to 43mph and you thought you were going to die. Snaked like a bugger.

All because I had made the absolute novice mistake of loading the car on nose first.

Keep the heavy end of the car over the drawbar is what I'm saying.

Remember if its too Heavy, it presses down on the back of the car making the front wheels have less pressure on the road.
Thus you have less braking effect and lighter /less steering effect, which can be difficult or even dangerous.

Too little weight lifts the back of the car making the front heavy with heavy steering effect.

Bathroom scales and a bit of wood works well. Measuring under the jockey wheel can give an inaccurate results as its further back from the tow ball point, thus can be wrong, but not by much.

Also make sure your max weight of the trailer and load do not exceed 85% of the towing vehicles weight. (The AA and Caravan Clubs recomendations, and its sensible advice)
Towing at 100% or more can be difficult or even dangerous.
Also check in the cars handbook for the "Maximum Braked Trailer Towing Limit" This details the heaviest load your vehicle is designed to tow.
Tow anything heavier, and you could find your insurance is invalidated in the event of a claim. Not nice if you have an accident and the trailer exceeds the vehicles towing limit.

Finally, and I dont know your age, but if you are young, check your licence allows you to tow the weight of trailer + load.

The ballance of the car and trailer is an important SAFETY issue.
Please make sure you get it right, not just for your safety, but for other road users as well.


EDIT:
PS... Its NOT a Stupid Question. I'm glad to see you are checking these things out. Its all safety related.

Check this site out...
http://www.autow.co.uk/smmt/trailer_restrictions/driving_licence.aspx


[Edited on 27/2/2010 by wilkingj]

Don't let Wickes Help load it.

I had them insist the new what they were doing.

Put 1250kgs of paving blocks onto a unbreaked trailer on a Vauxhall Nova.
Then lowered the lot at the back too reposition the fork lift, that had the back wheels of the Nova 3 feet into the air
Muppets!!

quote:

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Originally posted by rf900rush
Don't let Wickes Help load it.

I had them insist the new what they were doing.

Put 1250kgs of paving blocks onto a unbreaked trailer on a Vauxhall Nova.
Then lowered the lot at the back too reposition the fork lift, that had the back wheels of the Nova 3 feet into the air
Muppets!!

---

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve G
lift the trailer from the towing hitch. If you can manage it with a degree of effort then you have decent amount of nose weight.

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Thanks all.

I'm fine on licence and weights, the trailer MAM is 1300kg and my car's MAM is 1960, and it'll be less than 1000kg loaded with the Tiger. So that's OK.

Will be fun reversing too!

For safety get an anti-snake damper such as a Scott Stabiliser -- type with the leaf spring that pushed the tow ball and socket together and transfers some trailer weight on to the front wheels of the car.

see

http://www.autow.co.uk/towbars/scott_stabilisers_prices_196.html

[Edited on 28/2/10 by britishtrident]