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The need for heavy duty springs if you are adding weight.

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Guest

Guest
Julian Voelcker wrote:
Reading this, and the various threads about adding fitted kit to the boot, I feel I should describe my experience of last week.
I had to travel to Yorkshire to clear out my father's house, and I rented a 10'x6'x6' trailer to help to carry the stuff. On the way back the trailer was laden, but in a well balanced way. However I had a lot of heavy stuff in the back of the truck, mostly boxes of books, and the headlight adjuster had to go down two clicks, which gives a measure of the load on the rear axle.
At anything above 50mph the trailer was completely uncontrollable - something I've never experienced before when towing the horses. Those who have teased me (nicely) before about our equine activities will know that I'm pretty experienced at hauling heavy loads, and 3 nags + trailer are easily twice the weight of what I was pulling then.
So the moral is, I believe, that if you are going to add significant permanent weight at the rear you really must think about upgrading the springs, otherwise you may have stability problems when subsequently towing - or possibly even solo at high speed.
Probably pretty obvious to all you experts, but it came as an unpleasant shock to me - and Yorkshire is an awful long ride from Devon at 50mph!
Christopher Bell
Devon, UK
1996 1HD-FT
 
Perhaps the stability issues were more down to the design of the
trailer - was it dual axle?
Actually, I have always thought that the back of your 80 was lower than
standard - have you considered upgrading the springs.
On the plus side, for myself, I already have heavy duty springs in so
am not too worried - would actually like to get some weight in the back
to smoothen the ride - it is very harsh with out the weight the springs
were designed for.
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
Mobile: 07971 540362
Cirencester, United Kingdom
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift, ARB
 
yes, stiffer suspension does make it a little better, but loading of the trailer is without doubt the problem. I have towed loads of Land Rovers (and all sorts of other stuff) and when the trailer is loaded right, even with the vehicle loaded up in the back, you can drive as fast as you like.
Ages ago I was towing a land rover and 3 gearboxes on a trailer. The gearboxes were at the back of the trailer (the wrong place but we were very tiered after a long land rover show!) we set off and could not go above 40mph due to the trailer. We stopped, moved the gearboxes to the front of the trailer, and hey presto! Perfect 75 all the way home.
In fact I did a similar thing the other day, again I could not be bothered to move the load. I wish I had as it is so dangerous. It only takes 10 min to rearrange the load.
Hey, another thing about towing. I rented a trailer a few weeks ago to move a Land Rover 110 (expedition prepared and very heavy) and this was the first thing I towed with my new (new to me!) HDJ80. The trailer must have been at least 1 tonne, the Land Rover was maybe 2.5tonnes. Again, it was late and I wanted to get home, so I was driving fast and braking fast etc. and I was thinking that the brakes on the trailer were not very good, but as it was the first time I'd towed anything with my Toyota and it was not a trailer I was used to I didn't give it another thought.
Anyway, the next day in the light I noticed the brake cable on the trailer had come off! It had been off for ages. So I had been flying down hills and breaking around bends with no trailer brakes! Imagine going down a hill at 40mph, braking as you go into the right hand bend with 3.5 tonnes pushing the tow bar to the left..... in the rain! But thanks to a very heavy tow vehicle we did not shoot off into the ditch!
Hope y'all have a good weekend.
Cheers,
Matt Savage in cold Derbyshire (UK)
1991 HDJ80 4.2td and Landy etc...
----- Original Message -----
From: Christopher Bell
To: [Email address removed]
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 11:26 AM
Subject: [ELCO] The need for heavy duty springs if you are adding weight.
Julian Voelcker wrote:
> I would love to build a draw system for all the junk in the back, but
> they are a pain when you need the full load space for fun tasks like
> shifting furniture.
Reading this, and the various threads about adding fitted kit to the boot, I feel I should describe my experience of last week.
I had to travel to Yorkshire to clear out my father's house, and I rented a 10'x6'x6' trailer to help to carry the stuff. On the way back the trailer was laden, but in a well balanced way. However I had a lot of heavy stuff in the back of the truck, mostly boxes of books, and the headlight adjuster had to go down two clicks, which gives a measure of the load on the rear axle.
At anything above 50mph the trailer was completely uncontrollable - something I've never experienced before when towing the horses. Those who have teased me (nicely) before about our equine activities will know that I'm pretty experienced at hauling heavy loads, and 3 nags + trailer are easily twice the weight of what I was pulling then.
So the moral is, I believe, that if you are going to add significant permanent weight at the rear you really must think about upgrading the springs, otherwise you may have stability problems when subsequently towing - or possibly even solo at high speed.
Probably pretty obvious to all you experts, but it came as an unpleasant shock to me - and Yorkshire is an awful long ride from Devon at 50mph!
Christopher Bell
Devon, UK
1996 1HD-FT
--
European Land Cruiser Owners Mailing List
Further Info: http://www.landcruisers.info/lists/
 
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