If you tow a caravan you are probably well aware of the importance of correct weight distribution.
Hi, I’m Andrew from Accelerate Auto Electrics and Air Conditioning. Today I’m gonna give some towing tips and talk about ball weight.
The ball weight is the force the trailer tongue exerts on the hitch or tow ball. Proper trailer ball weight improves the vehicle and trailer towing experience by improving performance with both braking and cornering.
Not enough ball weight or force on the hitch or tow ball causes an increase in trailer sway from side to side making it difficult to control. On the other end of the scale, too much ball weight or force on the hitch or tow ball could overload the rear tyres of the towing vehicle, pushing the rear end of the vehicle around and increase your braking distance by a large percentage. Most accidents that involve trailers are a result of ball weight.
The thing about ball weight that gets people by surprise is it changes all the time. It changes as you empty your water tanks, eat your food, repack your belongings. I’ve seen many times where people use the old ball weight scale at home before they leave home and then the number comes in fine, but then wonder why they get a big sway up on the way home. They didn’t realise their tanks are now empty and they have lightened their weight a lot with their food and repacking.
This is where the Weigh Safe Tow Hitch comes in as it’s always working and it’s always there. Whenever we’ve fitted one to a customer’s vehicle they’ve always commented on how much their weight changes throughout their trip.
It’s made with solid 6061 T6 aircraft grade aluminium so it’s actually quite light. It fits all standard hitch receivers including Rangers with a shallow depth. It comes in three adjustable heights, four, six, or eight inch and always includes a 50mm tow ball. Which is stainless steel.
So how it works, the pressure on the ball sends a reading to the built in scale that measures the ball weight in kilos. This lets you know if you need to adjust your load before you tow. As you can see, as you change the weight distribution between your car and van the gauge moves and lets you know the weight.
The Weigh Safe Tow Hitch is just another thing to make your towing safer and to give you peace of mind. The guidelines say for proper towing the ball weight should be no less than 10% of gross trailer mass and no more than 15%.
I actually recommend you undertake a towing course and you work out the proper towing weight for your vehicle and van set up. So we’ve got all the different versions of the Weigh Safe Tow Hitch in stock and you’re welcome to come down and have a look at them and check them out ’cause they’re actually pretty cool.
If you’ve got any questions about this or anything else, give us a call at 1300 227 353 or send us an email
at info@amae.net.au.
