shifting some weight

[TramcarTrev]

OT who would have thought… Was it Archimedes said “Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world”

[loub]

OT The golf front tier mount is under the front of the van ,like a Ute but at the front.

[Old Techo]

Peter, ta for that

Without Paul’s specs I can only use my own van as an example. The Roadstar is designed with the axles further rearward than most vans so my example offers the least benefit in ball weight reduction.

[nsgnomad]

hi guys,
thanks for the reply’s, firstly the vehicle is no problem,perfectly level.tow hitch is the anderson hitch.
small error regarding the tow ball weight ,it is 270kgs.
presently the tow ball weight ,from a spring loaded haymen reece indicator comes in at 180 kg.
the van is sensibly loaded,nothing out of the ordinary other than an extra gas bottle in the front which takes it to 3 gas bottles.
the reason i was looking at moving the spare was that i just spent 1300 $ on new tyres,(wheel alignment at max,and i wanted to experiment with ball weight).
ATM 2465
GTM 2285
TARE 2015
BALL WEIGHT 270 KGS
BMW X5 2.7

thank you
paul

Hi Paul, although you have mentioned the ball weight of 270Kgs as obtained from the compliance plate, this figure is just what the manufacture measured at tare, not fully laden. It is not a rating anyway. Your measurement using the hayman reese indicator is your actual ball weight in the condition you have loaded it for travelling. Even if there is a 10% error (unlikely more than 5%) in the HR indicator your true ball weight would still be no more than 200kgs, and this would be about right for the ATM of your van. To lighten the ball weight from what it is now might cause a tendency for swaying.

[budget]

hi there o/t and thank you for offering to help out.
the measurements that you requested are: distance from coupling to the centre of the twin axles. 4.7 m
spare at the front 2.0m
spare at the rear 6.5 m
thank you for your help
paul

[Old Techo]

Thanks Paul

So existing spare at 2.7 from axle centre and axle centre 4.7 from coupling. Thus 2.7/4.7 * 20 kg = 11.5 kg less ball weight by removing spare.

Placing spare at rear 1.8 from axle centre. Thus 1.8/4.7 * 20 kg = 7.7 kg less ball weight.

Net effect of both would be 11.5 + 7.7 = 19.2 kg less ball weight.