Hi All
After reading a lot of topics about nose weight. I have just got a loan of a jack that has a pressure gauge Incorporated into it and jacked up the van and to my surprise it shows about 180 kgs
My van is a 16'6" single axle 1994 Windsor Statesman with front kitchen is this normal for a van this size or should i try to reduce the nose weight. The tug is an 03 Disco with a nose weight limit of 250kgs so its still within limits but I thought its way to high.
Regards
Doug

G'day Doug,
the nose weight "should" be around 10-15% of the total weight of the van, 10% being to "accepted" weight, that is the figure given here in Australia, but in Europe they say 5-8%, if it's OK in Europe I can't see why it would make a difference here, though I wouldn't go below 8%, how far you go above, is not as important to the stability of the van (unless way over) I have read of 18-20%, so If you know the ATM that would be the figure to start with, 180kg sounds as it would be around the 15% mark for a van that size and within the "accepted" range,
Frank

I have a Jayco 17.6 single axle and ball weight when going bush is 200 and for coastal trip ( leaving gen, fuel, and camp ovens ) at home my ball weight is 180kg, never had a problem and tows very well from 80k to a 100k cruising, so long as your tug can carry it without sagging and the whole unit is level and you are happy with its performance leave it alone, better to be slightly heavy than light.

Gday...
I think if you check your Owners Manual for the Disco 3 you will find it has a towing capacity (braked) 3500kg with a ball weight of 350kg.

If ATM of van is 1800kg then 180kg ball weight is quite acceptable (10%) - if the ATM is less than 1800kg, but the van tows stable on the road ... no sway or saggy tug rear end ... then it should be OK. (Disco 3 with air suspension should properly compensate).
Maybe just re-think how you pack the van ... move some stuff more over the wheels or to the rear more.
Cheers
John

dougld and others,
Be careful of the readings you get with the jack fitted with the pressure guage incorporated.
I purchased one of these as I am very conscious of ball weight and thought it would be very handy to be able to get accurate figures whenever needed, how wrong was I?
Very Very Wrong!

The guage on the jack indicated just under 300 Kgs. whilst the Registered Weighbridge figure showed 100Kgs.

As a result I rang the supplier of the jack and returned it for test/credit.
I had no reply in a reasonable time so contacted the supplier and was told that he had tested and found no problem, it was indicating correctly.
I asked what his method of test was and he said he stood on it (?!).

I received a part credit for the new and defective item and will not deal with them again.
I do have photos and documentation but they would identify the supplier.

Subsequent visits to the Weighbridge have indicated figures consistant with the original one.
Obviously I will only use a Registered Weighbridge when safety and accuracy are first priority.

Regards
Keith.

Hi I purchased one of these weight gauges that attaches to the tow coupling.They come in two weights one goes up to 250 kg and the other goes to 400kg.They are worth there weight in gold.Takes about 2 minutes to attach them.They can take lot of guess work out of ball weight.
I have no shares or any affiliation with the people that make them.

He wispers I used the batroom scales (because I didn't tell SWIMBO) , only takes 2 minutes.
Frank

Hi Keith,
The jack supplier comment of testing the jack: I asked what his method of test was and he said he stood on it (?!).Sounds like the jack had an error but if you weigh well not you but say you where 100kgs and stood on the jack, if that’s possible and it read 100Kgs then it is correct.

The point I am making is the stood on it comment may not be as silly as it sounds but you would expect a reply without having to ring.

JR

JR, because of the way it was handled I doubted that he made any serious attempt at testing and treated the whole thing "off the cuff" on the phone with me.
I agree that a bloke would weigh around 100 Kgs so if you could stand on a one inch round rod for a reasonable amount of time, say a couple of seconds, to get a read then that would be accurate enough but his attitude made me doubt his story.
If the weighbridge indicated say 250 and the guage read 300 I would be somewhere in the ballpark to believe him. But 100 to 300 nup.

Rod, I nearly bought one of those and it was a toss up at the time, pleased to hear they work well, I may look at one in the near future.

Keith.

Hi again Keith,
Yes I agree how silly some sales people are I would have probable done the same.

What I am trying to understand is how there is such a large difference in the two readings.
For the jack gauge to read only 100Kgs instead of 300kgs it would be reading 200Kgs when on zero and if the gauge had been exposed to over pressure it would not return to zero, anyway it is hard to understand such a big difference.
Naturally you would have the jack under the tow ball and the jockey wheel off the ground to take a reading which is a bit dicey.

I then wonder about the weigh bridge and the method you used to weigh the tow ball weight. To work out the tow ball weight using the weigh bridge you would need to place the van on the weigh bridge coupled to the car but have the car wheels off the bridge and take a reading, then uncouple the car and have the van and jockey wheel on the weigh bridge and take a second reading the difference is the tow ball weight.

By any chance you didn’t just have the jockey wheel only on the weigh bridge and take that reading as 300Kgs. Why I say this is that the reading will be higher as the jockey wheel is not located at the end of the draw bar where the tow ball is! The further you move towards the van wheels the higher the reading while be.

Anyway if the jack gauge can have an error of 200Kgs when reading 300kgs it is rubbish and should not be on the market.

JR