Our "New to Us" Winnie

[BernieQ2]

That's only what caravanes do Jon.

[T1 Terry]

Terry,

With the MG and things, how does the tow ball weight 'balance' work with the position of the MG on the trailer?

Will it be close the the magic 10%?

As long as the weight is forward of the axle, I don't care that much. The tow hitch is strong enough and the Winnie weighs enough for the tail to not wag the dog ..... and the all up weight will be around the 2 tonne mark, the more it shares with the Winnie, the less over weight it might show going through the drive through weigh bridges .....

T1 Terry

[T1 Terry]

Made me check up about towball weights for heavy vehicles Jon. Depends on the hitch rating, the mega $$ trailer has a 2000kg rate hitch so I can have up to 1500kg on the ball, the tow hitch is rated for 2250kg, but looked up the Hayman Reese listing .... and towball down weight is only 350kgs .... bugga ..... so I guess I'll have to weigh it with the MG4 on it and see how close I am .....

T1 Terry

[T1 Terry]

The other mudguard is now semi welded on ..... it was fully welded and I realised I hadn't checked to see if the guard was square to the trailer floor Had to cut the welds, bend it out and one end is now fully welded, ran out of flux core mig wire to do the other welds ..... tomorrow ......

T1 Terry

[jon_d]

and towball down weight is only 350kgs ..

ha! My engineer signed off on only 80kg tow ball weight even though I have a 3500 kg bar.

He was concerned about the bucking because the tow ball is meters away from the axle.

[T1 Terry]

and towball down weight is only 350kgs ..

ha! My engineer signed off on only 80kg tow ball weight even though I have a 3500 kg bar.

He was concerned about the bucking because the tow ball is meters away from the axle.

Strange, the overhang is limited to a max of 60% of the wheelbase, the engineer doesn't get to make up their own rules, NHVR (National heavy vehicle regulator) make the rules .....

This is the Hayman Reese towbar made for the F250 https://haymanreese.com.au/products/tow ... 1a76&_ss=c and the Winnie is built on an F250 motorhome specific long chassis, being classed as a heavy vehicle, so came under the same rules as an F250, 3500kg trailer weight and 350kg tow ball down weight ....... until 03/07/24, then VSG16 came into effect and screwed everything https://www.nhvr.gov.au/files/media/doc ... plings.pdf
Now it appears I also need to swap out the 2000kg coupling for a 3500kg coupling to get the towing capacity up to 2562kg .... but might be plus a bit (still need to find the GVM for the Winnie, I think it's 10,000kg, but it might be less)
But this would still give me a 256kg ball down weight capacity .....

I guess the reasoning was the tow vehicle would be too heavy for the trailer to throw it around, so the stress would transfer to the tow hitch and drawbar ....

With 200kg down weight on the tow ball, the trailer loaded with the MG4 is light enough to not require break away brakes .......

Don't ya hate it when you give me an opening to get technical

T1 Terry

[jon_d]

Strange, the overhang is limited to a max of 60% of the wheelbase, the engineer doesn't get to make up their own rules, NHVR (National heavy vehicle regulator) make the rules .....

Overhang and tow ball weight are not coupled in the vs.

Overhang limits are for exit ramp design and sweeps when cornering.

Long overhang amplifies the vertical bucking when hitting a speed hump or wash out at speed.

He was concerned about the trailer load, trailer drawbar and bus chassis.

All fine by me, I just said I'll A frame and he was happy.

The current state on the roads justifies his position.

I spent a bit of time planning everything with him first and then the sign off became a small formality.

Engine, gearbox, power steering, seats all signed off for about $800.

Then the full conversion to the motor home was completed about 2 years later.

[supersparky]

It will be a little bit interesting to see what the actual weights are, once the trailer modifications are finished and you can hook it up to something and actually measure the downweights.
Edit
Terry, does your Winny have a chassis extension after the rear axle? Ours does, maybe a metre or so added on.

[T1 Terry]

It will be a little bit interesting to see what the actual weights are, once the trailer modifications are finished and you can hook it up to something and actually measure the downweights.
Edit
Terry, does your Winny have a chassis extension after the rear axle? Ours does, maybe a metre or so added on.

The Ford 2000 F=Super Duty F53 basic stripped chassis the Winnie is built on, comes out full length from the states, so no chassis welding involved. bus chassis are generally delivered as a very short wheelbase and the bus body builder extends them as required, some of them are frightening in regards to how poorly the job is done.
When I worked for the various bus yards, chassis cracks were a regular check item, especially around the welds, in Tassie, the transport dept went one step further and any chassis ..... over 5 yrs old I think it was, had 3 mth pit inspections ........ until I started fitting double chassis where the welds were, after then next inspection the double chassis upgrades went back to 12 mth inspections

T1 Terry

[jon_d]

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford ... otog1e.pdf

Page 34 and Page 35

https://www.ford.ca/support/vehicle/f-5 ... r-manuals/