teachertrish
Guest
ok,so do you and steve reckon that they will manage and it wont be a wasted journey..
Guest
Guest
Tell them what your m/h is and ask them to check it out before you go.
You could always send them a picy by email just to confirm that they know what you are talking about.
avandriver
Guest
Surely there is a nearer towing specialist than stoke
Steve
Steve
Guest
Guest
I would have thought so and I must say that I wouldn't fancy driving all the way down here from where you are.
There must be someone up there
teachertrish
Guest
we hav tried,there is a place in glasgow but they said no as itold them i wanted to put a scooter rack on the back,lazydays said it can be done-but from what we have heard they will tell you anything-infact they foned us today asking when we will be taking delivery-we got the van in november....
Guest
Guest
Yes, they have a terrible reputation!
I think that Towtal would do it as they are the so called experts, and adding a scooter rack is very easy, but what about your rear axle weight.
Don't forget that with a long overhang, if you put say a 250kg scooter on the back it will probably add about 325kg with the leverage taken into consideration and not to forget the weight of the tow bar plus leverage weight.
teachertrish
Guest
thanks graham,dont really know if we will put a rack on-its more to protect the rear lights when the ladder is down and for corner steadies to be mounted.Thanks for your input,I will phone towtal and ask to speak to someone with some idea of what they are doing..
Guest
Guest
On our previous Hymer, we had a tow bar and a scooter rack and a large overhang
The crazy thing was that we carry everything we may need and we were up to our max weight without putting a scooter on, so we never did
OH, it was on when we purchased it, but far too many users do not weigh their m/h and only guess it.
I drive for a living and I cannot afford to be done for overweight, that is why I am very particular
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walkers
Guest
take another look at the rear of your chassis extension if it has 2 12mm holes 145 mm apart on either side it is probably an alko chassis extension. these holes are in the same place on an alko chassis, hope this helps
alanval
Guest
On our previous Hymer, we had a tow bar and a scooter rack and a large overhang
The crazy thing was that we carry everything we may need and we were up to our max weight without putting a scooter on, so we never did
OH, it was on when we purchased it, but far too many users do not weigh their m/h and only guess it.
I drive for a living and I cannot afford to be done for overweight, that is why I am very particular
We are the same tow bar was on when we bought the van.we have taken it off as it put us up to the max weight.We want to take bikes with us this time ,the previous owners must have been very overweight ..the towbar is about about 160k.with the long overhang the back was way down.
Val
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walkers
Guest
that sounds like a very heavy towbar, the reason for us fitting a towbar is so that we can carry the weight in the trailer rather than the van. thus eliminating the risk of the van being overweight. the towbar that i looked at on a german website weighs in at 17kg plus noseweight of 50kg this puts 100kg approx on my rear axle to reduce the effect of this the spare wheel which is carried at the very rear of the boot area of the van will be carried in the trailer thus the weight on the rear axle i estimate at a healthy 57kg. and all the heavier stuff in the trailer means i can keep the van at under its max weight.
Guest
Guest
Hi Tony, the trouble with a trailer is that you don't want it with you all the time and you would be forever swaping things around for when you do have and don't have the trailer with you
But for payload, you can't beat one
But for payload, you can't beat one
walkers
Guest
for a weekend i wouldn't ned it as would only need a small payload anyway but for a holiday it is essential, another 1.3t payload if needed though that is a lot more than i would need, oddly enough the fuel consumption with is very little different to the fuel consumption withoutHi Tony, the trouble with a trailer is that you don't want it with you all the time and you would be forever swaping things around for when you do have and don't have the trailer with you
But for payload, you can't beat one
Guest
Guest
walkers
Guest
something i am gonna have to live with as we are going on a long break and will need more stuff than usualBut the ferry costs more
Guest
Guest
Nosha
Guest
My motorhome dealer use Midland Magneto of Nottingham, they made a full width bar like a truck underrun bar to protect the back of the m/h and its plastic bumper and lights. £650 fitted with electrics, bloody dear I thought; but found the likes of PWS of Poole etc charge about the same!
It's well made and a good fit to the extended chassis, but the paint/finish is NOT very durable. It will need repainting this year in Hammerite at only 2yrs old!
It's well made and a good fit to the extended chassis, but the paint/finish is NOT very durable. It will need repainting this year in Hammerite at only 2yrs old!
terry1956
Guest
Hi all, will towbars are a target for some to make lots of money thats for sure, I have seen prices from 400 to 800 pounds for a motorhome bar and all sorts of reasons given why they need to be that price, well there is not one good reason bar great big mark ups.
After shopping round for a towbar for my hymer B544 and looking at some in person I went ahead and made my own, OK I am a coded welder, will I was a long time ago and did my h&c in engineering etc. But the total cost was £30 pounds all in, and thats made with 3x1 mild steel.
I use it to tow my box trailer with the quad bike in, we have a scooter but when we placed it on the rear the hymer was 70kgs overweight on the rear axle and very light at the front, so we went for the quad, no tax or mot,s needed in france for same and 30 pounds insurrance pa for full europe cover.
But with some skill anyone can get a towbar made better and at less cost then the prices from so say motorhome towbar people.
look at your local steel shops, small engineering firms etc.
michael
After shopping round for a towbar for my hymer B544 and looking at some in person I went ahead and made my own, OK I am a coded welder, will I was a long time ago and did my h&c in engineering etc. But the total cost was £30 pounds all in, and thats made with 3x1 mild steel.
I use it to tow my box trailer with the quad bike in, we have a scooter but when we placed it on the rear the hymer was 70kgs overweight on the rear axle and very light at the front, so we went for the quad, no tax or mot,s needed in france for same and 30 pounds insurrance pa for full europe cover.
But with some skill anyone can get a towbar made better and at less cost then the prices from so say motorhome towbar people.
look at your local steel shops, small engineering firms etc.
michael
teachertrish
Guest
Michael,today i phoned towtal,I told them about the distance from the chassis to the rear was 1100mm they said thats not a problem and at the very rear the wont be connecting to the coachbuilt body(all the load will be from the read of the chassis.Their price for a rear bumper framework was 170plus vat or for towbar spec was 350plus vat,I too am capable of welding so it wouldnt be a prob for me but when you did yours what was the lenth of your frame after the chassis?is my 1100mm too far without support and should i go for bumper spec only...
terry1956
Guest
answer
Hi like you, my hymer as a added chassis section at the rear, when I looked at the towbars made for the hymer they all fitted unto this extension not the main chassis. This all looked a bit odd to me, as you will know that a towbar needs to react to a lot of pulling force, if you take the case of my hymer the towbar needs to take the pull of around 1.5 ton and a nose weight of around 200 pounds at the ball hitch.
This is what I did, I made the two side arms run along the chassis extension and the used some angle to join it to the main part of the chassis, I used two bolts per side at this point. for the side arms I used 3 bolts each side using the holds predrilled into the chassis extension, from the arms I welded the cross iron and both arms have side extensions to take any side movement. I also added two straps just behind the two hitch to the chassis to off side the towing force from the cross iron, as this was 5 foot across i did not want a lot of force from the towing going into the side arm welds, these straps are just bolt on to allow a bit of flex.
so in anwser, if the extension chassis is in good condition then yes you can bolts to this only, but its better to try to get something onto the main chassis legs.
michael
Hi like you, my hymer as a added chassis section at the rear, when I looked at the towbars made for the hymer they all fitted unto this extension not the main chassis. This all looked a bit odd to me, as you will know that a towbar needs to react to a lot of pulling force, if you take the case of my hymer the towbar needs to take the pull of around 1.5 ton and a nose weight of around 200 pounds at the ball hitch.
This is what I did, I made the two side arms run along the chassis extension and the used some angle to join it to the main part of the chassis, I used two bolts per side at this point. for the side arms I used 3 bolts each side using the holds predrilled into the chassis extension, from the arms I welded the cross iron and both arms have side extensions to take any side movement. I also added two straps just behind the two hitch to the chassis to off side the towing force from the cross iron, as this was 5 foot across i did not want a lot of force from the towing going into the side arm welds, these straps are just bolt on to allow a bit of flex.
so in anwser, if the extension chassis is in good condition then yes you can bolts to this only, but its better to try to get something onto the main chassis legs.
michael