really am I irritating you, well I'm sorry but good.
Perhaps I should pack in work to work on the thing just to suit you
Disco 2 TOWING ON AIR SPRINGS
- Thread starter johnlad
- Start date
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Perhaps I should pack in work to work on the thing just to suit you
markomate2
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 899
- Location
- Bedford and Tallinn
+1 Be patient guys! Yes Id like to hear what happens too, but time is not always on everyones side...took me 8 months to tear apart, rebuild and troubleshoot my TD5!
Mark
Joemac434
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 644
- Location
- Stowmarket gb
I has the same problem I upped the ride hight and it firmed up the air bags also if it's got an alco hitch make sure you have an alco tow ball they have a flat base to the underside of the ball stops that up n down pivoting I found it worse when arctics went past
UPDATE.
Just returned from a short week in Scotland,
Still on the air springs, but discovered one front spring was fitted upside down, my fault for following the way they were already fitted, anyway corrected that, checked nose weights, altered tyre pressures to land rover recommendations for towing, loaded car and van correctly, and......
Its better than it was, seems to have stopped see sawing,,But it is still horrible to tow with, feels very unstable when I pass slow moving wagons,
The rear of the caravan seems to be sucked into the wagon, meaning correction of steering which then induces a snake, this is at approx 55mph, didnt dare go above, and when cars pass us, it creates the same effects, so not good but better than it was.
Im going to look at the friction pads in the Alko hitch and see if that alters anything, after that if no better the D2 is history, unless anyone has an idea.
Just returned from a short week in Scotland,
Still on the air springs, but discovered one front spring was fitted upside down, my fault for following the way they were already fitted, anyway corrected that, checked nose weights, altered tyre pressures to land rover recommendations for towing, loaded car and van correctly, and......
Its better than it was, seems to have stopped see sawing,,But it is still horrible to tow with, feels very unstable when I pass slow moving wagons,
The rear of the caravan seems to be sucked into the wagon, meaning correction of steering which then induces a snake, this is at approx 55mph, didnt dare go above, and when cars pass us, it creates the same effects, so not good but better than it was.
Im going to look at the friction pads in the Alko hitch and see if that alters anything, after that if no better the D2 is history, unless anyone has an idea.
discodrivercumbria
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 3,317
- Location
- South lakes
my old GS 5 on coils factory fitted was far better than this one i have now on Air, 7 seater.
with the GS you could go at 70mph with a trailer on, steady as a rock, this one now wallows around,
glad i don't have a caravan or need to pull a long trailer very often, even the ifor tipper 8' is enough if loaded!
Coils i think is the answer!
with the GS you could go at 70mph with a trailer on, steady as a rock, this one now wallows around,
glad i don't have a caravan or need to pull a long trailer very often, even the ifor tipper 8' is enough if loaded!
Coils i think is the answer!
jamesmartin
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 91,879
- Location
- louth lincs
the sprung hitch i mentioned earlier or springs, a coil up side down should matter
You're always going to get a slight twitch passing HGVs and the like (although worse when a Transit passes you at 90). But the Al-Ko stabiliser should minimise it. I've never felt even slightly worried by passing lorries etc at 60mph and have NEVER had anything approaching a snake. I took our caravan (1400 Kg MTLPM single axle, 100 Kg noseweight) for a service yesterday and that included about 30 miles of 2-lane motorway (M42). I must have passed 20 or so artics etc with various loads including car transporters which usually have the worst airflow. I never felt anything other than a very slight movement.
I still do not believe there's a fundamental problem with air springs as if there was everybody would experience it. My D2 on air is more stable than its predecessing D1 on coils with the same caravan.
I still do not believe there's a fundamental problem with air springs as if there was everybody would experience it. My D2 on air is more stable than its predecessing D1 on coils with the same caravan.
Truffe
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 2,283
- Location
- St Mayme de Pereyrol, Dordogne
We have never experienced any problems with our D2 on air springs. From what you say you'd be well advised to check the friction pads in your Alko hitch as you said you would. If worn or contaminated they can make towing a buttock clenching experience!
At the expense of asking a personal question but is your ball clean?
It should be clean bare metal, with no surface rust, grease or even factory applied paint covering, these can rapidly contaminate the friction pads and cause the symptoms you are experiencing. Because we use different trailers etc on the same ball hitch we make sure we clean it thoroughly with meths before hooking up the Alko hitched caravan to eliminate cross contamination.
Have you checked the ball is still within tolerance diameter wise Alko advise less than 1mm of wear ie. 49mm diameter = new ball hitch.
Another thing to check would be to check the brakes on the caravan for correct adjustment and proper operation of the automatic reversing mechanism if the shoes are binding they could start to brake under their own free will then the auto reverse comes into play and releases causing swaying of the outfit.
- Posts
- 3,275
- Location
- Rushden, Northants, UK
I picked up our new to us D2 yesterday.
I used my D2 V8 with a 3.5 tonne car transporter trailer that I hired from Barnwell Trailers, nice people and £60 a day.
I pumped my rear tyres up to 38lb and had the Discovery well forward on the trailer, but I got the impression that it was the front tyres being slightly soft that were allowing the trailer to wag the Discovery.
Up to 55mph it was fine, with occasional runs to 60mph, but I wasn't that confident at that speed that I could stop a tank-slapper if it started, so generally came back at 55-57mph.
So much depends on other things interacting, and in this case I thought that harder front tyre pressures would have been better, and a tri-axle better still.
Peter
I used my D2 V8 with a 3.5 tonne car transporter trailer that I hired from Barnwell Trailers, nice people and £60 a day.
I pumped my rear tyres up to 38lb and had the Discovery well forward on the trailer, but I got the impression that it was the front tyres being slightly soft that were allowing the trailer to wag the Discovery.
Up to 55mph it was fine, with occasional runs to 60mph, but I wasn't that confident at that speed that I could stop a tank-slapper if it started, so generally came back at 55-57mph.
So much depends on other things interacting, and in this case I thought that harder front tyre pressures would have been better, and a tri-axle better still.
Peter
