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I am now using my fourth Brian James trailer and have used them for over twenty years.
I found that behind a motorhome, with a two wheeled trailer, a nose weight of between 25kg and 50kg is more than enough.
You have to balance between enough weight to prevent snaking and putting to much load on the m/home back axle.
I have always driven the car on forwards both for weight distribution and ease of loading.
My eyesight's not good enough to see what you put on your trailer, but I'd love to know how the ... you managed to get it down to that level. Well done!
I had a Bantam GT trailer, which I believe is essentially the same as the Brian James. Towing my Fiat 500, best I ever managed to get the noseweight down to was 100kg, and that was with the car almost hanging off the back of it. Admittedly the issue with me was that the car was 1000kg hence at the limit of the trailer, and a diesel hence heavy engine. I didn't try reversing on, because I'd assumed wiht that kind of noseweight, with the car reversed I'd end up with negative/neglible noseweight.
To the OP...you're right to take an interest on this issue, I suspect many people with trailers don't hence (unless they've got a rear-engined Smart) unknowingly end up with excessive noseweight, which according to the guys who fitted the towbar on my old van, is the biggest danger.
NB I towed the car on a trailer with my old van (Compass Avantgarde 140)...with current Autotrail, I couldn't do so - even if I wanted to - because the Autotrail chassis extensions are limited to ~1050kg. For that reason alone, I think towing a car on a trailer with a (Fiat-based) Autotrail can be a bit dodgy...even with the smallest car you're scraping that limit.
The recommendation that the nosewight should be 7% of the MGW is old fashioned now. Caravans for example have got heavier and 7% of their MGW would exceed the noseweight limit of many cars.
The recommendation is that the noseweight should be at or near to the limit of the tow vehicle and towbar but not exceed it.
The car on my trailer in the picture is a Fiat Ceicento. I also carried a Lotus Elise on the same trailer. The trailer is a BJ "A" Series 1300kg gross with an 11ft bed.
Although it is seen behind a View, I also towed it with a Autosleeper Berkshire quite happily.
Hi All
I am the culprit who is selling the trailer!
I have one of these Micro Max trailers & have towed a Citroen C1 (same as Aygo / 107) on it. Brian James confirmed the car would fit on trailer when I bought it & it did. I must admit I did not measure the actual nose weight. My RAC friend helped me load up for the first trip & he certainly thought it was perfect for the car - by the way he recovers cars every day so is well experienced.
I still have the trailer, but sold my C1. If I still had the car I would load it up & check the weight for you.
Here is the text from the Brian James operators manual supplied with trailer:
"When loading a trailer it is absolutely vital that a positive nose weight is achieved. Loading cars of front engine design means that the car should be driven up forwards onto the trailer until the tow vehicles suspension just starts to settle". "Rear engined cars must be reversed up onto the trailer".
Thanks
Andy
Trailer nose weight should be around 50kg to 100kg Max. Your towbar will have a maximum "D" value that you must not exceed. Less than 50kg on the nose when the car is correctly loaded may mean a tendency to snake, too much and you run the risk of overloading the hitch during braking when weight is thrown onto the nose. If you cannot achieve this then you have the wrong trailer. Politeness forbids me from suggesting that you talk to a trailer company that ACTUALLY tows vehicles behind motorhomes on a regular basis.
Just noticed this thread. I have a micro-max trailer and load an Aygo onto it. It is a struggle to get the nose weight down but I have managed it with a combination of keeping the car as far back as I dare and loading the rear of the car with some heavy stuff out of the motorhome e.g. generator. My max towbar load is 85Kg and have more or less achieved it. Over that and the total load on the motorhome would exceed 3500Kg anyway.
Max recommended towing is 1340Kg so under that and my GTW is 6000Kg.
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