How Do I Find My Towball Weight?
If you own a caravan or any kind of trailer for that matter, then it is important to know your towball weight -ie how much down presssure there is on the back of your car.
You can usually get an idea if all is ok just by visually assessing the set up. If the rear end of the car is sitting very low then the towball weight may be too heavy. You won’t be able to assess visually if it is too light as it will probably sit level. But for stability and safe travelling it is recommended that your towball weight be between 8-12% of your caravan’s total weight.
Today I weighed my own towball to see how it fared and we discovered it was 263kg – almost exactly 10% of the total caravan weight.
When finding towball weight we use a scale with two different types of hitches to ensure a variety of caravans are catered for. If you aren’t sure of your weight then you can buy some towball specific scales, although it seems not all are accurate, or you can call us and we will come and do a full assessment of your caravan weight, tow rig and towball. We will make sure your AGM and ATM are within limits so that your GCM will also be legal and safe. (And if that last sentence made no sense to you then it’s probably important that you consider using a mobile weigh-bridge like ours to accurately monitor your weight.