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[acura]

Just returned from a week in the Lake district with my new pikey wagon. The humble 2.2 coped well despite it being a heavy van but the rear springs let the jockey wheel of the van ground over speed bumps etc.

For those of you who tow with a saloon, what if any mods do you make for this? Are there heavy-duty springs I could fit or should I just go with the aftermarket spring assisters?
 

[Varche]

What nose weight are you towing with? i.e. how heavy is the towhook?

[Steve Brookman]

I had the jockey wheel grounding out on a previous caravan. I simply removed it whilst towing.

[MickAP]

I've got my eye on these, but for the estate of course

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VAUXHALL-OMEGA-SALOON-AIR-SHOCK-ABSORBER-KIT-NEW-/230232503729?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item359aed35b1

My estate  doesn't suffer so much with grounding as I think a saloon would.
I had 2 bags of sand in the boot of the saloon yesterday and it grounded on speed bumps, the mudflaps that is :-?
Someone suggested the above coupled with spring assistors, (I think those rubber doughnut type coils) worked well together.

Mick

[Cliffo B]

You definitly need Monroe pump up shocks you just connect your van and pump up useing the ground to top of wheel arch as a reference

[Cliffo B]

THere the ones that Mickap's mentioned get them fitted and connect a 12v compressor in the boot via a t connector to the air supply lines to the shocks Monroe used to do an accessory kit with all you need including a pressure guage I had them fitted to my previous estate and could load the estate rear inc my wife's buggy,and caravan, and the shocks never failed in 2 yrs of fairly heavy loading,for outfit stability most single axle outfits need a minimum of 70kg caravan noseweight. DON'T REDUCE THIS BY MUCH,as a snakeing outfit is hell to get out of

[oldie-but-goodie]

We only have a small van, but because of the grounding problems have taken to removing the jockey wheel when towing.  Some of the sleeping policemen are really vicious, and by removing the jockey wheel, this eliminates all the problems.

[Seth]

I've got my eye on these, but for the estate of course

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VAUXHALL-OMEGA-SALOON-AIR-SHOCK-ABSORBER-KIT-NEW-/230232503729?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item359aed35b1

My estate  doesn't suffer so much with grounding as I think a saloon would.
I had 2 bags of sand in the boot of the saloon yesterday and it grounded on speed bumps, the mudflaps that is :-?
Someone suggested the above coupled with spring assistors, (I think those rubber doughnut type coils) worked well together.

Mick

'Twas me Mick dear boy!
I've also got Grayston coil-spring assisters too - basically to take some weight off the shocker air bellows.

Click: http://www.springassisters.co.uk/menu.htm

The set-up works exceptionally well!

[acura]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

The van is fairly heavy @ 1500Kg max laden. Not sure what the noseweight is but I don't want to alter it as the van tows exceptionally steadily as it is. When I get some further kit in the boot and my 60Kg Bullmastiff on the back seat the arse end of the car does sag a bit 

I'd decided to bite the bullet and fork out for the Monroe air shocks but can see on here that some of you use the rubber donuts as well. Wouldn't the shocks themselves be up to the task?

[Varche]

You still need to accurately set the nose weight each time you move the caravan by redistributing the contents.  A weight guage is cheap to buy and very simple to use.

[robson]

I had the same problem with my previous V6 but never removed the jockey wheel because I wondered if this is legal. Do tired rear springs need replacement

[Seth]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

The van is fairly heavy @ 1500Kg max laden. Not sure what the noseweight is but I don't want to alter it as the van tows exceptionally steadily as it is. When I get some further kit in the boot and my 60Kg Bullmastiff on the back seat the arse end of the car does sag a bit 

I'd decided to bite the bullet and fork out for the Monroe air shocks but can see on here that some of you use the rubber donuts as well. Wouldn't the shocks themselves be up to the task?

I fitted the coil-assisters purely to ease the load on the shockers.
As previously said, this combination works extremely well on mine.
Assisters are cheap enough and straightforward to fit too!
 

[Cliffo B]

You should be OK with just the shocks I used to load the back of the estate with wifes buggy and sometimes awning + 70 to 80Kg noseweight of caravan and also should mention that that Miggy was a MV6 with lowered suspension as I said in my previous post measure ground to top of wheelarch on normal load then pump up to same measure when hitched and ready to go I think you'll find you will be pumping up to well below Monroe's max allowed quoted psi.

[robson]

Can anybody give me some idea of the correct( normal) ride height at the back ie floor to wheel arch or even a figure off of their car. Isnt the ride height set by the springs rather than the shocks. If you are hitting sleeping policeman what is your ride height without caravan and what is your height to centre of tow ball without caravan

[MickAP]

Would gladly measure and give you the info on mine, but it's an estate with the towbar.  I have a saloon also and just looking at them both without measuring, the saloon looks to sit lower at the rear.
Can measure the wheel to arch clearance on that, but not towball measurement, it ain't got one.

Mick