Towing tips gratefully received

[fredfred]

So I am going to start towing a horse trailer with the Superb. This is a 2009 car, not the estate, 2.0l diesel automatic. Trailer + horse will be c.1,500 kg.

 

The load is well within max towing load for the vehicle. Any tips on how to best prepare / maintain / drive the car? With a horse in the back there isn't going to be much in the way of dramatic acceleration or braking.

Edited 6 November, 2019 by fredfred

[silver1011]

Do MLTP weights that caravans regularly use apply to horseboxes?

 

Whilst the weight of the trailer might be within the vehicles max towing capacity, I wonder if it's within the 85% car to trailer recommendation?

 

I'm not looking to question the legality of the set-up, more that the best advice I can give to safe and stress free towing is hugely influenced by the distribution of the weight.

 

The difference between a caravan and horsebox is that at least with the caravan the weight doesn't randomly shift in any direction without notice.

 

The Superb (and Octavia) are renowned for being softly sprung at the rear which means they sit very low at the back when supporting any kind of load. Pitching the front of the car up reduces grip and control. There have been numerous threads over the years on fitting beefed up rear springs to stiffen up the rear suspension. This might be a worthwhile investment if towing is going to be fairly regular.

 

The other consideration is the extra strain towing puts on a car, in particular the drive-train. A 2009 Superb is now 10 years old, so I'm guessing mileage is now over 100,000 miles?

 

Whilst the DSG gearbox is relatively robust, especially if it's had it's oil changed at the required intervals, be aware it is potentially well along it's design life road. Asking it to drag 1,500kg's up hill and down dale so late in life might accelerate it's costly demise.

 

Edited 6 November, 2019 by silver1011

[Gmac983]

I presume you have trailer entitlement on your driving license? 

[fredfred]

52 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

There have been numerous threads over the years on fitting beefed up rear springs to stiffen up the rear suspension. This might be a worthwhile investment if towing is going to be fairly regular.

 

The other consideration is the extra strain towing puts on a car, in particular the drive-train. A 2009 Superb is now 10 years old, so I'm guessing mileage is now over 100,000 miles?

 

Whilst the DSG gearbox is relatively robust, especially if it's had it's oil changed at the required intervals, be aware it is potentially well along it's design life road. Asking it to drag 1,500kg's up hill and down dale so late in life might accelerate it's costly demise.

 

 

Interesting idea on the rear springs. I'll look into that depending how much driving around we tend to do.

 

I posted another thread yesterday that the clutch plates seem to be going - I'm only expecting towing to speed up the need for that to be attended to.

15 minutes ago, Gmac983 said:

I presume you have trailer entitlement on your driving license? 

 

Yep. Full B+E.

[Gmac983]

If you are suspect about your transmission then I would strongly advise having that made good before undertaking any towing what so ever! 

 

As far as suspension beefing up goes, at the cheaper end of the scale you can get spring assist "donuts" which are rubber/plastic rings which insert in to the coil to help stiffen the spring and reduce bottoming out. They can be had for as little as £10 per pair depending on the car of course. 

Edited 6 November, 2019 by Gmac983

[chimaera]

Maximum permissable weight on the towball is 80 kg per Skoda documentation so you would need to check that your trailer+horse will be within that. If it's a twin axle trailer (as most horseboxes I've seen are) you're probably less likely to run into problems here since the two axles on the trailer support a lot of the weight by themselves. Make sure the hitch on the trailer is around the same height as the towball on the car: if there's more than 1-2 cm misalignment here you're going to be putting more load on the towball, or pulling it up into the air, neither of which are good.

 

If you haven't already fitted the towbar and electrics make sure to get Skoda OE electrics or equivalent. These integrate into the vehicle's other systems so you get towing mode on the stability control, engine compensation for the extra load, alarm activation if the trailer is unplugged while the car is locked, bulb-out warnings for the trailer lights. Avoid anything with Scotchloks - they'll only cause trouble.

 

This thread goes into some detail about options for beefing up the rear suspension for towing:

 

[Gmac983]

2 hours ago, chimaera said:

Make sure the hitch on the trailer is around the same height as the towball on the car: if there's more than 1-2 cm misalignment here you're going to be putting more load on the towball, or pulling it up into the air, neither of which are good.

 

Also if trailer is not reasonably level when hitched to the tow vehicle you would be running the risk of overloading one axle or the other on a tandem (or tri-axle) trailer as well as exceeding the above mentioned nose weight. Additionally the axle that is unloaded or light will tend to lock up under braking. 

In fairness perhaps not such a big issue with a car as the hitch height will likely be pretty close to trailer height  anyway, however I see it all the time with farmers livestock trailers hitched to land rovers etc with no dropper plate and the trailers front axle dangling in the breeze. 

The likes of ifor Williams do spacer plates to insert between the the trailer chassis and the trailer hitch to allow level towing if dropper plates are not an option. 

[CWARD]

Silly question but have you ever towed before and if so with a large heavy animal? Also has the horse been put in a trailer before?

 

I've done a fair bit of towing and regardless of size or weight the most difficult is liquids and large animals as they constantly move and in the case of a horse their C of G his high up too compounding the problem. 
 

If you have done neither get some training before someone or something gets injured 

[fredfred]

16 hours ago, Gmac983 said:

As far as suspension beefing up goes, at the cheaper end of the scale you can get spring assist "donuts" which are rubber/plastic rings which insert in to the coil to help stiffen the spring and reduce bottoming out. They can be had for as little as £10 per pair depending on the car of course. 

 

Ordered a couple of these last night for £30 for the pair so I'll give them a go.

 

13 hours ago, Gmac983 said:

Also if trailer is not reasonably level when hitched to the tow vehicle you would be running the risk of overloading one axle or the other on a tandem (or tri-axle) trailer as well as exceeding the above mentioned nose weight.

 

I think we're good on this. Horsey people who have done far more towing than me have looked at the trailer when hitched and were pretty satisfied.

 

It's a double axel trailer built for two horses and carrying only one so the weight distribution is as planned.

 

12 hours ago, CWARD said:

Silly question but have you ever towed before and if so with a large heavy animal? Also has the horse been put in a trailer before?

 

Yes and I've taken instruction on pulling an animal. He's an experienced horse and good at loading and well behaved in the trailer. There's not much issue on that side; it was more the car I wanted to sort out and make sure it's not going to die due to silly mistakes.

[NJRJ]

I'd be nervous towing a horse with an ordinary car, whilst the load might be within the max tow limit of the car those figures are misleading in the extreme as the max limits referred to are just the restart ability on a gradient (8 or 12% depending on maker) and are only for a flat bed load, so not a great big wind catcher like a horsebox or caravan!! This being something of a fake tow limit is where the 85% recommendation (as silver1011 mentions) comes in - the theory is that 'the tail doesn't wag the dog' if the loaded car is that much heavier than the load, BUT that's without the load having the room to turn around,and a centre of gravity 4 foot above the tarmac, or worse penned to one side of a trailer!. You want a great big 4WD planet killer - borrow one from the horsey set.