Defender towing issues (Snaking)

[MaverickV12]

Hello People,

I do a fair amount of towing and a majority around town so I don't get to hit more than 30 mph, but I have had a fair few times now (more recently) reason to hit the Motorway. Its not the power of the Defender that is the problem, its the snaking.

When the trailer is empty...... I can go as fast as the law allows...

When full with a car on ......



There is a distinctive cut off point, at 50mph she's OK...! at 53 or 55 mph she can snake at will, I dare not take her to 60....

My questions are....

1) Is there anything I can do about this....
2) If there is, what can be done?

I have read about stiffer anti-roll bars...... changing the bushes and put in Poly bushes that are stiffer ...... have heard of suspension type struts from the car to the trailer ..... or do I have to be more careful with the loading ......

Any ideas would be most welcome ....

[MaverickV12]

Thanks, for that .....

I have a feeling its the loading, the car being towed has a 50:50 weight ratio, and being nervous not to get her too far forward, I left her back a bit, when I released the hydraulic tilt on the trailer, she went down, but I had to stand in her to make her go down all the way.....

So it would have given me either a perfectly unweighted hitch weight, or a negative hitch weight..... I think that the max allowed is 250kg, and we were NO WHERE near that.

I think I have to have a look at how I load the car in future and make sure I have a hitch load.......

[MaverickV12]

cptsideways said:

The other thing to check is your panhard rod bushes, check they are not worn

How many miles do they take to wear?

[MaverickV12]

Does anyone know the max tow hitch weight on a 2012 onwards Defender, is it 250kg or is that too much?

Also just reading, am I right in seeing that the max motorway speed limit is 60 mph, but that on the continent its 56mph .....?

[MaverickV12]

ArrowSC said:

.....My old 110 TD5 towed this quite happily.....

..... Nice ......

[MaverickV12]

WOW ..... you are soooooooo right .....

Brought the car back from Southampton today on the trailer, reversed her on and could push her more up to the front of the trailer, gave some nose weight..... a stunning difference.....

She only snaked once and that was in some exceptionally deep HGV groves in the motorway , other than that once, I was doing 55 - 60 mph all the way and she went like a dream... down hill I had to slow her down.

Thanks guys nose weight cured the problem ..... I am one happy bunny .....