Levelling a Brian James trailer

[magister]

POBC

Have just hooked up the BJ Clubman (with car on) to the new Octavia. Nose weight is ok, but the trailer is is no where near level - rear wheels of trailer are clearly taking more load than the front ones. The tow bar on the car is a removeable one, so no chance of fitting a drop plate (I assume).

What are the options to get it to tow level? (or does it not really matter)

Thanks

[Sandboy]

Evening Paul

Had the same issue myself which led to frequent blow out of rears, twice on one journey which was interesting with only one spare. Fix is straight forward and involves adding spacers between trailer frame and the coupling/winch bracket so effectively pushing the nose down if the hitch height remains unchanged. Easy enough to fabricate some but Brian James sell them, seem to remember not cheap especailly if you need a few layers as I did. Don't remember exactly how thick the spacers are, think quarter inch, but if you have idea of how much you need to drop the front of trailer by then sure BJ will advise. Will also need to repalce original bolts with longer ones. It's a pretty straight forward job to do. Will not be at Anglesey otherwise could have let you take a look but could send you photos if that would be any help, just let me know?

Cheers Graham

 

 

[magister]

I was thinking that something like that might be the solution, but wasn't sure if it was something BJ would recommend. Clearly they do! With the long trip to Anglesey next weekend, I was hoping to get it sorted sooner rather than later.

Photos would be useful if possible.

Thanks

Paul

 

[Sandboy]

no problem, will sort in morning, been enjoying rugby too much this afternoon to start manoeuvring heavy equipment!

[7 wonders of the world]

BJ do make them as the trialer before last I hired was a brand spanker , the hire place even said they order them with large spacers as most people tow them with 4x4 - which made the hitch too high for my car which had the reverse proble to you overloading the front axle and it snaked like a sod irrespective of loading / nose weight.

 

last trailer from the same place, same model had small spacer, trailer sat level and towed like a dream.

[Sandboy]

photos sent via blatmail, let me know if any questions.

Cheers Graham

[magister]

Thanks.

[Mark Durrant]

Hi Paul

If you send me an email I have a couple of photos of the BJT solution as fitted to my Minno Shuttle. Whichever solution you adopt make sure the brake mechanism operates correctly and does not foul on the trailer chassis.

Mark

[paul richards]

Is the tow bracket a Westfalia by any chance? John Bransfield had the same problem towing a minno with his Yeti. His solution was to use the "tow ball attachment" from VW Tiguan. For some reason it is a different (lower) shape. An easy but not cheap solution. 

[Ian B]

Mark, can you post the pics on here please?

[Mark Durrant]

Picture as requested

[Mark Durrant]

other side

[IanJ]

I've just acquired a Yeti and am needing to undertake a similar modification to my Minno.

BJ do 60mm and 100mm variants of the spacer kit.

It looks like 60mm should do the trick from my measurements, but can anybody with a similar setup confirm which one they went for? My towbar height is approx 490mm to the middle of the ball.

Thanks in advance.