Trailer jolting tow vehicle

[Belmont]

I recently purchased a 2012 Bateson Deauville, from a reputable dealer of plant/farm machinery so trusted it was all good to go, as he said. It needed a couple of small things, so I booked it in with my local guys and asked them to service it too, just to be on the safe side. Turned out it needed new brake shoe linings, 4 new tyres, jockey wheel, plus the bulb and breakaway cable I knew about.
Anyway, on the 15 min drive home, it was really jolting my car, especially when braking and over speed bumps/potholes... despite going very slowly!
I'll give the guys a call today, but just wanted to ask if anyone has experienced similar? Car has towed before without issue. I checked the damper resistance and seemed ok.
It's first trip out is booked for saturday but really don't want to put my already poor traveller in it if it's going to jerk and jolt like that.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Take it back to the garage. Could be that the new brake shoes are catching.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

Agree with Highmileagecob brakes are snatching.

 

[AandK]

I had this with my Ascot recently, rattling against my car over bumps etc. I have had the trailer 6yrs now but not used it that much the last 5 and got a different tow car 3yrs ago. Tried checking tow bar (I had it fitted to the car when I bought it), changed the damper, but found that there was movement in the drawbar so I had to replace the whole coupling and it's grand now, lovely and smooth. Mine is 20yrs old though so not unsurprising it needed a major fix, it was about £320 for the coupling and £75 labour to get it fitted by the guy who services it.

 

[QuantockHills]

yes agree with above, get the brakes sorted...

 

[EnduroRider]

I changed car and the trailer was awful to tow as the hitch is too low for the trailer causing it to bounce. Worth checking that out.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I changed car and the trailer was awful to tow as the hitch is too low for the trailer causing it to bounce. Worth checking that out.

Good call in addition to checking the brakes, I’ve had that happen in the past when towing a friend’s trailer.

This is in the Ifor horse trailers blurb, but the principles are the same whatever the make.

 

[Orangehorse]

As everyone says. Check the tow ball height and the brakes in case they are catching.

An unladen trailer will bounce a bit.

 

[Belmont]

Thanks for your ideas, I'm taking it back on thursday, they suspect the brakes. Interesting about the tow ball height though, I'll mention this too although it has previously towed without a problem so my feeling is that it's the brakes.

 

[ChipsChaps]

For what it's worth, when I bought a very cheap box with a perfect floor and rotten walls, the hitch was going - when I braked (no matter how gently!)it would thud against the car's towball. It was horrific, even on the short journey to my repair man!

 

[kathantoinette]

Brakes..but do report back to us all!

 

[Belmont]

I changed car and the trailer was awful to tow as the hitch is too low for the trailer causing it to bounce. Worth checking that out.

Out of interest, how did you solve this? I imagine it's not as straight forward as simply raising the tow bar?

 

[Tiddlypom]

My tow ball has a choice of two heights that it can be bolted on the tow bar with. I do need the higher position for my Ifor. There is about 4.5cm difference between the two heights.

That’s on a Shogun.

 

[outinthefens88]

From someone that tows up to 3.5 ton daily, could be any of the following - Brakes are set with too much slack so aren't actually functioning, brake cables are incorrectly set, damper is worn out, hitch head itself is worn out (EVERYBODY misses this one!), or the draw tube assembly in the hitch is worn out.

Bateson's aren't inherently bad trailers (at least the axles don't fall off them like Equitreks!)

 

[AandK]

From someone that tows up to 3.5 ton daily, could be any of the following - Brakes are set with too much slack so aren't actually functioning, brake cables are incorrectly set, damper is worn out, hitch head itself is worn out (EVERYBODY misses this one!), or the draw tube assembly in the hitch is worn out.

Bateson's aren't inherently bad trailers (at least the axles don't fall off them like Equitreks!)

It was the hitch head/coupling on mine, the difference to tow now it has been replaced is amazing! Took a while to figure it out though..

Hopefully OP has something less expensive like brake issues, sounds feasible as it was fine to tow before they were replaced/serviced.

 

[EnduroRider]

Out of interest, how did you solve this? I imagine it's not as straight forward as simply raising the tow bar?

I bought a new trailer!

Previous rig was Discovery 3 and an Equitrek Space Treka L. I had a chunky permanent tow bar fitter to the Disco rather than using the detachable it came with and we were able to position the tow ball height exactly as needed for the trailer.

Changed the car to a Range Rover with deployable tow bar and at standard driving height it is quite low. Unfortunately the tow bar height is not adjustable and whilst you can raise and lower the suspension height of the car, it will revert to standard height when driving at normal road speed. Has the tow bar been adjustable it absolutely would have been that simple.

I'd been looking to change to a Cheval Maxi 3 (which luckily is lower than the Equitrek ) so this was the perfect excuse to do that!

 

[EnduroRider]

From someone that tows up to 3.5 ton daily, could be any of the following - Brakes are set with too much slack so aren't actually functioning, brake cables are incorrectly set, damper is worn out, hitch head itself is worn out (EVERYBODY misses this one!), or the draw tube assembly in the hitch is worn out.

Bateson's aren't inherently bad trailers (at least the axles don't fall off them like Equitreks!)

I've never come across the concept of the hitch head wearing out so keen to better understand this - how would that present? What is it that is actually wearing out?

 

[Michen]

Mine did this. Replacing the coupling fixed it.

 

[outinthefens88]

I've never come across the concept of the hitch head wearing out so keen to better understand this - how would that present? What is it that is actually wearing out?

Basically the towball as such should be a tight fit in the 'socket' of the hitch.

As these components wear 'slack' happens, allowing the tow ball to rattle in the hitch. Its massively worse if the towball is allowed to rust as everytime the rust is worn off it becomes microscopically smaller.

The guidance is to grease towballs on MOST but not all hitches (from memory greasing some ALKO hitches is a BAD idea). As I tow a lot, I replace the tow ball every year or so when annual service is due as they really aren't expensive and the 'receiver coupling' on the trailers aren't silly money either in most cases.

Obviously if you tow once a month this isn't necessary but I regularly have trailers running daily up and down dual carriageways carrying compact tractors and heavy plant so like to make sure everything is as good as it can be for safety reasons.

 

[EnduroRider]

Basically the towball as such should be a tight fit in the 'socket' of the hitch.

As these components wear 'slack' happens, allowing the tow ball to rattle in the hitch. Its massively worse if the towball is allowed to rust as everytime the rust is worn off it becomes microscopically smaller.

The guidance is to grease towballs on MOST but not all hitches (from memory greasing some ALKO hitches is a BAD idea). As I tow a lot, I replace the tow ball every year or so when annual service is due as they really aren't expensive and the 'receiver coupling' on the trailers aren't silly money either in most cases.

Obviously if you tow once a month this isn't necessary but I regularly have trailers running daily up and down dual carriageways carrying compact tractors and heavy plant so like to make sure everything is as good as it can be for safety reasons.

Good to know, thank you for the explanation.