Please help, my Magna sits too low in rear suspension with 900kg in tow

[cjreeves8]

Just thinking again... is it still important to get the gooseneck also, i.e. does the trailer have to run flat?

As for blowing my Magna up, if she won't tow i'll bloody well blow her up, but i think things are sounding good with this advice

[billfisher]

Pump up air shocks are the go. As others have said you need around 10% of the rig weight as downforce on the towball. You can try load equaliser bars also but they probably won't be sufficient on their own.

[Juzo]

mate, not sure what your trailer is set up like, but on mine, the axle is connected to a couple of bits of right angle steel about 2 foot long, these in turn are bolted to the chassis of the trailer, this way the axle can be moved forward or back, this allows the weight to be evenly distributed. If your trailer has that, all you have to do is bring the axle forward to put more weight to the back of the trailer.
cheers

og course what I mean is the axle is connected to the springs, which in turn are connected to the angle brackets, bolt to chassis, ect



Juzo

[buhky62]

G/day mate depending on the modle you have you can buy a set of pump up shocks for the rear but if the coils are not up to scratch you are putting to much pressure on the skocks and run the risk of blowing a skock bag or air line if you can afford it i reckomend putting a set of (standard +) coils and a new set of gas shocks and that should fix your problem as i have fitted this combo to many of these vehicals for towing
........BOB

[cjreeves8]

Yes my wheels are U-bolted onto the frame, so it is a relatively simple mattle to rebalance the trailer. But, I don't have any means of weighing it and getting the 10% forward. I'm hoping the towbar shop adjusts trailers.

My current plan in order is:

a) First get redistributing hitch (because the manual says its essential)
b) Reditribute trailer (hopefully these first two will solve it)
c) Raise tow ball if required (i.e. trailer angle is an issue)
d) If weight is still too rear, then airbags and by this point my wife will be ready to kill me for spending so much.

I'll be getting quotes when the shop opens soon, see what damage I'm up for. Thanks again

[FNQCairns]

First weight your trailer hitch weight, no use farting around (spending money/time) until you know what you are actually up against. I can only lift a 70kg trailer hitch without some drama and I am a barrel chested lumberjack type.

IMO then check out King springs for uprated replacement springs if you cannot safely set your hitch weight lower (bet you can). If that fails then go a leveling arrangement but doing that is a waste of time unless your springs are worthy in the first place and I guarantee that they are not, just as I would have guarantted it when the car sat new on the showroom floor.

cheers fnq

[STUIE63]

Use a set of bathroom scales to weigh the trailer at the towball the you know what the weight is and you can decide which way to go.
Stuie

[PADDLES]

g'day cj, i don't mean to sound rude but the maggy isn't going to do the job safely even though it says it can handle it in the manual, i mean you've got a reasonable sized boat there. an upgrade to a cheap fourby will save the poor magna from being flogged to death. how do ya reckon it'll go towing it out the water on a suss ramp, if you're worried about even hooking it up on the driveway at home.

[cjreeves8]

Yeh I just spoke to towbar shop and the redistributer is going to cost $430. He suggested just rebalancing and then after that it might not even be possible to use a redistributer. Maybe at that point new springs as suggested.

Yeh i would have used scales if we had some, will try source some.

Paddles, no offense taken, this is not the main vehicle, which will remain the Jeep. This will only be for Bribie, which is a nice easy ramp. I've already seeded the idea with my mrs, but i assure you 10k to upgrade will be hard to run while we're still planning no major renos.

Safety does concern me though, with a rebalanced trailer and appropriate shocks will this still be a marginal tow?

[Chimo]

Hi Cjr.....8

How many Magnas do you see on the road?
How many of those do you ever see towing anything?
How many of those that are towing were towing a boat?

Magnas always were soft in the tail end, and thats always going to be an issue as is the front wheel drive.

Weighing the pull / drawbar of the trailer can also be achieved by using a painters plank or bar set upon a car stand with say a 10 to 1 ratio ie pivot point close to trailer and use weigh scales to pull down on the other end of the plank. Multiply the weigh scale number and thats the approx weight of the trailer pull being placed on the ball.

Cheers
Chimo

[cjreeves8]

Yes point taken , but a new car is not an option at this time.

So is a rebalanced trailer and new rear shocks going to make for safe towing? I don't care if i burn a clutch out... then I'll have no difficulty passing a new car by the boss, but I care that it's safe.

[Smithy]

Get load levellers. Around $90 for a second hand set of 4 bars. New 4 bar ones are around $190 and twin bar ones new are around $150 but you will be better off with the 4 bar ones. The big expensive Hayman Reese sort are just that, big and expensive. Hunt around the markets or car swap meets and you might get a set cheaper. My old set were only $25-$30 for hitch part and a few bucks for the bars and trailer brackets a bit later on. I saw the hitch alone 2nd hand for $47 or something the other day in a shop so they must have gone up heaps.

I first saw them being used on a blokes old Bluebird and he was towing about a 5.2m Qunnie Centre Console. They were the only thing that made that combo work. It sure sat it down in the arse. I had a 1850 kg tow kit on my VS Commodore and 585 plate boat on a single axle trailer rated to 1750 or 1800, can't remember which and a set of load levellers made it. Was quite comfortable after them if you sat in the wheel ruts of the road.

[PADDLES]

i know where you're coming from cj with the approvals from the finance minister. the magna will have to do the business for a while then. setting the trailer up the best you can will be the go. the maggy should have brakes that are up to the job, but the rear suspension sounds pretty suss. if it's a mcpherson strut at the rear then new springs are pretty cheap (should be between 150 -200 bucks a pair) plus the labour to whack em in and re-align the rear end. if you do it yourself you'll only be up for maybe 40 - 50 bucks for a rear wheel alignment.

[cjreeves8]

Thanks guys, I've got a lot of thinking to do... there hasn't been a lot of confidence in the 'ol Magna... starting to wonder if I borrow my mates car and save the money towards the future fourby. At the very least I'm going to have to think on this for a while.

[STUIE63]

Mate how old is the boat and trailer. I reckon if you get the trailer ball weight right the it might be all you need. think about it- if a 100 kg bloke stood on your towbar this would make the ar$e of your car sag. this weight is how much your trailer could be out but you need to know.. surely there is some one you know with bathroom scales
Stuie