Dandy Designer ride height. -
Welcome, Guest.
Please login or register.
Dandy Designer ride height.
Follow us on Twitter follow on Twitter Like our Face Book Page like our Facebook Page Join the Dandy Forum Facebook Group join our Facebook Group Classified Adverts

Welcome to the Dandy Trailer Tent / Folding Camper Community!
We would like to welcome you to The Dandy Forum, the discussion web site for owners, new and old, and also future for the Dandy Trailer tent / Dandy Folding camper and invite you to register an account or login.
Being a registered member is important, as it gives you several advantages over the normal Guest status. After registering you will be able to download files and images, post messages, and access member-only portions of the forum - just to name a few. Registration is free, quick and simple, and only takes about a minute of your time.
Visit the Dandy Forum, the home of the Dandy Trailer Tent / folding camper main web site
Forum Login
Login Name: Create a new account
Password:     Forgot password

Dandy Trailer Tent Forum    Dandy and Riva owners    Techie Problem? <+- CLICK THIS TEXT TO VIEW THIS AREA -+>  ›  Dandy Designer ride height. Moderators: marty, patlink, maybee, Ortho
Users Browsing Forum
No Members and 4 Guests

Dandy Designer ride height.  This thread currently has 3,425 views. Print
1 Pages 1 Recommend Thread
osyangus
May 8, 2010, 2:03pm Report to Moderator Report to Moderator

NooB
Posts: 2
Posts Per Day: 0.00
Time Online: 5 hours 59 minutes
I’ve recently bought a ‘94 Designer to replace our ‘89 Dandy 6. When hitched to the towball it sat unacceptably front high and tail low. The reason seems to be that this vintage of Designer has a an original towing height of 345mm while modern towballs are at 400mm also there has been a bit of settlement in the indespension units. My solution was to insert a couple of 40 x 25mm rectangular section spacers between the ‘A’ frame and the hitch plate, effectively dropping the nose by 40mm and creating the spacers shown in the following photos to raise the rear by about 90mm. Result – A trailer that now tows level.




This post contains attachments; to download them you must login.

Logged Offline
Private Message Private message

mike.wilkinson
May 8, 2010, 3:56pm Report to Moderator Report to Moderator
Guest User
Have read about this problem before, that's a very neat solution.

mike
Logged
E-mail E-mail Reply: 1 - 10
maybee
May 8, 2010, 5:05pm Report to Moderator Report to Moderator

Tin Tent
Board Moderator
Posts: 1,393
Gender: Female
Posts Per Day: 0.26
Time Online: 95 days 16 hours 26 minutes
Location: Scottish Borders
Age: 76
I had a similar adjustment made  to our designer when we changed cars, with the Fiat(as seen on main page) I managed with fitting a drop plate with the fixed towball but with the Kia a swan neck detachable was the only one suitable for the model we had.
Worked a treat and worth the money

Barbara


Logged Offline
Private Message Private message Reply: 2 - 10
Helen
May 8, 2010, 9:52pm Report to Moderator Report to Moderator
Guest User
We have recently changed cars and found that although the designer was higher at the front it towed well all the way to Wales, uphill and down. Was worried at first as we only realised the problem as we were leaving but have since fitted a drop plate to the towbar on our santa fe, this was the easiest and cheapest solution for us.
Helen
Logged
E-mail E-mail Reply: 3 - 10

mike.wilkinson
May 9, 2010, 5:35am Report to Moderator Report to Moderator
Guest User
Helen your drop plate answer to the problem works and in your case is most likely legal but i thought i would post this quote from the Witter site for the benefit of any one reading this.

Can I fit a 'drop plate' to an EC Type Approved towbar? Only if the towbar has been submitted and tested for EC Type Approval using a 'drop plate'.  Some Witter towbars for 4WD off road vehicles have been tested in this way, e.g. Range Rover, Land Rover Discovery and Defender, the new Mitsubishi Shogun and Mercedes M Class.  Your local Witter specialist will be pleased to advise you.

mike
Logged
E-mail E-mail Reply: 4 - 10
Silverbrewer
May 26, 2010, 8:43pm Report to Moderator Report to Moderator

NooB
Posts: 3
Gender: Male
Posts Per Day: 0.00
Time Online: 30 days 4 hours 43 minutes
Location: Sutton Coldfield
Age: 71
I also have this height/tilt problem with the removeable ball on my Audi A2.
I am thinking of raising the ball hitch on the Dandy the required amount rather than raising the whole chassis, as raising the chassis will raise the centre of gravity of the trailer a lot more than raising just the hitch, and I have no way of knowing if this will have detremental effects. The tilt seems to be fine as far as handling is concerned, it is just an asthetic thing, as a Dandy should always strive to look his best, especialy when one is a Designer.....
Logged Offline
Private Message Private message Reply: 5 - 10
nickb
June 12, 2010, 4:03pm Report to Moderator Report to Moderator
Guest User
thats a really tidy solution to getting a more equal height between ball & hitch,i am gonna measure my new towbar later,but my car has lowered suspension which has reduced ride height by 30mm so i assume my towball should be fairly equal to hitch.
Logged
E-mail E-mail Reply: 6 - 10

manchestercamper
September 1, 2011, 10:01am Report to Moderator Report to Moderator

NooB
Posts: 12
Gender: Male
Posts Per Day: 0.00
Time Online: 1 days 6 hours 35 minutes
Location: uk
Age: 69
Hi
Further to my towing height problem.
The tyres on the trailer are 145 x 10 I know that the previous owner put these on.

the spare is 5.20 X 10 when i put this on it sits higher raising that side of the trailer by approx 1 inch.
the spare is an old Tyre possibly original.
Another point is the spare is also  thinner  and so it does not stick out from the mud guards
as much.

Interesting point when i contacted dandy they said the correct tyre size was 145 X 10  

dos anyone have any comments?
Logged Offline
Private Message Private message Reply: 7 - 10
maybee
September 1, 2011, 10:51am Report to Moderator Report to Moderator

Tin Tent
Board Moderator
Posts: 1,393
Gender: Female
Posts Per Day: 0.26
Time Online: 95 days 16 hours 26 minutes
Location: Scottish Borders
Age: 76
Here are some Designer Specs from the brochure (Click on pic for full size)


Logged Offline
Private Message Private message Reply: 8 - 10
Chris JRV
September 1, 2011, 5:36pm Report to Moderator Report to Moderator

NooB
Posts: 13
Gender: Male
Posts Per Day: 0.00
Time Online: 23 hours 39 minutes
Age: 76
Hi,
If your trailer rides nose up when you brake it tends to lift the back  of the car, nose down pushes the back of the car down,
Regards,
Chris V
Logged Offline
Private Message Private message Reply: 9 - 10

Nottheotherkevin
September 11, 2011, 11:19am Report to Moderator Report to Moderator

Popular
Posts: 437
Posts Per Day: 0.09
Time Online: 16 days 14 hours 17 minutes
Quoted from manchestercamper
Hi
Further to my towing height problem.
The tyres on the trailer are 145 x 10 I know that the previous owner put these on.

the spare is 5.20 X 10 when i put this on it sits higher raising that side of the trailer by approx 1 inch.
the spare is an old Tyre possibly original.
Another point is the spare is also  thinner  and so it does not stick out from the mud guards
as much.

Interesting point when i contacted dandy they said the correct tyre size was 145 X 10  

dos anyone have any comments?


M/C Camper

I've only just come across your comment whilst looking for a piece on ride heights.
The 520 tyre you spoke of is a crossply or bias belted tyre (like a crossply in its sidewalls but with lateral ply as well) .
I'm not completely certain a combination of the two are illegal on a trailer but they would be on a car.
1 They are of different sizes and differing rolling radius.
2  On a car you can't mix crossply and radial tyres on the same axle nor have crossplys on the back and radials on the front.
General Caution if your looking for cheap trailer tyres a lot of those featured on ebay are bias belted.
I don't know enough about the forces on a trailer tyre to say that they are a lessor product than radials.
The forces on a car are different, acceleration and braking are actively transmitted through car tyres also they have higher lateral cornering forces.
Just be aware of what your buying and that the same type should be on both sides.
This shows tyre development and the difference between crossply and radials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rOtMYkpD84
This compares bias ply/radials
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii0n8SK9V2s&feature=related
This compares crossply/radial. I think the bias/crossply difference is that bias also has a length ways layer of ply like a radial but the crossply didn't (please correct me if this is wrong I have been trying to get a definition but we don't use a lot of these in the UK)
crossply/radials
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4UaKO-VnaE&feature=related
Public Information Film about why you should not mix crossply/radial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c23MFIKiVdE

Kevin.
Logged Offline
Private Message Private message Reply: 10 - 10
1 Pages 1 Recommend Thread
Print


Thread Rating
There is currently no rating for this thread