something like this? or did I understand wrong?

That does not look to dissimmilar in a way to what's on the back of my 4x4. (Well apart from the arm being totally different!!)

I think we might need to go back a bit...

Joe - you're saying that the back of the car is too low with the caravan AND four people in the back, right?

What about when there's just four people, no caravan?

The reason I ask is that I think you might have too much weight on the front of the caravan. In English, we call it "nose weight" - the amount of weight pushing down on the tow bar. Have a look in a local towing/caravan shop - you can buy a special device to measure it.

...or just get a cheap set of bathroom scales, and put the front wheel of the caravan on them...

There has to be a bit of weight, but not too much. 50kg is the maximum rated amount for the 2cv towbar we've got, if I remember right. If there's too much, there'll not only be too much weight on the car's suspension, but too much load on the towbar. Too little, and the caravan won't be stable, and might "snake".

With the caravan on, you can move some of the stuff from the boot of the car to the caravan, to help remove some weight from the back of the car. It should be easy to make the back of the car lighter WITH caravan than without.

My 2 cents..

Moving the mounting point further out from the centre.

Results in...
1) More Leverage
2) Make the suspension softer
3) More likely to fully compress the spring (spring bound). Not good

Adrian.
50kg nose weight seems a bit high for an A series, easy to test by finding someone of that weight to stand on the tow ball and see how far the back end goes down.
I always carry a small spring balance and aim for about 20kg to 25kg when loading a trailer...
http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear32.htm

ken

Sorry, but you've got that back to front...

The lever arm of the tie rod about the axis is increased when the location of the knife edge is moved further away from the centre of the axle, therefore;
1/ The effective spring rate is increased, so less likely for the spring to become coilbound.
2/ Tensile stress in the tie rod is reduced, for the same vertical load.
3/ Shear stress on the knife edge and bursting stress on the tie rod end are both reduced
4/ However, total suspension travel is decreased.

ken.

( Keywords. Force times perpendicular distance from the line of action to the axis of motion.

Absolutely - it's the maximum rated for the towbar...



<cough> I'll keep the other foot on the ground... <grin>

I'll get my coat....

Ken

Does that mean that the rear arms on an Ami Break are different to an Ami Berline? I noticed that on my 8 estate the suspension was much firmer when compared to the saloon. I thought it was due to the height as the break sat higher but I didn't realise there were changes in eye position.