When I towed my Troll for the first time yesterday behind my newly acquired V70 D5, I noticed the van was very much nose up. Having looked, the tow ball height seems higher than one might expect with the centre of the tow ball about 475mm off the ground.

I have just levelled the van in my drive (by measuring to the floor line either side of the wheel to equality to remove any affect by the slope) and then measured the height required of the tow ball to get the van to sit level when hitched. This gave a projected height of 355mm, circa 120mm less that the current ride height from the tow bar. This also matches the 'nose up' amount I had roughly worked out, so I'm pretty happy it's accurate.

So I have three questions:

A) Can any other Troll owners (for precision, I'm talking about a 2001 540, 13" wheels) give me an idea of what the hitch height when level is for their van, to see if their is any oddity about my particular van, and

B) Is the tow ball centre height at 470mm on the car higher than one might reasonably expect?

C) Are there any other V70 owners out there who could measure the centre height of their tow ball?

I know a bit of nose up when towing isn't the end of the world, but 120mm (or nearly 5") seems excessive..

many thanks in advance...

Hugh

Thanks Pepe. Yes, I've seen the EC directives and, indeed, the tow ball height on the car is outside (and above) those guide lines. The actual tow hitch is a swan neck (I should have mentioned that) so I'm not sure a drop plate would work - certainly like it would on the more convention set up with a bracket. I'm wondering whether one can get a swan neck with less 'throw' on it..

The van had 13" wheels from new, so it's certainly as designed. I'd really like to hear from any other Troll owners as to what their tow hitch height is when the van is level so I can start homing in on what the problem is I need to resolve..

Zitat

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I'd really like to hear from any other Troll owners as to what their tow hitch height is when the van is level so I can start homing in on what the problem is I need to resolve..

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I would doubt your van would be any different to any other, unless its been fitted with low profile tyres.

Zitat

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Yes, I've seen the EC directives and, indeed, the tow ball height on the car is outside (and above) those guide lines

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you seem to have already determined that it is the car that is at fault maybe a volvo dealer can help?

If I recall correctly from my tyre topic 1000 Kg axles were fitted with 13 inch wheels and 1200 Kg axles with 14 inch wheels.

Edit found my post where the manual says (and I think it was the same for a Troll)

Zitat

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For Triton 430 1000 Kg axle 185/70 R13
For Triton 430 1200 Kg axle 195/70 R14

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The center of my towball is 425mm from the deck (so 2 inches lower than yours) with no-one in the car and an empty boot, I suspect by the time I've loaded the car with all the things I take with me it will be somewhat lower

I have a Triton 1000 Kg axle 13 inch wheels for ref

Thanks all..

Yes, the van has a 1000Kg axle so runs with 13" wheels. Currently they are shod with 165R13C tyres, but having checked, they are exactly the same diameter as the 185/70s it was originally fitted with.

The tow hitch is a factory fitted 'Thule' fixed neck version. Although you're right, I suspect the car being the culprit, as a 2007 model, bought privately, I'm not sure a Volvo dealer would be keen to help. I have mailed Volvo customer care asking them what tow ball height I should expect on my car.

The tow hitch looks like this...


and the set up looked like this behind my Mondeo when bringing it back from Holland last year after purchasing it. The car was pretty much empty, by the way, so wasn't running low due to carrying a significant load..
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Looks good behind the Mondeo

Regarding the car there are so many factors that can change the ride height from suspension stiffness to loading.

Example neutral noseweight and empty car to

60 Kg noseweight + another 60 Kg of gear in the boot + 2 people in the car can make a difference of 250 or so Kg ................... no idea what difference that would make to the ride height of a volvo ??

As it would have been Thule or their agent who designed the towbar for the V70, a question to them as to why it does not conform to EU standards might be helpful. Equally, what do they recommend to make it conform.

C

Just measured the towball on my V70 D5 and it's 41 cm to centre of ball. I have an Alko extended neck towball fitted and was told this would be the equivalent height to a swan neck. To give you an idea how it sits when hitched, here's a pic of my rig with 1992 Puck (13" wheels) - both car and Puck are unladen.