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Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 7:50 amby cabbie37 •
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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
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:54 amby Pepé Le Pew •
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Google throws up one or two things; this in particular. There's an EC ball and hitch height directive mentioned in the CC thread.
Are they any help?
I'd have thought that if you can't get it level, slightly nose down is much better than nose up. 14" wheels on the van would clearly help, but needless to say three new wheels and tyres would cost quite a lot.
Can you fit a drop plate to the car hitch?
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yy-R56kh
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:15 amby cabbie37 •
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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..
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:24 amby Pepé Le Pew •
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Quote: cabbie37 wrote in post #3I thought you might have
Thanks Pepe. Yes, I've seen the EC directives...
![](http://yoursmiles.org/msmile/fun/m0110.gif)
Can you post a photograph of the existing swan neck, Hugh? And what make is the towbar? I'm assuming it's a detachable.
I could measure the height of the ball centre on my Audi, but I don't think it'd help much - our Troll has 14" wheels and the tyres (185/14C) are hardly low profile.
It does sit dead level, but it most definitely wouldn't if it had 13" wheels with car tyres...
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yy-R56kh
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:26 amby hob (deleted)
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Zitat
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..
I would doubt your van would be any different to any other, unless its been fitted with low profile tyres.
Zitat
Yes, I've seen the EC directives and, indeed, the tow ball height on the car is outside (and above) those guide lines
you seem to have already determined that it is the car that is at fault maybe a volvo dealer can help?
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Vauxhall Insignia Sri 1.8 petrol 2015 towing 2006 Triton 430 import
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:28 amby hob (deleted)
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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
For Triton 430 1000 Kg axle 185/70 R13
For Triton 430 1200 Kg axle 195/70 R14
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:53 amby hob (deleted)
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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
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:37 amby cabbie37 •
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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..|addpics|17v-3-ed4b.jpg-invaddpicsinvv,17v-4-a78e.jpg-invaddpicsinvv|/addpics|
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:52 amby hob (deleted)
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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 ??
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:58 amby Pepé Le Pew •
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I don't think a Volvo dealer would help either. Most of the time dealers know bugger all about towbars and sub all that kind of stuff out to local fitters before adding a huge markup for their trouble.
I'd give PF Jones a ring and ask them for their advice. It may well be that Thule do a shorter-necked ball for that towbar, and if they do
a) PF Jones will know, and
b) It should be a simple matter of undoing a couple of bolts and swapping them over.
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yy-R56kh
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 11:41 amby Pepé Le Pew •
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Isn't this towball the kind of thing you need?
I appreciate that it's on a Swedish site, and that one is part of an entire towbar kit, but if that's a specific photo of the ball and not one of those irritating generic ones and if the two-bolt fitting is okay then the least it shows there is such a thing.
And there's a part number of sorts from a PDF on there - 9530909. Could be Thule; could be Brink.
Lots of ifs, but you never know...
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yy-R56kh
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 11:54 amby Pepé Le Pew •
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Here's another shorter swan-neck.
Brink and Thule are effectively the same animal for these things.
I'm giving up now. I'm supposed to be working...
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yy-R56kh
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:33 pmby sibillini •
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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
2002 Eriba Troll 540 (Elsie) + Honda CRV 2.2 diesel
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:15 pmby Tipsywitch (deleted)
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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.
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RE: Volvo V70 tow height problem
in We've got it down to a T Mon Apr 18, 2016 2:58 pmby Randa france •
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Sorry, coming to this party a little late but we've got a 1000kg Troll with 13" wheels which sits level (ish) on our Touran and I've just measured the fully loaded Touran and the tow ball centre as 370mm above the ground before hitching the van up.
Randa
1999 Eriba Troll 530 pushing a VW Touran 2L TDi Match
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