XC90 Towing problem

[ctreex1]

Hello, this is my first post on here. I bought a new XC90 in November 2010, the dealer fitted a Volvo towbar with detachable ball. I recently tried towing my Ifor Williams HB506 horse trailer. On good roads it behaves as though driving over traffic calming strips. I returned the trailer to the Ifor Williams distributor, he loaned me another trailer and this behaved in the same manner. I then took the car and trailer to the Volvo dealer, he loaned me another XC90 that was fitted with a Volvo fixed towball. When towing the trailer I experienced the same effect. That's 2 trailers on 2 cars giving the same problem.
The next day I travelled as a passenger in my friend Alan's XC90, towing his HB506 without the problem described above. The only difference between Alan's car and trailer compared to my car and trailer is that his is fitted with a Witter detachable towbar and mine has a genuine Volvo detachable towbar.
Does anyone have a suggestions please? I do not want to discard my towbar as this cost about £500 fitted (about £200 more than a Witter).
Thanks, Clive

[Big Stew]

I'm at a loss to help other than to state our XC90 is a MY10 with the Volvo detachable tow bar , I use it to tow our 1700kg twin axle caravan . I have towed around 8000 miles with it and found it to be totally faultless to date ! ! !

[S60D5-185]

Originally Posted by ctreex1

Hello, this is my first post on here. I bought a new XC90 in November 2010, the dealer fitted a Volvo towbar with detachable ball. I recently tried towing my Ifor Williams HB506 horse trailer. On good roads it behaves as though driving over traffic calming strips. I returned the trailer to the Ifor Williams distributor, he loaned me another trailer and this behaved in the same manner. I then took the car and trailer to the Volvo dealer, he loaned me another XC90 that was fitted with a Volvo fixed towball. When towing the trailer I experienced the same effect. That's 2 trailers on 2 cars giving the same problem.
The next day I travelled as a passenger in my friend Alan's XC90, towing his HB506 without the problem described above. The only difference between Alan's car and trailer compared to my car and trailer is that his is fitted with a Witter detachable towbar and mine has a genuine Volvo detachable towbar.
Does anyone have a suggestions please? I do not want to discard my towbar as this cost about £500 fitted (about £200 more than a Witter).
Thanks, Clive

That sounds awfully like the NOSEWEIGHT of the trailer is incorrect ie the amount of weight exerted by the towhitch onto the towball.

If it is either too heavy or too light instability will result.

Your vehicle will have a MAXIMUM permitted noseweight as will the towball itself.

I think that you can discount the construction of the towbar itself as being the problem as it will be no better and no worse than the Witter.
Why don't you try Alan's trailer on your vehicle and see if that improves things and also put your trailer on Alan's car and see how it behaves.

One last point , with the vehicle solo, measure from the very top of the TOWBALL to the ground on yours and then do the same on Alans.
There should be no major discrepancy but obviously if there is this will have a direct impact on the trailer noseweight.

Darryl

[pdrvolvo]

For a start volvo dont make towbars fullstop.the bar will have been made by one of the big makers like witter for instance.Fixed or detachable it should make no difference too the towing performance.It has too be something to do with dynamics of the set up like ride height,or noseweight even tyre pressure's and how many wheels it has. There are many things that can affect the way a trailer handles especially if its empty.Try putting some weight in it.I tow with an xc90 without any problems at all trailer or caravan.



peter.

[GJB]

Have towed with a XC90 fitted with detatchable tow hook for 7 years and only time I had a problem when caravan tyre pressures where to low,normally tow a 1500kg caravan.

[ctreex1]

Thank you for your prompt replies.
The maximum trailer nose weight permitted for the car is 90 kg. The max nose weight for the towbar is 90 kg. Ifor Williams say anything above 80 kg should be ok.
The towball height on my car is 49 cm, Alans is 47 cm.
I forgot to say the I also have a 2004 Freelander, the problem does not occur on that. The towball height on Freelander is 43 cm. Max permitted towball weight is 150 kg.
The tyre pressures on the trailer are set to 60 psi from new, although the Ifor Williams stated pressure should be 65 psi. I will increase the pressures to 65 psi to see if that helps.
Thanks, Clive

[Coconut]

As no-one else has suggested it, also see if you can try a different set of wheels or tyres on your trailer.

The symptom you describe sounds like it could be generated from the rotation of the trailer wheels -

Imagine a perfect tyre driving over the calming strips,
and compare that to a tyre with a flat spot, bulge, or other imperfection driving along a flat road.

Your trailer could have an out of round tyre, which often happens after they have been left standing -
they tend to form a flat spot on the "bottom" ( painful ! ).

( The loan trailer from Ifor could have had the same problem with its' tyres ).

[RoscoMac]

Does your XC90 have the load compensating suspension fitted? There was a recall from Volvo for certain 90s as they hadn't fitted the self-levelling kit to some vehicles.

R.

[ctreex1]

Thanks for that, mine is an Active model. As this is bottom of the range I don't expect that it has load levelling suspension.
With the trailer parked on level ground and jockey wheel adjusted to make the trailer level, the distance from the top of the towball socket is 46 cm to ground. As I said earlier, on the car the distance from the top of the towball to ground level is 49 cm.
I have set the trailer tyres to 65 psi, just need to take it out to see if it improves.

[TruckbusUK]

I'm sure ALL UK spec XC90's have the self-levelling suspension as standard. Recall cars excepted, but they should have been retro fitted by now I'd guess

Hope it helps