Measuring Tow Ball Down Weight pt 1

[Fab1]

There's many ways to calculate your tow ball weight ranging from purpose made scales you can buy to simply using bathroom scales with a few extra bits and pieces.

I've always used a bathroom scale,block of wood,bottle jack and a straight bar which I will demonstrate with.

I like to load/fuel the car/boat as if I'm going fishing as everything adds weight.I even load the car with my passengers(wife and son).

The first measurement I take while my car is loaded with everything except me is the distance from the very top of the tow ball to the ground as shown in the Photo.

Place a straight edge across the top of the tow ball and measure from the bottom of the straight edge to the ground.The distance in my case is 460mm.

The first figure you need to find is your tow ball down weight.My car has a MAXIMUM tow ball down weight of 75kg and this should never be exceeded. 

I like to have a fairly heavy down weight on the ball as I find your rig tows a lot better with a bit of weight there but I allow a little leeway.

Im going to shoot for a weight of 60 kg to allow 15kg of leeway.

Continued pt 2