Know before you tow

01/11/2026

Why I run Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) on my caravan.
One thing I believe all caravan owners should have on their van’s is TPMS (especially duel axle caravans).
On my car & van, I run iCheck 10 tyre system with external sensors (not in bed with them, just what I use). One of the benefits of this system is that you don’t have to adjust the high or low pressures of the dash unit when you lower your tyre pressures due to road conditions as they automatically adjust the low & high pressures of the unit when you screw the valve sensor back on the valve stem. As far as I know, this is the only brand I of that has this feature.
An 8 tyre system is $399, so if you save one tyre from driving on it flat, you have paid for the unit.
While a TPMS will not save you from getting a puncture, it will alert you that you have a leak. This is important on a duel axle van as the second wheel can mask the flat and you end up destroying that tyre.
It will alert you if your pressure starts to rise, potentially avoiding a blowout.
You will save fuel as every time you hop in the car you can see your all your pressures and pump them up when required.
With iCheck, you can now monitor tyre & air bag pressures, wheel bearing temps (van) and fridge temps in your car and/or van.

Check them out, cheers...

If you use Code: Wild, you will get a discount (courtesy Wild Touring).

28/09/2026

Hi guys,

Watched this video the other night and I reckon there’s at least one thing in it that you could learn that might save you from getting a fine.

It’s pretty long-winded, but hang in there until the end. 😄

Not sure about the book he’s trying to flog at the end, but for someone new to caravanning, it could be money well spent.

If anyone does download it, let me know what you think and what it’s actually about.

https://youtu.be/RvatyJHID-w?si=IWZrD3lOqGCiunDS

Know Before You Tow...

Towing a caravan requires careful setup. Even a small error with yo...

11/09/2026

As a service to “Know Before You Tow” customers I can supply the following tow hitches at cost price.
BJ-Centuria-100 hitch has a rise of 110mm and a drop of 95mm and weights just 4.3kg!
Introducing the new Centurion Hitch by Black Jack. Super good looking, strong and light weight.
The Centurion tow hitch is Australia’s lightest adjustable hitch and is compatible with a DO35 pin. It comes in two colours, Aluminium or Black (black in stock, but can order plain if requested).
Made from anodized aircraft grade Aluminium, the Black Centuria will not rust and is ADR62 approved for towing up to 3,500kg. The kit includes 2 high grade locking pins and a 7\8 inch shank 50mm tow ball and a bonus shim kit.
If you require more rise or drop, the BJ-Centuria-150 & BJ-Centuria-200 are available (but not in stock).
We can also supply any of the Black Jack range at retail prices.
Call Graham on 0407615034.

08/09/2026

On August 28, 2026, I revisited the Harvest Road Oceans group to weigh the remaining four boats and their trailers. One of the small boats is visible on its trailer, awaiting transportation to the scales for weighing. Mark, my assistant, was astonished that relocating two lightweight aluminum outriggers from the towball area to the rear of the trailer resulted in a 35-kilogram reduction in towball weight.
These trailers are not registered for road use, as they do not operate on public roads, but due to a tow ball failure, the company decided that they needed to know the weight of the boat & trailer to see if tow ball upgrades were required.

Towing your boat on a public road, it is essential that you, adhere to the maximum limits of the tow vehicle and trailer. These limits include the Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM), Gross Combination Mass (GCM), maximum towing weight, and maximum towball weight. For the trailer, the Gross Trailer Mass (GTM) and Aggregate Trailer Mass (ATM) must also be observed. Exceeding any of these weights may result in insurance claims being denied!

Know Before You Tow...

07/09/2026

Thinking about purchasing a new tow vehicle or van? Before you do, think about your vehicle and the van you want to purchase. For the tow vehicle, ask the salesperson what the maximum weight this vehicle can tow at its Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM)? Remember is this formula: Gross Combination Mass (GCM) - (GVM) = Legal towing limit. If you add draws, family, tools, pets, water tanks, and you use the maximum payload, you probably won't be able to tow 3.5t. The same applies to the caravan. Water equals one kg per litre, so add all your water tanks together to the tare weight of the van and do a rough calculation of your towball weight; use 10% as a guide of your Aggregate Trailer Mass (ATM). Remember, if your van adds up to 3.5t, subtract that from the GCM of your vehicle, and you may not be able to fill your vehicle to the maximum GVM. Feel free to give me a call before you purchase anything new, as we are here to help. That is what "Know Before You Tow" is all about. Cheers Graham.

13/08/2026

I recently had the opportunity to conduct a unique weighing project for Leeuwin Coast Oysters, which required weighing 8 vessels and their associated trailers. We managed to weigh 4 of these vessels and trailers within approximately 4 hours. The arrival of the largest vessel drew significant attention from the workforce, with many onlookers providing speculative estimates of the ATM.
Included is an image of one of the vessels of moderate size that was weighed.

10/08/2026

Well, after 357 days away, we have arrived home safely in Albany. The van traveled just over 10,000 km, while the car traveled 23,811 km. The van towed like a dream, and we had no issues with either the car or the van.
A big thank you to all who waited for us to get home to have their vans weighed.

I have started taking photos of our water tank levels before moving to a new location. You may ask why. I've heard that insurance companies assume all water tanks are full in the event of a caravan rollover and factor that weight into their assessment. Taking a photo takes 2 seconds and removes doubt about being overweight.

29/06/2025

How do you know what pressure you should put in your tyre?

I have always run a couple of pressures that I liked depending on the tyre size. At my last caravan service they recommended running 50 psi in my van tyres. I was running 42 psi on the bitumen.
Recently I came across a formula online that works pretty closely to the 4 psi rule. I tested it out on my Ranger, my caravan & my wife’s Yarris.
You will get most of the information from the side wall of the tyre (my previous post will help you out with this) & the GTM from your weigh report.

So what is this formula, well it goes like this:
Maximum pressure for tyre divided by load rating multiplied by a quarter of the GTM for a duel axle (4 tyres) or a half of the GTM for a single axle (2 tyres).

My max tyre pressure = 80psi.
My load rating is 118 = 1320.
My GTM = 3180 Duel axle.
80÷1320×3180÷4= 48.18psi.

To make it easy, I will go with 50psi.
This pressure is when operation on good condition bitumen roads.

Adjusting tyre pressures to the road conditions is a secret that will get the most life from these expensive items and will also minimize tyre defects...

The only difference to the video below is that I would use the gross trailer mass (GTM) from your weigh report, instead of the aggregate trailer mass (ATM). I say this because you don’t tow with your ATM weight.

https://youtu.be/VewXnVNuueI?si=jTUy1Dg2_4Lw590q

Cheers Know Before You Tow...

12/06/2025

Important car and caravan tyre markings that you should know about (especially if you have purchased a second hand car or van).

Having the wrong size, pressure or too old a tyre can turn into a costly mistake, so to avoid this we need to be able to read some of the tyre markings.

Tyre markings.
Here are the most important markings you should know about.
255/65 R17 111H. A lot of information here, in the example above, 255 is the width of the tread, 65 is the sidewall height, a percentage of the tread width, R is the tyre type so this is a radial tyre, 17 is rim size for this tyre.
111 is the Load Index of the tyre, the maximum weight this tyre can handle is, 1090 kg and H is the speed rating of this tyre, so in this case it is 210 km/h.

Tyre manufacturered date.
One of the biggest cause of tyre blowouts is incorrect tyre pressure, followed closely by, tyre age.
Do you realize that you should remove tyres that are 10 years old regardless of tread depth? All tyres over five years old should have a yearly inspection by your local tyre shop and before each trip you should cast an eye over each tyre. Look for uneven tread wear, tread lifting from the carcass and cracking anywhere on the tyre.
So how do you know how old your tyres are?
Look for the department of transportation mark “DOT” following this will be some letters and maybe a number or two, then you will see a brand mark and contained within it, you will see a four digit number. The first two numbers are the week of the year that it was made and the last two numbers are the year in which it was made, so in the photo below, that tyre was made on the 33 week of 2023.
So just because you have purchased a brand new caravan the tyres could be up to two years old before it rolls out of the factory, so take the time to look at the age of your tyres.

Maximum tyre pressure.
In smaller writing somewhere on your tyre will be the maximum load and the maximum tyre pressure when cold.
Never exceed exceed either of these two maximums!
There are is still a lot of other information on the side of your tyres, but the above ones are the ones you should be able to identify for safe travels and minimizing your expenses...

14/05/2025

So you want purchase a new or upgrade your current caravan. What are the key areas that you should be looking at? So many people get caught out when they don’t have a good understanding of the technology used, so I urge everyone to contact Know Before You Tow before your next purchase.
First thing to look at is, can your tow vehicle legally tow the caravan at it’s maximum gross trailer mass?
Can the tow vehicle carry the maximum tow ball mass of the caravan?
Is the gross combination mass under the what is the maximum for the tow vehicle?
The big one for the caravan is payload. When I purchased my last caravan, I wanted a 17’ single axle van with 3 water tanks. It had a payload of 647kg. Doing the maths, Water is approximately 1kg per litre so 3 x 90l tanks is 270kg. My payload has now gone down to 377kg and I haven’t packed a single thing, let alone filled the gas bottles, jerry cans or filled the diesel heater tank. I went with the 18.6’ duel axle van.
Prior to purchase, think about what you would be putting in you van, the extras you add may add during/after purchase and how many water tanks you want then do the maths. Remember any extras you or the previous owner install after purchase will not be included on the tare weight compliance plate!
Payload is aggregate trailer mass - tare weight and these can be found on your caravan compliance plate.