Know before you tow

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Know before you tow

Know before you tow is a car, caravan, motorhome and trailer weighing service. Servicing Albany and surrounding areas of the South West.

We can come to you, to weigh your rig or meet you at one of the suitable locations in Albany.

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.

14/04/2025

Minimizing item’s for travelling will save you a fist full of dollars.
When travelling around our great land it would be great if we could take everything that we need but in reality that is impossible due to weight and storage requirements.
Every item you pack adds to your payload of either your car or your van. Lots of light items soon add up to a lot more weight. When you first pack a new van, put a removable dot onto each item. When you use that item, remove the dot. After 6 months of full time use, if you still have items with dots, get rid of them.
I try and choose an item’s that can have two or more uses to save space and weight. Here is one example.
I’m sure your vehicle has a factory wheel brace and so to does your caravan. I use a “Breaker bar”and carry one or two deep sockets to fit the wheel nuts and ditch the vehicle and caravan wheel braces. The Breaker bar is also invaluable for loosening tight nuts or bolts throughout the car and caravan.
I also throw in a a 1/2” drive “Digital Torque adaptor” to use with the breaker bar, so now I have a tension wrench to check wheel nuts regularly.
Use this train of thought for your vehicle and caravan not only for tools but everything you pack, you will end up with a lighter rig all round and that will save you fuel, make towing more relaxing and your tow vehicle will last longer with less repairs.

08/04/2025

So you have decided to get your van professionally weighed, here are some pre weighing requirements.

• On day of the weighing, it is best if you are fully loaded as if you are leaving for a big trip.
• Visit the nearest fuel station to the weighing location and fill the car with fuel.
• Fill all water tanks, jerry cans, heater fuel tanks and gas bottles (at least one bottle full).
• Bring all family members and pets that you intend traveling with.
• For the tow vehicle, find the GVM, GCM, front and rear axle weights, tow capacity and max tow ball download. These can be found on either the vehicle compliance plate or in the owners manual.
• For the caravan, find the GTM, ATM, axle weight or axle group load capacity and tow ball weight. These can be found on the compliance plate on the drawbar, in the tunnel boot or near the entrance door.
• If we are coming to you, you will need a flat piece of concrete or asphalt that is the length of car with the caravan/trailer/boat attached or know a suitable quiet location near by.

28/03/2025

The last two weighs I have done have both been under weight in all aspects. Great work guys on keeping yourselves and other road users safe...

21/03/2025

Wheel nuts, how often do you check yours?

These little buggers can work themselves loose at any time, but especially on corrugated roads. Some vehicles are more susceptible to this than others and after market wheel nuts can also give you grief if they are not matched perfectly. In my travels I have come across at least three people who have lost wheels due to wheel nuts.
I check my nuts one a week or at the start and end of a long dirt road. I’m luck with my current set-up as nothing has moved as yet, but I did have a camper trailer that did give me grief, so I used to check it every couple of days.
I use a 1/2” drive “Digital Torque adaptor” purchase from Supercheap Auto for around $100 to ensure my wheel nuts are torqued correctly and while I’m doing that I check my wheels for defects.

Here is a good example of why you should do this.
https://youtu.be/xD735nwYDQk?si=vmPgbcRcI1qhRzjb

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Albany, WA
6330

Website

http://www.knowbeforeyoutow.com.au/

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