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Extended draw bar


John and Tina

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Hi all

I have ordered a XC3 19'6" (internal measurments). I am undecided whether to go with the extended draw or just have the standard draw bar fitted at this stage.

I wounld like some feed back on advantages and disadvantages of both. Comments will be much appreciated.

Best Regards to all

John and Tina

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Hi John and Tina,

We have a new XC3 and ordered ours with the extended drawbar wiyh a mesh tray. Pleased we did as that extra length enabled us to bolt an aluminium tool box on it as well as utilising the mesh tray for storing sullage hoses when travelling.

Regards,

Bob

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Hi John & Tina,

Having an extended draw bar works for me I would have no hesitation in going this way again. Longer bar definitely makes reversing & positioning the van easier & as Bob mentioned the extra length can be used for storage purphases.... (remembering tow ball weight) One thing often forgotten about longer draw bars is storage (as in parking up & not using)..... not knowing what your situation is, will the extra length of the draw bar (increasing the total length of the van) be a problem?

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Big advantage with manoeuvrability,[backing up into park ],big help if towing with "Ute"... can carry 'things' on it.

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Hi John & Trina,

We had the standard draw bar on the last van (XC 17'6" internal) and an extended draw bar on the new ATV2 (18'6" internal).

Advantages

Easier to reverse - see previous posts

Can fit a storage box (store hoses, chocks etc) or wood on draw bar (be careful of ball weight)

Easier to get in behind the stone guard to access the front boots.

Disadvantages

We are much longer overall and some caravan parks have small sites so we have to check whether we will fit (not that we go into CP's much)

Very little gap between stone guard and front boots (with gerry can holders there as well)

Would add extra weight

Would add extra length and make turning/negotiating in the bush on tight tracks more difficult or prevent access

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Hi John & Trina,

We had the standard draw bar on the last van (XC 17'6" internal) and an extended draw bar on the new ATV2 (18'6" internal).

Advantages

Easier to reverse - see previous posts

Can fit a storage box (store hoses, chocks etc) or wood on draw bar (be careful of ball weight)

Easier to get in behind the stone guard to access the front boots.

Disadvantages

We are much longer overall and some caravan parks have small sites so we have to check whether we will fit (not that we go into CP's much)

Very little gap between stone guard and front boots (with gerry can holders there as well)

Would add extra weight

Would add extra length and make turning/negotiating in the bush on tight tracks more difficult or prevent access

Kedron do NOT move the axles forward to compensate for hitch-point being further forward. This effectively increases the ball-weight of the van. Be careful how much weight you put on that longer drawbar.

Just added the bit in red to Jacky Jacky's post. This is a bigger issue than it would first appear. Our ball-weight is 300Kg with no load in, or on, the van at all. Because nearly all stowage areas in our Kedron are forward of the axles, the extended drawbar exacerbates the towball weight issue. I weighed our van after our last trip away and found that our towball weight was 650 Kg! (Thank God the Disco 3 has self-adjusting air suspension.) We were only carrying what the van is designed to carry - A couple of bicycles on the drawbar (that's why we got the extended drawbar), a jerry can of fuel, generator in the side hatch. Other than just the usual personal stuff and the annex. I am going to have to move my batteries from the front boot and locate them under the café lounge to fix this issue. I may possibly have to relocate one of the water tanks from forward of the axles to behind, as well.

Cheers

Russ

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Hi all

We opted for the short bar for all of the negatives mentioned above.

Our overall length was the big factor.

Ball weight is critical and yes you can load the draw bar excessively if not careful.

Cheers from the Kyd's

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John & Tina,

Great choice of van congratulations, this is a personal choice but after towing a range of vans before we bought our first and second Kedron both with long draw bars, I wouldn't tow with anything else these days. I also built my own trailer many years ago and also included a long draw bar on this as well. The advantage of control and manoeuvring ease I believe outweighs the negatives if you apply some judgement to what you put on the frame. Check out my blog and you will see pictures of our van with what I carry on the draw bar, the generator is only the same weight as the outboard that was designed to be put on this area.

cheers

Laurie

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Thankyou all for the feed back. At this stage I am still undecided which way I will go. I like the idea of the extra space between car and van and understand it will be easier to manoevur when reversing. Getting around tight bush tracks I believe I can over come. My main concern and that of my wife is the overall lenth when we use different caravan parks close to home with friends on extended weekends throughout the year.

Kind Regards to all

John and Tina

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John and Tina,our first Kedron had a extended drawbar as does our current 19.6 internal topender and we have never had a problem at caravan parks with the extra length .Our van has box fixed to the rear replacing one of the spare tyres makeing the van 9.2 overall in length .

I would not hesitate with the long drawbar with the possibility for storing firewood . We always have a large plastic tub sitting on the mesh to store bits and pieces .

Enjoy the planning you made a good choice with the Kedron.

John

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Adding our two bobs worth to the conversation :rolleyes:

After chatting with a few Kedron owners regarding dust entering through the four seasons hatch when the hatch is on the front of the Kedron we were worried that it would happen to us and as we intended to travel the Savannah Way back west we purchased a piece of foam to block the potential flow of dust in. Many hundreds of kilometres of dirt and bulldust followed and to our surprise and delight we need not have made the purchase as the foam was as clean as when it was installed front and back. Our conclusion, valid or not, was that with our short drawbar the dust wasn't going up as high as the hatch. Ian spent ages watching as we hit bulldust holes and the fine stuff poofed up around the Cruiser and van and the only times he could see dust going that high was from on-coming vehicles. If we had of had the long drawbar with more space between the rear of the tow vehicle we could see how the dust could be thrown up over the roof with potential to come iin though hatches. Hmmm... another long winded answer, I hope it all makes sense :)

Cheers

Sue

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Hi Sue.

With the foam in the four seasons you prevent the dust from being sucked in through the vents by blocking air flow. Without it any small vacuum in the van or small pressure at the vent will allow dust to enter.

This was our experience in the old van with the metal four seasons.

Cheers from the Kyd's.

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Hi Sue.

With the foam in the four seasons you prevent the dust from being sucked in through the vents by blocking air flow. Without it any small vacuum in the van or small pressure at the vent will allow dust to enter.

This was our experience in the old van with the metal four seasons.

Cheers from the Kyd's.

Hi Rod & Mavis,

After travelling with the foam in, (it wasn't taped just sitting on the bars) and finding no dust we actually left it out for a couple of hundred kilometres and had the same no dust result. Ian is pretty sure it is the short drawbar. Now the dust in the back is another story..... who forgot to shut the rear window properly :lol:

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