I have read the fact sheet on Spring Assisters. I use my Bongo for towing a caravan. It has never bottomed out but pitches strongly on the badly maintained roads in this part of the UK - especially when I am pushing along! Are there any other members who tow with a Bongo? Do they use spring assisters? If so why? If not why not?
All advice will be gratefully received.
AndrewJ
Towing a Caravan with a Bongo
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AndrewJ
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dandywarhol
- Supreme Being
- Posts: 5446
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- Location: Edinburgh
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david moore
towing
Hi Andrew,
I tow a 2 berth caravan with our Bongo with no spring assisters but with a stabaliser.The only prob.I have is to keep looking to see if the caravan is still folowing me.Bongo's are brill.for towing.The first time I picked it up and drove down the M3 I had a tyre blow out on offside of caravan,the Bongo kept dead straight until I pulled over to hard shoulder.
The roads in Dorset can be a bit lumpy but it seems to cope fine.
Regards Dave.
I tow a 2 berth caravan with our Bongo with no spring assisters but with a stabaliser.The only prob.I have is to keep looking to see if the caravan is still folowing me.Bongo's are brill.for towing.The first time I picked it up and drove down the M3 I had a tyre blow out on offside of caravan,the Bongo kept dead straight until I pulled over to hard shoulder.
The roads in Dorset can be a bit lumpy but it seems to cope fine.
Regards Dave.
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timhum
Hi Andrew,
I have spring assisters fitted. The Bongo is loaded up with my "tools of trade" in the back which makes it back heavy even before I tow the caravan. In theory the caravan adds about 85Kgs to the back end of the Bongo so spring assisters are a must!
I have to say that I haven't noticed the Bongo lurching around much either before or after the spring assisters were fitted, although the suspension is a somewhat on the soft side. Sort of depends what you are used to I guess.
I fitted the spring assisters because there are loads of speed humps where I drive and the back wheels were always bottoming.
I think that your issue is more to do with suspension/shock absorber issues but I am no expert.
Stiffer springs were sourced by a fellow bongolier some time back and a search might throw up the supplier. I am told by my mechanic that different shockers would have to be paired up with them to balance the new arrangment so I did not get any further being a stingy bloke and also shockers seem to be hard to source for the Bongo, and fancy ones seem to be a bit of a black art.
There was a mention of an add on air suspension arrangement (balloon inside the springs) recntly, you might be interested in searching for that also.
Hope this helps,
Tim
I have spring assisters fitted. The Bongo is loaded up with my "tools of trade" in the back which makes it back heavy even before I tow the caravan. In theory the caravan adds about 85Kgs to the back end of the Bongo so spring assisters are a must!
I have to say that I haven't noticed the Bongo lurching around much either before or after the spring assisters were fitted, although the suspension is a somewhat on the soft side. Sort of depends what you are used to I guess.
I fitted the spring assisters because there are loads of speed humps where I drive and the back wheels were always bottoming.
I think that your issue is more to do with suspension/shock absorber issues but I am no expert.
Stiffer springs were sourced by a fellow bongolier some time back and a search might throw up the supplier. I am told by my mechanic that different shockers would have to be paired up with them to balance the new arrangment so I did not get any further being a stingy bloke and also shockers seem to be hard to source for the Bongo, and fancy ones seem to be a bit of a black art.
There was a mention of an add on air suspension arrangement (balloon inside the springs) recntly, you might be interested in searching for that also.
Hope this helps,
Tim