Are tag axles less manoeuvrable than single rear axles ?

[Just us on Tour]

Hello everyone .
We are relatively new to MH , however we are considering changing our current MH ( single rear axle) to a larger unit which will have a tag axle . We also tow a small car . Do tag axles offer restricted manoeuvrability against single rear axles ? Any advice anyone can offer would be gratefully received . Thank you .

 

[mcpezza]

Yes they are a little different to handle. We had a Burstner Elegance for some years. Didnt like going round corners too much but was very stable on the motorway. Sharp turns were the most difficult as one of the rear axles has to turn sharper than the other which increases tyre wear dramatically. The front tyres had to be replaced more often than a four wheeeler too, the longer chassis does not flex much so wheelspin could not be avoided particularly turning out of side roads which were not at the same level as main road particularly in the wet, if that makes sense.
Angled turnings in small villages for example were difficult and sometimes a three point turn type of manoeuvre was required. This became quite embarassing when towing a car as on a few occasions it had to be disconnected to complete the manouvre.
Another difference I found was the second rear axle needed far more maintenance than the first, brakes calipers seizing etc. I reasoned that this was due to the road water /dirt being thrown up.
Towing the car was no problem providing you have the three litre engine, just makes the outfit rather long. Our current van is the 2.3 150hp version and on the first couple of trips I hardly got into 6th gear. Remaped now and much better and 3 more mpg towing!
Overall it was well worth having, we travelled all over Europe in it and in some was sad to change to our current van but circumstances have changed.

 

[G1969]

Hello everyone .
We are relatively new to MH , however we are considering changing our current MH ( single rear axle) to a larger unit which will have a tag axle . We also tow a small car . Do tag axles offer restricted manoeuvrability against single rear axles ? Any advice anyone can offer would be gratefully received . Thank you .

No not from my point of view

 

[Marie-Claire]

We have the sonic tag and tow an aygo, the rear tyres do scrub on tight manoeuvres but worth it for the stability and the comfort. Ours is the 180hp 2.3 comformatic , it does tend to take a little longer to get into 6th and will alternate between 6th and 5th more often to keep it upto speed but cant really tell the car is on the back. Only once we have had to unhitch but that was in a asda car park.

 

[Reallyretired]

Do bear in mind that the increased GVW resulting from a tag axle is deducted from the towing allowance (Train weight - GVW). Because of this the weight you can tow can be greatly reduced possibly making the use of a toad without exceeding the train weight impractical ( and also illegal, not to mention giving your insurers an excuse to refuse a claim)

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[Marie-Claire]

Just checked on my v5 the mass in service of the van is 5000kg with a maximum braked trailer capacity of 1830kg. A train weight of 6830

 

[Spade]

mcpezza Can I ask,how long was your outfit in total,and did you find overtaking and being overtaken any issue?

 

[Marie-Claire]

Outfit measures about 13m in total, being hgv I sit at about 60, a real long hill on the motorway may get an empty wagon overtaking us 6T on a 2.3 cant compete with a empty 44T 13L and 400bhp plus, as for overtaking most of the hgvs flash me back in when safe to do so

 

[Bleau’s]

Did 3200 miles in april / may with our tagaxle to southern italy and back with good stability and no problem going around tight roundabouts and in tight gateways . Even my 4ft 11 inch other half drives it with no problems next year taking it down to Bosnia with motorhome tours .

 

[bigtwin]

No, a tag axle doesn’t, per se make manoeuvring more difficult.

Most tag axles are longer than most single rear axle vans so, in that respect, a longer van can be more difficult to manoeuvre than a shorter van.

Ian

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[PeterCarole29]

The only thing i found with our relitively short and over engineered tag axle was it was a bit light on the front so would easily spin on wet grass or sliperry road but thats very much van dependant and i,m sure also because it was front wheel drive
It would not stop me buying another one in the future

 

[Wh05apk]

We've got an 8.5m tag, and have no problems with traction, even on very wet muddy grass when others were getting stuck, stability on motorways is superb with no drafting effect from hgvs.
Tyre wear seems negligible across the rear axles, on grass on tight turns you do see a bit of scrubbing on the grass, but don't often turn that tight, around town/roundabouts just need to go a bit wider but that is due to length, rather than the tag.

 

[tezza-alli]

Yes they are a little different to handle. We had a Burstner Elegance for some years. Didnt like going round corners too much but was very stable on the motorway. Sharp turns were the most difficult as one of the rear axles has to turn sharper than the other which increases tyre wear dramatically. The front tyres had to be replaced more often than a four wheeeler too, the longer chassis does not flex much so wheelspin could not be avoided particularly turning out of side roads which were not at the same level as main road particularly in the wet, if that makes sense.
Angled turnings in small villages for example were difficult and sometimes a three point turn type of manoeuvre was required. This became quite embarassing when towing a car as on a few occasions it had to be disconnected to complete the manouvre.
Another difference I found was the second rear axle needed far more maintenance than the first, brakes calipers seizing etc. I reasoned that this was due to the road water /dirt being thrown up.
Towing the car was no problem providing you have the three litre engine, just makes the outfit rather long. Our current van is the 2.3 150hp version and on the first couple of trips I hardly got into 6th gear. Remaped now and much better and 3 more mpg towing!
Overall it was well worth having, we travelled all over Europe in it and in some was sad to change to our current van but circumstances have changed.

View attachment 790975

Had the Burstner Elegance and agree, accurate review.
A friend had the Niesmann Bischoff 9m and snapped a rear axle doing a tight manoeuvre into his drive.
At the time we loved the Elegance but now after having rear wheel drives we wouldn't have another. Found it to be a very hard ride although very stable.
Always had to be very careful on wet ground, mats under all wheels. If it was particularly slippery I'd reverse of the field.

 

[EuroTrotters]

I have struggled getting Short and very long RWD Mercedes Round corners. That and our current 7m Fiat FWD. I wouldn't fancy a drag/Tag axle.

Though I am sure they are great on Motorways

 

[Northernraider]

Out of the 12 motorhomes I've owned 3 have been tag axles , burstner 747 argos , frankia i840 , and lastly the euramobil integra i810 , I can't say the restricted me much in terms of places I went , I even took the last one to the Sahara and over the atlas mountains on not much more than a dirt track. But I found them big and cumbersome and slow. Hull climbing was never pleasant .any windy scenic roads with hairpins and hill climbs are quite soul destroying. Parking takes a bit more thought, traction as someone else mentioned can be lost quite easily.

For me I'll never buy another tag axle I'd prefer a twin rear wheeler. And with vans that size rear wheel drive is so much better.

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[Northernraider]

I have struggled getting Short and very long RWD Mercedes Round corners. That and our current 7m Fiat FWD. I wouldn't fancy a drag/Tag axle.

Though I am sure they are great on Motorways

Motorways are the only place I'd say . When you have a nice straight run at a hill .

 

[G7UXG]

I’ve had three in a row, all Carthagos. They’ve never caused me a problem getting anywhere I want to go. Perhaps that’s the thing, I don’t want to go up steep, twisty mountain passes in any large motorhome, tag axle or not.

I’ve never suffered a loss of traction in them, but then I won’t park on grass unless I’ve checked it out first and made sure it’s suitable and firm enough. Never had a problem on wet roads. Perhaps I’m just lucky.

The rear tyres on my first one still had about 5mm of tread on them after 20,000 miles, so not experienced excessive tyre wear. The front tyres were about the same. Based on that, I’d expect to get over 30,000 miles out of a set of tyres.

The stability on motorways is, in my opinion, far better than my previous single rear axle motorhomes, which were all Fiats.

Lower axle weights on the rear (1800kg each on mine) mean that tyre pressures are lower, at about 55 -58psi, so a lot less crashing and banging compared with tyre pressures at 70 - 80psi. Ride quality is very good, especially on the latest one, which is a Mercedes base.

My first was 8.1 metres, the second was 8.9m and my current one is 8.05m. No real problems parking the 8 metre ones on most Aires etc. A couple of places I wouldn’t go to in the 8.9 metre one, but still plenty of places to park.

For me, the only real negative is an extra axle to maintain.

 

[Northernraider]

So to summarise if you go to campsites, aires and stick to Motorways they're great. If you like to explore , park to shop etc or enjoy scenic roads they are not so great.

 

[John and Jo]

Never towed a car but never found manoeuvrability to be a problem. Been through lots of small towns and villages here and abroad no problem. Single track roads, Western Isles no problem. We found it does have some restrictions on where you can stay though. Main thing for me is you do stand out being larger so discrete camping is going to be difficult.

 

[mcpezza]

mcpezza Can I ask,how long was your outfit in total,and did you find overtaking and being overtaken any issue?

About 14 metres. You could see when you had passed a vehicle in the rear view camera.

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[RogerIvy]

To me the tag makes no difference, had a tag since 2007. I’ve driven loads on small and sometimes bad roads, I‘m more interested in avoiding low branches etc.

 

[Badknee]

Loved our Hobby, never had any problems turning or towing.

 

[Glyn and Debbie]

I used to be a truck driver and on our trailers we had rear wheel steering which made tight turns a breeze don’t know why they can’t come up with something similar on twin axle motorhomes

 

[Marie-Claire]

Would think as the cab chassis and the body chassis are made by different companies would be hard to make the 2 work together

 

[TTDBYD]

Hello everyone .
We are relatively

Hello everyone .
We are relatively new to MH , however we are considering changing our current MH ( single rear axle) to a larger unit which will have a tag axle . We also tow a small car . Do tag axles offer restricted manoeuvrability against single rear axles ? Any advice anyone can offer would be gratefully received . Thank you .

Hello everyone .
We are relatively new to MH , however we are considering changing our current MH ( single rear axle) to a larger unit which will have a tag axle . We also tow a small car . Do tag axles offer restricted manoeuvrability against single rear axles ? Any advice anyone can offer would be gratefully received . Thank you .

Hi. I've got a Comanche tag. I don't find the three axles a problem. The real issue is the sheer length of the beast. What you first have to decide is, do you want a longer/bigger vehicle to give you the extra comfort and carrying capacity or not. And are you prepared to put up with the negatives of lack of accesability. Most of this will be due to length, not axles. At 70, I felt we needed the comfort and room. I've just done a 5,000 mile trip through France and Spain. Yes, the length was a pain, which caught me out some times and as I was brand new to it as well, (my first motorhome), I was cursing the fact I'd bought it. But, a week or two in, we were very glad we had the room. You can't tow a towcar in Spain though, (no matter what van you have). We are going to keep the big rig, but get electric bikes.

new to MH , however we are considering changing our current MH ( single rear axle) to a larger unit which will have a tag axle . We also tow a small car . Do tag axles offer restricted manoeuvrability against single rear axles ? Any advice anyone can offer would be gratefully received . Thank you .

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[TonyEmm]

I used to be a truck driver and on our trailers we had rear wheel steering which made tight turns a breeze don’t know why they can’t come up with something similar on twin axle motorhomes

No reason why they can’t, other than cost!

 

[pappajohn]

Tag axles are banned from some campsites as they allegedly chew up the grass when turning onto pitches.

 

[pappajohn]

No reason why they can’t, other than cost!

And a lot more weight.

 

[Reevsie]

Never been stopped on a campsite with my Tag. Some sites advertise no tags allowed, But if you phone up I have never been refused. Have been told on several occasions that this was to stop travellers booking on with tag axle caravans. But I suppose there may be some sites that will not allow them.

 

[Garry - June]

Fulltime in our 8.4m tag... trips to Spain/ Algarve twice a year for last 3 yrs... never had an issue with access to any sites , excess tyre wear or extra maintenance.. we have also towed a fullsize motorcycle trailer on our last two trips.. absolutely love it.... you just can't beat extra space..