Thread: WDH D2 SLS use it or not?

towed an early 80's Capricorn half way round Aus with sls and no WDH. never had an issue. i agree with LR and dont use the WDH, others will disagree i am sure. if the van needs WDH then it isn't weight distributed correctly. fix the problem correctly rather than bandaid patching the problem i reckon

Gday Steve we did have untill June this year a 18ft6 (internal) Kedron poptop married to our D2TD5 S we did around 30000ks with no WDH and the car and ride was ok, before we got rid of the airbags and replaced with springs i tried using the WDH but when i set it up i didnt pull the car up to its ride height it was about a 1cm short so this would allow the car to adjust its self to the correct ride height (if you pulled the car upto its ride height or higher the SLS would not put any pressure into the system thus all the weight was put onto the towbar) and this gave her a very nice and very stable ride, on this particular trip we traveled from Brisbane to Camberra and back VIA the Newell after this trip i got rid of the airbags and MR Automotives put in the heavey duty springs. I was told that if i was using a WDH against the car manufacturers recomendation our insurer may not pay up if a claim was to be made after an accident, (LR ALSO SAY NOT TO USE A WDH AS THEY HAVE NOT TESTED IT WITH THEIR PRODUCT)

When we did use the WDH i fitted a Hayman Reece towbar as i was told the LR towbar was not designed to take the upward force from the WDH plus i remember I think it was Tombie mentioning it may twist the chassis ???? i didnt want to take the chance so played it safe, i fitted the HR bar myself and only had to drill 2 holes.

I was only talking of this the other night with someone else

Have a read of this thread that ran just before you joined us...
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/discovery-...ighlight=hitch

IMO the L/R hitch isn't designed for the WDH.
Only 2 bolts verticly plus 2 stays.
Not convinced it's good to use for recovery but thats another thread waiting to happen

Thanks for all your replies, interesting reading alien thanks mate. I'm convinced, not going to use it.
Thanks Steve

Just got back from hols towing the van. I am VERY unimpressed at the rear SLS suspension on my D2. It would be the most bloody dangerous set up I have ever encountered in over 20 years towing vans. Going into bends/corners even at ridiculously slow speeds(60k) 9 out of 10 times the van would sway very badly causing quite a few almost soiled jocks moments. Before I get the you must have had the van packed wrong comments rest assured it was packed no different than normal. As far as I'm aware there is no fault with the airbags, Surely they are not like this with a single axle van normally. Anyway You wont convince me differently as soon as I get the bucks they're history. Conventional springs and LDH for me from now on the hell with them. There will be airbag setup going very cheap soon if anyones interested.
Unimpressed!!!!!

at least you made it home safe mate, our van was twin axle so it did sit a lot better than a single would. When we changed ours over MR AUtomotives at Redcliff did the job for around $450 then i got $290 back on ebay for the airbags, then i was lucky to buy a new HR towbar on ebay for $120 and this is also a must when you change the suspension over to use the WDH.


Mark

Thanks Mark yeah I had quite a few moments. I am in Vic so I'll source the springs etc from probably a local LR mech here. There is one in Thomastown I'll go to and I might see how much for the 2' lift front and back. How do I know if mine has the better towbar or not? Any easy way of telling? Just want to get it right.

Mate another thing to also remember is to get the back end a bit higher than the front which ours is, MR Auto's knew we used the rear seats a lot so they put springs in that gave the extra clearance for when the back had a full load, it sits around 1 1/2 to 2 inches highre empty and when loaded sits just about even, very comfortable ride all round


Mark
Tassi