Thread: Towing

Mine towed my Track trailer camper real well.
Admittedly, I sat between 80kmph and 90kmph. It towed it better than the 100".

Originally Posted by rovercare

How well does your 101 tow.....

They're a 'Gun Tractor', they're designed to tow, and they do tow well... Very well!

The main issue is lack of torque at road revs and it dies a bit on bigger hills - pulls no issue otherwise and towing a camper doesn't worry it too much. Standard brakes are not too bad even without a brake controller.

My camper


Garry

I regularly tow loads that I will not state in public.
The 101 is just made to tow off road from the factory.
I find around the farm on private property a twin axles trailer with 3 tonnes on it doesn't worry it too much so long as it has traction, up hill or down dale.
Going to the family farm using the same trailer on some of NSW steepest main road grades at two tonnes behind me my 101 will pull the weight with out any strain to the vehicle, but...........I will get down to second gear on some of the steeper bits and fuel use gets high during the climbs.
I tend to work the start motor no harder than 4000rpm continuous out put and let it find its own speed and gears.
I can tow on the level about 1 ton at 90 kph on LPG and in overdrive at 2800 rpm.
To the new crop of vehicles the 101 is abit slow.
But compare it to a 60 series/40 series cruiser or early MQ /G60 patrol of the same vintage towing the same loads and the 101 does very good indeed.
Compared to a 110 army landy or a tdi 300 landy the 101 with standard motor can be worked to the same performance towing the same loads, but at the cost of fuel burn and mechanical noise etc.
One load ...very heavy which I towed with my Defender 130 TDI 300 and now tow with the 101........the 101 lower gear ratios and better spread of engine torque at low RPM does it much better around town and rolling though the hills.............the Defender usually more often than not needed low range to get things moving from the traffic lights and a lot of gear changes to keep it moving .
The 101 has the better running gear for towing ,,,,,,,,ie hub drive flanges , drive axles than the defenders/ county/rangerover/disco.
Sit on speeds between 80 to 90 kph and keep the fuel up to it and it does it well for its age.
Another thing going for the 101 is the short over hang and stiff suspension.
Tow ball down force weight is not a factor and will not effect the ride height or steering.
One thing I do find is if towing a trailer.......like I might sometimes do on a camping trip in winter..........army no 5 with a ton of stuff/firewood and no load in the back of a GS 101 on hairpin loose gravel roads down hill......the trailer will push the back of the 101 side ways, especially under brakes wanting to very quickly jack knife the thing.
The operators manual states.........500kg of weight must be placed in the rear of the vehicle between the rear axle and the tailgate before any towing.
I suspect this keeps the rear tyres on the ground in a emergency stop and stops any rear end sides on dirt roads during sharp cornering.

One trip I did when I first had my 101 was to pull the family off road camper van which at the time was well over 1500kg was to Silent Creek in the Abercombie NP over the very steep and a loose fire trails.
I had no cross axle diff locks at the time or over drive/LPG
The 101 did it without much trouble.........I didn't do Bald hill for no other reason that I had nothing more than override brakes on the camper van.
I did Limeburners FT on the same trip.
The fuel burn is not very good.

Only tow my small Sankey trailer, but I have had that at more than a tonne and you wouldn't know it was there... Until you hit a hill...

Towed it to Northern NSW and back and fuel usage was quite good - around 20L/100 but not using the OD and sitting in 85 to 90KPH

They tow great, but are under powered. Would go well with an Isuzu in it I think...

Originally Posted by bacicat

Only tow my small Sankey trailer, but I have had that at more than a tonne and you wouldn't know it was there... Until you hit a hill...

Towed it to Northern NSW and back and fuel usage was quite good - around 20L/100 but not using the OD and sitting in 85 to 90KPH

They tow great, but are under powered. Would go well with an Isuzu in it I think...

Yea I'll overcome it with an LS2, lots of jerry cans on the trailer

Wont be much road, heading to Matlock, mcadams gap for a night with a big group and then over to o'tooles way

Gotta try get power steer, towbar an seats sorted quickly

Originally Posted by bacicat

They tow great, but are under powered. Would go well with an Isuzu in it I think...

Or perhaps something bigger.....