Towing with a Defender

I have done some towing with my 90. I've done a couple of 88" series land rovers 350kms and 750kms at a time on a car trailer (800kgs empty). the 750kms trip had a bunch of spares + a spare engine and 3 people in the car. the 350km trip with a similar vehicle on the trailer + spares + an 88" roof strapped to the roof bars on my 90! Also did a 109 ute on the car trailer about 1hr down the road. Also done a bunch of towing of box trailers and camper style trailers over various roads - dirt, dry bitumen, wet bitumen, low range etc.....

The 90 tows great! Plenty of power to tow (2.5+tons) at 100km/hr (I've even done 110km/hr on good stretches) hills you have to sometimes to reach for 5th but no real issue - it's just a gear change. You want to be careful with loading, too much tow ball weight will be unwise - front end gets a bit iffy.

Dirt roads and wet bitumen I've mainly towed my home made slide on camper - 1.4ish tons. Handling is pretty good but just be careful on corners obviously - rear starts to feel loose, although I've never pushed to see where the real limit is.

Reversing is pretty good although I'm still getting used to it... the short wheel base tricks me sometimes...

The 90 is small on the inside - go look at one! 1200mm load bed less rear seats if you want to seat 4! So I guess it depends on what you use it for day to day.

Overall if I was purchasing a vehicle to tow all day everyday I would pick a 110 (no wait! make that a 130! not that i've driven one, but highway work towing I bet they are the ducks guts), the longer wheelbase is superior IMO. BUT the 90 is great around town - nice and small. I know the gear ratios are the same as the 110 but 1st is really good - nice and low, your not smashing your clutch trying to get rolling (had a pk ranger ute previously - I think 1st was WAY too tall for towing). The 90 is also great fun just cruising around and general 4x4ing.....

Our 110 Puma 2.4 does a great job of towing our camper trailer, which weighs about 1300 fully loaded with water and canoes. Six speeds plus plenty of low torque work well. It tows the camper up steep hills such as to Maleny better than the Discovery 1 300Tdi did. Knock it down to 3rd or 4th and it sits around 2500 revs and can even pick up speed a bit if the road is clear.

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I have been towing a box trailer full of dirt during the last two weekends. Even though I love my Defender 90, I have been a little surprised at the lack of power up small hills. In the 80km/h areas, I had to drop it back to 4th a lot. I'm not sure if I'm imagining things but it seems underpowered. I have a transit for work and that has way more power even though it's heavier and has basically the same engine.
Apart from that, it's very stable and the gearing is great for towing.

They tow great. My only bit of advice is if you intend to add LR fuel tanks etc think about adding airbags inside the coils. The tend to sit a bit low in the back with trailer and a full load. You will also go through a lot of left hand rear mud flaps as they melt from the exhaust. This seems to be worse when towing. They are replaced on warranty but it is annoying.

That piddly 2.2 pile of puss can hardly move an empty 110, what a POS to tow with, obviously some people have never experienced power or torque... because that 2.2 is the worst thing that's ever happened to the Defender.

Buy a Defender because you want a defender, if you want something that tows well, buy a D4 or a V8 Cruiser...

Hows the fishing MR LR,no bites yet I see. Pat

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Originally Posted by PAT303

Hows the fishing MR LR,no bites yet I see. Pat

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Not fishing... I'm just not in the business of recommending machinery that is inadequate of performing the job asked of it. I see you don't share that conscience, good for you, Pat :)

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Originally Posted by MR LR

Not fishing... I'm just not in the business of recommending machinery that is inadequate of performing the job asked of it. I see you don't share that conscience, good for you, Pat :)

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I've got an old 1986 110 county , I loaned It to my son-in-law about 4 years ago , just till he got on his feet ! lol. Anyway I put a 4.4 p76 motor in It , compared to the original 3.5 Rover motor . Well there is no comparison It has so much more power , It can accelerate up steep hills , that's with my caravan on the back . I always thought that should have been the engine Rover should have used . I have a td5 110 It's not bad at towing , I recently towed a short wheel base 88' on a tandem , about 140ks . It pulled ok but there was never enough to easily overtake say a slowish truck . I now have on order a new 110 , I don't plan to do a lot of towing , so I'm hoping the 2.2 will be ok. for my needs . I've often thought that the Ford Ranger 3.2 would have been a great motor for the 110/130 , but of course It's not to be . I can see why the 76 series outsells Defender 30/1 if not more . I suppose as a Land Rover devotee , I'm to old to change now , I still feel 2.2 ??? time will tell !!.. cheers Jim ;)

I had a 2.2 110 DC on order... until I drove one, have driven every other Defender model and liked them, still a fun car to drive, but the whole driveline is not much chop, especially for what was a 56k list price car...

3.2 would be a fantastic motor, I've driven a few Rangers with it and they are awesome, I'll look well into that when my Td5 eventually kicks the bucket.

When it comes to towing.. 2.2L is just not enough to be comfortable...

It's interesting that no one seems happy with their 2.2's... They're either carrying on about how **** they are, or rambling about poor excuses for the reliability, or rather, lack there-of, similar to those door knockers that love ramming stuff down people's throats :p

Precious bunch, a lot of these guys...

I had a 2.2 110 DC on order... until I drove one, have driven every other Defender model and liked them, still a fun car to drive, but the whole driveline is not much chop, especially for what was a 56k list price car...

3.2 would be a fantastic motor, I've driven a few Rangers with it and they are awesome, I'll look well into that when my Td5 eventually kicks the bucket.

When it comes to towing.. 2.2L is just not enough to be comfortable...

It's interesting that no one seems happy with their 2.2's... They're either carrying on about how **** they are, or rambling about poor excuses for the reliability, or rather, lack there-of, similar to those door knockers that love ramming stuff down people's throats :p

Precious bunch, a lot of these guys...