Thread: 110 towing capacity - no where near 3500kg

Originally Posted by scarry

There are many LC200's,and y62's running around at that sort of weight with a couple of mods and almost empty.

And a few D3/4 owners probably not far off as well.

They will still pull a 3T van no worries at all.

Not trying to open a can of worms,just saying.

Not opening a can of worms, but OP is not towing a van. Therefore little on no ability to transfer stuff inside vehicle to trailer to lighten rear axle load. Therein lies the problem. Maybe and just maybe they can tow a 3.5T Van but not a 3.5T trailer as has been noted.

As already mentioned by others, loading the vehicle impacts on how much you can tow.
My Territory is 2.3 Tonnes tow capacity......with just a driver.
As soon as you load it up the tow capacity drops off, 7 people & some luggage and you might be able to tow an empty 6 X 4 trailer.
There is a formula in the handbook to allow you to work out what you can tow, this is possibly based on the 10% TBM 'guideline'.

Found this on an RV website -

While many caravanners believe that you must have about 10 percent of a caravan’s ATM resting on the towball of the tow vehicle, this is a tradition like Christmas. Everyone has been doing it so long that they’ve forgotten what it’s about. The 10 percent TBM thing started in the 1970s when we all towed 1000-1400kg caravans with our 1200-1400kg Kingswoods or Falcons. Caravan weights and weight balance has changed a lot since then. Forgetting European caravans, with their 4-5 percent TBM for a moment, even a heavy Aussie van can be towing well with as little as seven percent TBM.


Everything you wanted to know about ball weight - RV Daily


Colin

Originally Posted by Homestar

As an example of how far out the 10% rule can be - we just purchased 10 new trailers to put generators on. 8 of them 2,700Kg GTM and the other 2 are 3,500Kg GTM units. The manufacturer has stated a tow ball weight of between 4 and 5% for all of these and in big bold type ‘MUST NOT EXCEED 8%’

They are constantly battling the 10% myth and it drives their Rep mad.

We’ve ended up with around 5% on the 2,700Kg units (total weight is 2,380Kg in these) and 6% on the bigger units (that total 2,940Kg)

They all tow beautifully - mind you, I wouldn’t want to tow the big ones very far with any normal 4WD - 3,000Kg is a bit beyond them even if it is technically legal.

Weight distribution is far more important than tow ball weight.

Now this in my opinion is right on the money for towing! They need some ball weight, but not enough to affect the tow vehicle when towing. 4% of 3500kg is still 140kg which I think is more than enough. 350kg ball weight is crazy talk.

In addition, when trailers fail, it always seems to be either the suspension rips out, wheel bearing failure or a snapped draw bar. The drawbars are so stressed already and they are normally the heaviest beam in a trailer.

I have towed boats from 6.4m to little 3.6m jobbies and I have always made sure that I can lift the trailer by hand at the tow coupling So maybe only 50kg to 70kg and I have never had any dramas even when towing 2t boat/trailer combos.
I cannot see any differance in towing a boat or van, This 10% rule is just an urban myth.

Originally Posted by trout1105

I have towed boats from 6.4m to little 3.6m jobbies and I have always made sure that I can lift the trailer by hand at the tow coupling So maybe only 50kg to 70kg and I have never had any dramas even when towing 2t boat/trailer combos.
I cannot see any differance in towing a boat or van, This 10% rule is just an urban myth.

I suspect it may be only in Australia as well, although I might be corrected there!

As long as there is enough weight on the towball to keep the trailer connected all is good.
I once towed a 1t boat 30k along a beach track with only about 50kg on the towball without coming adrift despite NOT remembering to lock the trailer hitch down
I much prefer to let the trailer axels/suspension carry the weight instead of overloading the drawbar and towing vehicle.

Road trains don't do the 10% rule on their trailers.

Originally Posted by dirvine

Not opening a can of worms, but OP is not towing a van. Therefore little on no ability to transfer stuff inside vehicle to trailer to lighten rear axle load. Therein lies the problem. Maybe and just maybe they can tow a 3.5T Van but not a 3.5T trailer as has been noted.

Actually they cannot

They did a 10% GVM upgrade, no mention of a GCM upgrade.

So the total towable is now 305kg less if vehicle at full weight.

Originally Posted by trout1105

As long as there is enough weight on the towball to keep the trailer connected all is good.
I once towed a 1t boat 30k along a beach track with only about 50kg on the towball without coming adrift despite NOT remembering to lock the trailer hitch down
I much prefer to let the trailer axels/suspension carry the weight instead of overloading the drawbar and towing vehicle.

Road trains don't do the 10% rule on their trailers.

Road trains are a different kettle of fish