D4 Air SuspensionTowing

[modingley]

G'Day Forum

I have in the last few months purchased my first LR Disco 4 TDV6 after being a Paj owner for over 10yrs. I have found this forum very useful in gathering information when I was making my choice in getting the Disco. First off, very impressed and beats the Paj in many areas on road and off. I did have the Paj set up for towing the family caravan (1.8T) expanda with poly air bags on the back springs which made the ride very firm with level riders. I have taken out the Disco and towing is a breeze. I do find the ride though, as does the family, compared to the Paj soft and at times "bouncy" over bumps in the road. Is this due to the air suspension in the Disco and not having the level riders? At this stage I have the caravan hitched to the standard LR "plough". What can I do to make the ride more firm when towing the caravan? Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[outasight]

Hi there,

We tow an Expanda 16.49.2 with our 3.0 D4 on the standard LR hitch.

The Expanda is an on-road model(not Outback) and so the coupling sits very low. I flipped the tow hitch tongue to the lower position and it all sits well. I was going to get a replacement tongue to suit the height if that didn't work.I highly recommend getting the van level as a first step.

I/we haven't found it to be too bad at all. Yes, it's not as "rigid" as having a WDH on, but not bouncy either.

I suspect you may also have a weight distribution issue in the van. There may be too many heavy items far enough away from the axle to create the bounce.

Have you checked out our Yahoo Expanda group yet?
expandaownersaustralia : Expanda Owners Australia (http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/expandaownersaustralia)

Regards,

Les.

[modingley]

Thanks Les

My expanda is the same but the outback version. I have it running level and agree try and keep the bulk of the weight centred on the axle. Just wondering if there was a way to firm up the suspension or tow given we cannot use WDH? Will take a look at the expanda forum. Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated.

[discotwinturbo]

Our heavy duty tow vehicle for our 3.5 Tonne triple axle horse trailer was our Touareg using a 750 pound WDH. Was a very nice ride. Touareg is now used only for the odd tow.

Now the disco 4 looks after this and have found the ride even better.....just amazing how smooth it is.

Towing our jayco expanda with the disco has no pitching or shoving that we also felt with our previous offroad tourer.

Hopefully it's just the position of the hitch or weight distribution that is causing this different feeling for you.

I am using the disco 4 hitch, with the towing hitch inverted.