D4 Towing Weights

[matnz]

Hi Everyone,

I am in New Zealand, and have just brought a MY16 D4 HSE, primarily as a towing vehicle for an offroad caravan. One of my main considerations was I wanted a vehicle that could tow up to 3500kg with a nose weight up to 350kg. Landrover Australia lists the D4 as be able to tow 3500/350kg, however the Landrover NZ brochure (which seemed very generic) listed the D4 as towing 3500/150kg. I checked this with the dealer, who went off and made some enquiries and I was told the NZ D4 is exactly the same spec as the Australian D4 and can tow 3500/350kg. I decided to get the LR detachable trailer hitch receiver, and when I picked up my vehicle this was fitted and has printed on the side -max weight 3500kg, max nose weight 350kg. However the trailer hitch ball mount insert (which is made in NZ for LR NZ), has printed on it max 3500/150kg! I have checked the owners handbook which says for the detachable tow ball (the all in one curved model) the maximum is 150kg, for the multi-height drop plate tow ball it is 250kg and for *Australia only* the nose weight is 250kg but when using the detachable receiver the max nose weight can be increased to 350kg by reducing the GVM by 200kg.

Anyway the dealer is looking into it again, but I have done some investigating and it appears there is a similar issue in the U.S. They have the same detachable receiver with max 3500/350kg printed in it, but LR USA are saying the max nose weight there is 250kg! Someone over there is saying the drawbar can handle 350kg but the receiver only 250kg?? So we seem to have the same vehicle, same detachable receiver but 3 different max nose weights -150kg (NZ), 250kg (USA) and 350kg (Australia)!:confused:

I suspect this is all due to some confusion between what the UK all in one and locally produced ball mount inserts can handle and what the vehicle/detachable receiver can actually cope with. But, while it seems unlikely, does anyone know whether the Australian D4 has any special factory treatment that allows it to cope with a max nose weight of 350kg???

Cheers,
Mathew

[RoverLander]

I realy dont know the answer to your question about specific mods for Australia. I wonder if each country has different design rules that causes the car to have different ball weight limits?

I also tow a large van. Something else to look out for is the rear axle load. I thinks its 1840kg. Very easy to reach that with the van attached. You wont want to add too much in luggage, accessories or passengers.

[garbage]

I'm just about to hitch the D4 up for the first time, so I've only recently read the manual about this.

My D4 MY16 manual has a table with two options:

- Nose weight - detachable tow ball - 150kg
- Nose weight - multi-height drop plate tow ball - 250kg

There's then a section that says:

Australia only: ... When using the detachable drawbar receiver, see 84, FITTING THE DETACHABLE DRAWBAR RECEIVER (Australia only), the nose weight can be increased to 350 kg if the GVW is reduced by 200 kg.

** page 84 has instructions of how to install the drawbar receiver and trailer hitch separately.

The drawbar with the tow ball has a sticker saying 350kg.

[matnz]

Thanks, my manual says the same but the towball insert has 150kg printed on it. According to the company that makes the towball insert it is the exactly the same as the Australian one and can handle 350kg, but was only tested to 150kg in NZ hence the sticker. So I am going to believe the 350kg on the receiver and that NZ has the same spec's as Australia as per the dealer.

I do see that in the UK they have recalled a lot of D3/D4's with the all in one swan neck detachable hitch (rated to 150kg), and that if signs of wear are found they are replacing these with the fixed multi-height tow hitch, which is rated to 250kg nose weight. Maybe this is the reason for the confusion between different regions...

Anyhow, I am just going to import a mitch hitch and not have to worry about it :D