another towing thread

[2_door]

guys, after some experienced opinions

WHAT TOWS THE BEST :( (ie maintains highway speeds, doesnt get hot and anything else towing related)

1. Td5 auto
2. Td5 manual
3. 300 Tdi manual
4. 300 Tdi auto

max load would be a heavy camper trailer and the 4x4 loaded to the hilt (which isnt that much in a D1)

thanks in advance :D

[Tote]

I always thought that my 300TDI was a better tow vehicle than my TD5 Disco. The TDI would pull a loaded car trailer just about anywhere in fifth and felt more stable probably because of the shorter rear overhang.
The trade off was that the TD5 was a much nicer vehicle to drive at highway speeds without the trailer.
Regards,
Tote

[rangieman]

guys, after some experienced opinions

WHAT TOWS THE BEST :( (ie maintains highway speeds, doesnt get hot and anything else towing related)

1. Td5 auto
2. Td5 manual
3. 300 Tdi manual
4. 300 Tdi auto

max load would be a heavy camper trailer and the 4x4 loaded to the hilt (which isnt that much in a D1)

thanks in advance :D
Count the Tdi ,s out ,They will tow heavy weights but will need either low range or clutch slip to get going with the manual ,i have towed a 6 ton mitsu 4x4 camper truck with my Tdi very slowly:cool:
Now that i own a manual Td5 i wont be going back;)

[Blknight.aus]

depending on how you like to drive.....

assuming all is stock the td5 manual has my first vote... so Id order it

td5m
td5a
tdim
tdia

rejigging the tdi would get you

td5m
tdim
td5a
tdia

and then of course you can work up the td5 which puts you back in the first order.

there is of course the argument that the auto does a better job of towing but that is a personal thing and you have to weigh off the advantage of being able to hold a little more speed on the hills because of the torque converter doing its thing and not having to worry about gear changes against the slightly higher initial cost (assuming you buy new), the heat loading of an auto and the slightly lower fuel economy.

[2_door]

depending on how you like to drive.....

assuming all is stock the td5 manual has my first vote... so Id order it

td5m
td5a
tdim
tdia

rejigging the tdi would get you

td5m
tdim
td5a
tdia

and then of course you can work up the td5 which puts you back in the first order.

there is of course the argument that the auto does a better job of towing but that is a personal thing and you have to weigh off the advantage of being able to hold a little more speed on the hills because of the torque converter doing its thing and not having to worry about gear changes against the slightly higher initial cost (assuming you buy new), the heat loading of an auto and the slightly lower fuel economy.

I like to be able to cruise at 95klm/hr on the open road. That speed makes for comfortable cruising at respectable fuel economy and doesnt create too much of a queue behind you.

As for jigging the 300tdi, do you mean things like exhaust, upgraded intercooler etc as they dont have a 'puter do they. The Td5 would just require an ecu upgrade and exhaust at the min to get any extra power out of it??

thanks and keep the opinions coming.....

[2_door]

oh, BTW, was there any power/torque differences btn the 99 and 04 Td5's :(

[Bigbjorn]

A 4BD1T

[2_door]

A 4BD1T

yes, that would be nice but unlikely :p

[dmdigital]

oh, BTW, was there any power/torque differences btn the 99 and 04 Td5's :(
No. The other advantage of a post 2002 Td5 is the ECU can be remapped without having to be exchanged.

[2_door]

ta

I have also been told to get a 03 or 04 model. I think it was refered to as the update model as it has the CDL.

any other pro's for a late model one?? other than mileage and condition :D

[discowhite]

yep, they have sexy headlights!
and most of the teething problems would be sorted from the older models.

cheers phil

[Blknight.aus]

I like to be able to cruise at 95klm/hr on the open road. That speed makes for comfortable cruising at respectable fuel economy and doesnt create too much of a queue behind you.

As for jigging the 300tdi, do you mean things like exhaust, upgraded intercooler etc as they dont have a 'puter do they. The Td5 would just require an ecu upgrade and exhaust at the min to get any extra power out of it??

thanks and keep the opinions coming.....

well thats about how I drive but Im happy to let it drop to 80ish on the hills and run 4th gear on the climbs primarily cause its good for the fuel numbers.

at the minimum rejigging the tdi is just a case of tweaking the pump, theres scope for improvement without touching the inlet or the exhaust (this is the same deal as an ecu upgrade for the TD5) and then theres the common items between the 2 engines that you can upgrade for further improvements intercooler, inlet tract, waste gate adjustments, exhausts and removing mufflers.

if you PM Tombraider (tombie2) and ask him about what chips you can get... I got a decent one off of him that will let me haul about 2t over the tare weight of a 110 extreme up the toowoomba range in 5th gear at 80kph and then accelerate without changing down... (smokes a bit when you do that tho) and I still havent done my exhaust and intercooler upgrades.

[Chucaro]

Mark, on my last trip to Hobart from Moore Park Beach on my ex Disco Tdi 300 (manual) I towed my trailer all up about 1.200 kg at 100kph without any problem.

I have done this trip twice counting my way back to Qld from Tas and I can telling you that the Tdi 300 is very capable engine. My Disco was standard

In both trips the average comsumtion was 12 lts per 100 km.

Hope that the info helps

[pawl]

Personally I can't comment on the Td5 because I've never owned one, only had a test drive which showed how slow my Tdi was:(. But I have owned a 96 Auto Tdi Disco for 10yrs and my brother had a 96 Manual Tdi Disco and we used to do direct comparisons between the two and it is my opinion only, but for towing the Auto had it over the manual.On really big hills the manual probably didn't lose as much speed- but his pump was tweaked too.

[2_door]

I had a 98 V8 auto disco a while back and it was pretty ordinary actually when it came to towing. There was a huge gap between top and third when climbing hills. It would take ages to change down automatically and by the time it did, you lost heaps of speed and never got it back again until over the hill and back into top. I drove it like a manual at anything that slightly resembled a hill :(when towing

I have been told the auto box in the Tdi has slightly different ratios so that might help, but I dont know if the tdi will make enough power in the first place to keep a decent speed up hills.

I had a 3ltr diesel dual cab Rodeo a while back and it wasnt too bad, probably better than the V8 disco at maintaining speed up and over hills :(

thanks guys

[hook]

If Auto.
A Cooler for the Auto Box

[Disco Mick]

I've got an 03 Disco TD5 Auto. I bought it with towing in mind. I tow a tandem trailer with a race car on it. It sits on 110 on the freeway no trouble. The trailer itself is fairly heavy and carries an 1100KG car and tools. It tows nicely though and you wouldn't know it was there on the flat. On the hills it slows down a bit but not that much, back to 90 or so. Having it reflashed certainly made it better. Hopefully the new turbo will improve things.

It still returns pretty good economy with the trailer on. I get about 600KM out of a tank when towing and 800 to 850 when not.

Cheers

Michael

[justinc]

Shorty,

A manual Td5 '03 onwards, chipped with an exhaust mod will be the bees knees.

Obviously I am biased towards a 4BD1T, but you have a snowballs chance getting one of those into a D2 legally...

JC

[Cap]

What about all the people you know JC who have a tdi tweaked (pump, exhaust, etc) and are rockets.

Personally I like the simplistic Tdi, and I know my brother (also a tdi owner) was quoted around $800 to do a complete pump ovehaul with dyno tune, promising somthing like 50% increases and better fuel economy. So for towing I think the tdi is campable, especially if your only wanting to travel at a cruising speed of 90-100kph (did this to the Douglas remember Shorty - got 12lt/100 with laiden trailer no probs)

[incisor]

never had a td5 so cant include them but had v8 manual, tdi manual, tdi auto and my tdi auto disco was by far the best touring tow vehicle. the tdi defender did pretty good as well and kept in touch with a v8 carrying similar weight on the trip to cooma and back.

[Psimpson7]

I have used fairly extensivley a Manual TD5 Defender, 04 td5 Auto D2, a manual 300tdi D1 with the pump and intercooler mods, and a 3.5carb, and 3.9efi RRC for towing duties.

In order in my opinion...

Best to worst

TD5 Manual (in a 90 - awesome tow car with very short centre of rear axle line to tow ball distance)

TD5 Auto D2a

TDI Manual D1

3.9 RRC Manual

3.5 RRC auto

Just my opinion, but I have done probably tens of thousands of miles of towing over the years, and they were my findings.

It may not be totally fair as the TD5's were low mileage and the TDI had about 170k km on it, but I would go TD5 manual as the best.

Both our V8 RRC's are hopeless in comparison IMO.. and the 3.9 is very low mileage

[Rosscoe68]

Personally I like the simplistic Tdi, and I know my brother (also a tdi owner) was quoted around $800 to do a complete pump ovehaul with dyno tune, promising somthing like 50% increases and better fuel economy.

bringing it almost up to TD5 specs :P
but for a td5 then you can go get a tombie chip like i did and then embaress 6cyl turbo patrols and cruisers that think they are going to get around you on an uphill overtaking lane, even while i am towing a small poptop :)

Chipped TD5 Auto all the way

[pawl]

bringing it almost up to TD5 specs :P
but for a td5 then you can go get a tombie chip like i did and then embaress 6cyl turbo patrols and cruisers that think they are going to get around you on an uphill overtaking lane, even while i am towing a small poptop :)

Chipped TD5 Auto all the way

YEEEEEEEEEHHH, gotta love that:p:p:p:p:p:p:p