Thread: TOWING WEIGHTS

Originally Posted by Taz

I recon the D1's weakest point is the 150kg legal towball limit. Any more and you void your vehicle and van insurance.

thats the maximium downforce limit.

as a rough guide you should be able to lift the tow hitch up by hand, you want a little downforce but not a stupidly high amount.

and slug burners correct the other style of controlled brakes that was once commonly fitted to cars were vacuum operated

The tow ball down force should be about 10%. the national caravaning manufacturing body iof Australa allow the ball weight to be between 8-15%.

This is very improtant to keep in mind when you are doing up the van.

I will not comment on the ball weight of the disco except to say that the 150 down weight is max recomended not max, I belive my D2 is 250kg recomended, with a 2500kg van that is good, but take it to the 3500kg van it is too light at the ball. This will cause poor towing caractaristics etc..

This is getting a bit off topic but you do need to be mindful of weight distribution on the ball.

It is also law in Australia with a standard car licence that you can only tow a maximum of 3500kg.

It is the Gross Combined Mass that police usually look at in NSW anyway,
not knowing were you are from, it is my belief that England can tow 4000kg, this will need to be checked however as this is just what I have heard

Originally Posted by Banjo_pluker

I will not comment on the ball weight of the disco except to say that the 150 down weight is max recomended not max,

It is indeed the recommended max by the OEM, which is what has driven the insurance companies to their position on the issue. Sure the owner handbook also states that you must not exceed the rear axle load limit (1600kg from memory), but if you are involved in an accident with over 150kg on the towball you will have to go to court to try and get your insurance payout. If there is an injury involved then this might happen anyway.

And I'd suggest that the majority of 20ft vans will have towball weights in excess of 150kg. Some of the bigger vans are pushing 300kg + these days.

Hi guys,
Just a quick addition to this,
If your Discovery 1 has ABS then the max. Tow Weight is 3500Kg's.
The ABS drops the max. figure bt 500Kg's. across the range.

Originally Posted by Banjo_pluker

The tow ball down force should be about 10%. the national caravaning manufacturing body iof Australa allow the ball weight to be between 8-15%.

This is very improtant to keep in mind when you are doing up the van.

I will not comment on the ball weight of the disco except to say that the 150 down weight is max recomended not max, I belive my D2 is 250kg recomended, with a 2500kg van that is good, but take it to the 3500kg van it is too light at the ball. This will cause poor towing caractaristics etc..

This is getting a bit off topic but you do need to be mindful of weight distribution on the ball.

It is also law in Australia with a standard car licence that you can only tow a maximum of 3500kg.
It is the Gross Combined Mass that police usually look at in NSW anyway,
not knowing were you are from, it is my belief that England can tow 4000kg, this will need to be checked however as this is just what I have heard

I am not sure about the other states, but this is NOT the case for Qld. It is significantly higher than that.

My Hayman Reece tow bar is rated at 3500kg. My towball has 3500lb stamped on it, but all its dimensions are the same as the 3500kg version.

Do I need to replace it with one that has 3500kg on it if I want to tow 3500kg or could it be a typo ?

Maybe the difference is between forged, cast, machined ?

Originally Posted by pop058

I am not sure about the other states, but this is NOT the case for Qld. It is significantly higher than that.

Here is an extract from the RACQ site in regards to towing weight limits:

Passenger vehicles and their derivatives, light commercial vehicles and 4WDs with a Gross Vehicle Mass of less than 4.5 tonnes can tow a trailer with an Aggregate Trailer Mass up to:

The lesser of:

The tow vehicle manufacturer’s recommended maximum trailer towing mass
or
The tow vehicle’s towbar rating

As far as I can understand from the quick bit of research I just did, this is infact a National law. This would be dictated by ADR's.

In addition to that the following restrictions apply to someone driving on a "C" class licence:

A motor vehicle other than a motorbike, (not more than 4.5t GVM, built or fitted to carry no more than 12 adults, including the driver) with or without a trailer
A moped*
A specially constructed vehicle, including a tractor (not more than 4.5t GVM), with or without a trailer

So, if you take this verbatim that would mean none of us are allowed to drive a Discovery's on a "C" class licence as in their eyes it has a GVM of 6.7t, though as far as I understand it, that would be more accurately rated as GCVM of 6.7t, correct me if I am wrong here. Stupid laws, they are so vague, though according to those who enforce them they are air tight and what they say goes, no matter what the letter of the law states.