Thread: D2A towing 500kms Snowy Mountain trip with a 3.5T tail

It was done with loads of interesting things so I just want to share with anyone wanting to check out how a D2a manual goes with 3.5T tail up a very steep mountain.


The mission was going to Bega Valley Motor to pickup one Prado 150, and I decided to hire one good car trailer which the weight alone is 1.2T with portable electric brake (men, I did not have time to make sure my electric brake was good with that trailer or not, so I just use that portable electric brake and it worked very well without any hiccup).


My D2a 2003 manual was in normal condition, about 290k kms on clock. Except for some minor oil leaks then nothing serious. Preparation for the trip was a tyre repair kit, some tyre rescue tools, a box of oil, and a spare box of coolant. I made sure the tyres were all equal 44psi before the start. Tyres were 255/55R19 with about 70% of tread.


Through the night from Sydney to Bega Valley via Nowra then Narooma way, I found the road was quite good. The car felt a slight pull from the back but nothing feels too heavy and I could drive full speed almost everywhere.


Came to the dealer the next morning, got a quick drive test then loaded the Prado on the trailer. I was talking to the dealer salesperson and she suggested I should use the Snowy Mountain Hwy and through Canberra then Goulburn to Sydney. Well, as she said it was their regular choice of the road to drive back to Sydney but I did not expect that it was a challenge when you have anything but a 3.5T trailer at the back.


Check again all tyres are still equal, just fill up a full tank again for the trip of 500km+ ahead.


I could feel a heavy thing at the tail, it was definitely there. 1.2T trailer and 2.33T kerb weight Prado 150 including some extra fuel around 80L. However, a good point is the trailer was very stable, I could hit top speed without worrying about anything.


Nothing was out of expectation until I reached the Snowy Mountain with the real mountain climbing. Men, there’s no other ways around now. Looking at the GPS I could see the mountain climb should be a lot of snake turns and very steep hills. I knew I would go and test through the best with my D2a now with its legendary towing capacity, although I towed before with her but just in the city driving.


The 2nd gear was only used in some very short distance, just forget about 3rd gear or higher ones. Most of the time was 1st gear with full floor foot. The old girl shows a very calm performance with high revs when starting then 2000 – 2200rpm all time and the temperature gauge was just at the middle. She crawled up the mountain with me inside and the foot fully down.


Now the most annoying thing, and the interesting thing was that the speed was just about 20km/h while other cars were on full speed. I had to stop/start on the left side too many times to wave my hand for the cars behind going first, then I started again. This stop-start was $^%&* awesome feeling because the left side on the Snowy Mountain hill was not much at all for a long towing rig.


Well, when I was on one of very steep snake turn then there was a road incident and we had to stop waiting to go through. Stop-start was not fun at all when people standing seeing me passing with just about 20km/h and full noise of 2.5L diesel TD5, and I am sure they were staring at me thinking what the heck this small white car towing or could this guy even go up to the top of the mountain? Anyway, I smiled with all people I went passing, or they went passing me


It took me about more than an hour and a half going through the mountain, then the road was so much easier where I could do 90km/h. However, there were many times I did stop/start on the left side again to wave others who were passing 110km/h. The most interesting time was watching double-B trucks coming and then passing when I was on the far left. I did not hear any horn from others but many of them waving hands back to thanks me for letting them go quickly.


Only when I reached Canbera – Sydney highway so I could enjoy 110km/h full speed at 5th gear again, really appreciated that very well-built trailer.


After a good sleep night at Goulburn McDonal, I came back home safely without any issue. The D2a still shows no sign of tiring performance.


When check all the fuel bills it turned out I used 131L of diesel for the round trips of about 1000kms. Which half was with 1.2T trailer and half was with 3.5T trailer. It means the towing with 1.2T was about 12.5L/100km and about 13.5L/100km when with 3.5T (because my car normally takes 12.7L/100km around town with short trips). That's definitely shocking news to me as I was expecting a much higher number.


What did I learn from the trip?

1. The Snowy Mountain hwy was awesome for any driver who loves going through your limit.

2. The sale lady was right, the road was so beautiful for day driving.

3. Well, Power. That’s more power for steep hills or mountain climbing. Although I do not tow all days, I know that I will want to tune my D2a to about 140kw with more than 410Nm. Where is the best to do this tune in Sydney?


4. And yeah, I solved my own curious question for so long time that do I really need a WDH setup for my heavy towing. NO, the answer was absolutely NO for me as long as the trailer was a right setup.

5. If you have a passenger that must be a lot more fun on the road, however a solo was great too

I got td5inside hybrid turbo and remap, plus full size allisport intercooler and allisport manifold, so tuned I think it's around 450nm and 195hp, pulls really well

Originally Posted by maxperformance

I don't have Nanocom but my Autel Pro scanner can read loads of information from the D2a including Live temp and others, so next time I will keep watching .

Btw, can you share what exact setup you have in term of Td5inside upgrade? What's Kw and Nm at the final tune? I'm serious in doing this soon.