Towing vehicle

Having recently sold my L322 I was starting to look for a replacement vehicle. My daughter upgraded her vehicle and I '"inherited" her 5 year old Ssangyong. Don't laugh as this car is a 2 l turbo diesel and a 6 speed manual gearbox. I gets 7.8l/100k towing my cub camper. It has amazing power, especially in 3rd or 4th gear. The only problem is starting off up a hill and losing some traction as the weight shifts back and it becomes lighter on the front wheel drive. I suppose I could try a second gear start, but it is quire easy to chirp the tyres on the road trying to get traction.Other than sell it, would 2nd gear take off be too hard on the gearbox. Jim

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Originally Posted by ADMIRAL

Try towing with a front wheel drive, uphill in the wet or mud, and you will change your mind quicksmart. Particularly when you have come back down in reverse.

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Why would you tow something heavy up a muddy hill with anything other than a 4wd :confused: I've towed endless stuff with FWDs. I've towed with crappy old Citroen CX's and DS's since I was 16years old. Tremendous traction under all conditions. My father used to come down in his twin cab turbo diesel modern ute thing ..... what a heap of ****. He'd drive off my drive to do anything and it'd be bogged ... slippery diff and all. So I'd drive over the paddock with the tired old Citroen CX, throw a rope onto the big twin cab ute and pull 'em it back to the drive like I was on a sealed road.

I've towed loaded car trailers, caravans, box trailers ... Even towed a massive twin axle car trailer sized walk in fridge up from Geelong with it once (lets not mention I used a full tank of petrol to tow it about 100km :Rolling: bloody near full boost in 3rd gear the whole way).

My family has used Magnas since the late 80's to tow caravans ... all over the country. My grandfather towed a caravan to perth and back many times with his... Not to mention up north.

Like anything, you drive to the conditions and ability of your vehicles :) I wouldn't bother with a rear wheel drive if you payed me... It would drive me bloody insane getting bogged on a wet bit of grass constantly :wasntme:

seeya,
Shane L.

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Originally Posted by jx2mad

Having recently sold my L322 I was starting to look for a replacement vehicle. My daughter upgraded her vehicle and I '"inherited" her 5 year old Ssangyong. Don't laugh as this car is a 2 l turbo diesel and a 6 speed manual gearbox. I gets 7.8l/100k towing my cub camper. It has amazing power, especially in 3rd or 4th gear. The only problem is starting off up a hill and losing some traction as the weight shifts back and it becomes lighter on the front wheel drive. I suppose I could try a second gear start, but it is quire easy to chirp the tyres on the road trying to get traction.Other than sell it, would 2nd gear take off be too hard on the gearbox. Jim

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Put some light weight distribution bars on it to transfer some of the weight back onto the front wheels :) I'd just let it spin a wheel, it's way easier on the clutch :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :D

I must agree with double chevon. Before I had landrovers I did plenty of towing with Front wheel drive cars including loaded car trailers. It was back in the days when people were less concerned with things like towing weight limits:angel:

Never found traction or stability to be a problem in most normal conditions including reasonable gravel if the trailer is loaded correctly. I would be more concerned about whether the cars suspension and brakes are up to handling the extra demands rather than the drive configuration. If you are getting wheelspin on take off I suggest that it's probably that the suspension is not really up to handling the extra load.

Having said all that you really can't beat constant 4wd and long wheel base for hassle free towing

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Originally Posted by Trout

Having said all that you really can't beat constant 4wd and long wheel base for hassle free towing

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Yep.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/06/295.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/06/296.jpg

Just a reminder that the original post was about a <750kg trailer!

John

yea! stop showing off Mick!:p

I would also go the Suby, if you didnt need a 4wd (offroad type ) then a liberty sedan or wagon would be my choice or a Forester if you want a slightly smaller vehicle.
I would not tow an unbraked camper with any small hatchback unless you like ending up in the middle of an intersection when trying to stop at a set of lights.

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Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

Yep.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/06/295.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/06/296.jpg

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I reckon I saw a 6x6 blur by as I was entering Clunes a few days back. Was that you :) I've never seen on of those things in the flesh.

seeya,
Shane L.

If it was a blur, it wasn't Mick driving it. ;) They make a bloody good tow vehicle though. :)

Back to the original question, constant 4wd I've found the best and most thinks I've towed have been with one - from light (under 750Kg) to heavy (ove 3,000Kg). Towing lighter stuff with any half decent sized car is no dramas though - the old Kingswood did fine towing things too. :)

If it's something you are going out to buy for the sole purpose, may I suggest buying something a bit bigger than what you may think you need to start with - the Inlaws had (up until recently) an Xtrail which towed their small van and was fine for that, but they recently upgraded the van to something a bit bigger - still well within the Xtrails legal towing capacity (van weighs 1,500Kg Xtrail has a towing capacity of 1,800Kg I think) but from then on, although the Xtrail still towed it ok, it was never as comfortable for them towing longer distances and the car was struggling a lot. They just sold it and bought a Navara diesel which they love and they admit now they should have bought something like this to start with.

They must be comfortable travelling in it - they used to only go away fro a couple of weeks at a time, but speakig with the MIL on the weekend, they were in the Flinders Ranges then heading West from there, so who knows when we will see them again.:D