Thread: TD5 Towing Capabilities

Big red pulls everything...

from crippled rovers with autos on car trailers (3.7t worth calculated) to my big greeen traler (2t average) and Im yet to see my fuel consumption EVER go over 16l/100km average over any one tank of fuel (65-70ish liters at the servo pumps) but I sit on 90-100 and let it slow down to 55ish (3rd gear mid high rpms) on the big hills if theres no traffic behind me.

Big red is still stock. For my money tho I wouldnt go the chipping route untill after you get the intercooler upgraded.

hey

on the way home from easter last year my little brother vitra put a con-rod though the block. both of us were towing 6x4 trailers.

so i hooked my trailer to the front of his car and towed both trailers and the vitra home all in one go. near got pulled over for an rbt but they waved us though. the td5 pulled that over 170kms all the way home no problems.


keith

there is a myth that land rover diesel engines are gutless because they arent huge honking great 4.0L plus donks. Its a load of crap, even my Tdi disco pulls 3500km easily enough, you do slow down up the hills but they arent a struggle for the old girl. I have seen a TD5 Disco towing one of the biggest vans i have ever seen pulling up a really steep windy hill, cant remember where it was, and it was itching to get past the cars in front of it, they were slowing him down.

When i was looking at buying my disco i wanted a TD5 but went with the Tdi cause keeping the budget down was more important at the time, i was told by several people that the autos work best with the Landy Diesel engines, in the end i went with a manual because it was the best example i found. Matt

Nothing wrong with the 2.5, We drove from Puckapunyal, Vic to Darwin, via Sydney-brissy way with a tandem car trailer with a VS Dunnydoor ute and were getting around 16-17Lts a 100 at an avrage speed of 110-120kms. They like to sit between 110-120kph I recon. Here's a funny thing, at work a few years back me and this other bloke were having a whos 4bee is better tif. So to solve it we hooked up the A frame to a leopard and pulled it. He had no dramas pulling but couldent turn it! Sally Anne stepped up and took it for a short lap of the tank hanger. The 4.+lt pootrol then owed a slab!

I’m convinced. I’m away from home right now and get back about mid April. I’ll try in earnest to get a quick sale for the V8. I know I won’t get much even though it’s in pretty good nick. I’ve been looking at the adverts on the net and there are quite a few 2002/03 TD5’s on the market that seem to be good value.

Cheers……..Kenjo

This is a great thread - and I love my TD5's towing ability. But can you blokes help me with the fifth gear/towing story.

I used to always tow my little Quinnie tinny in fifth gear but have since upgraded to Barra1's version of the Queen Mary (5.2m tinny, 90hp motor, tandem trailer) - I was warned to never tow in fifth gear - is this correct?

The boat weights 450kg, motor 170kg, trailer ? and the gear - too bloody much - but the whole thing would have to be 1000kg - that includes 120 litres of fuel etc etc.

Let me say travelling to the Limmen Bite in the NT from Albury is a bloody long way in fourth gear

Planning to head up there again October so your opinions/advice will be greatly appreciated.

Barra, the general rule of thumb is to avoid wide open throttle at low revs. This can happen when you're ascending a slope and don't gear down but compensate with throttle. This stresses the box. The accepted wisdom is its better to gear down, putting less stress on the box and I find the vehicle 'feels' better. On a straight level road this is less of an issue.

To back up those who have recommended chipping, I find I usually hardly lose any speed towing my 5m hobie cat and Defender fully laden with camping gear going up hills like Mt White on the F3 - leaving Land Cruisers and Patrols waddling up.

I also recently drove the naturally aspirated Patrol 4.2 at one of the 4WD shops - and was honestly gob-smacked by how gutless the thing was. I'd say almost bordering on dangerous underpowered for offroad use, though I'm sure low box would at least partially compensate - and the 3.0 TD is said to be better...

Did you go ahead with the td5 auto.... how has it faired for you .... I have 2000 td5 auto chipped and am recently having a few dramas. Would be interested to hear your thoughts as mine is up to 250k km's now and believe i amy have a auto transmission that needs replacing.