Thread: Towing trailer assistance

What is the run off like at the bottom of the hill, is it heavily cambered, is it straight? if it is just a straight road with nothing to dodge and weave around then I think I would just do it in low range, manually apply the van brakes as you roll over the hill in the car to control the speed, you can practice on the flat before you get to the hill so you develop some "feel", don't lock the wheels on the van, use a bit of car service brake and combined with the engine braking in low range (it is quite good) you should be fine. The key is to start the decent at a crawl speed.

Use the run off area at the bottom to bring the speed back down if you need to with gentle braking. I have done the same in mine with the van behind, it is very controlled.

I would not use HDC, thing is HDC will try to control the vehicle speed (in this instance the combination) by applying the car brakes using ABS unit, so it will not activate the caravan brakes, this puts all of the braking responsibility on the tow vehicle. So you are only using 4 of the available 8 wheels to slow things down.

Also, I am not sure if HDC changes or is even available when towing or not, there are some vehicle functions that are locked out when a trailer is connected, rock crawl for instance.

Peter

Select off-road height manually for rock-crawl when a trailer is attached.

Thanks Tombie, PeterJ & Graeme, seems the common theme is don't use HDC. FYI PeterJ the road ( not much more than a 2 wheel track) is narrow with a drop off on one side and an embankment on the other so not much wriggle room. I really appreciate all of the input and am now confident that the trip won't end in tears, Merry Christmas to you all.

Mine indicates a trailer all the time because i hard wired the linear electronics harness in and havent yet installed a switch to turn it off when i dont have the trailer on..
Not sure it makes any difference other than my reverse sensors are not working and the rock crawl hieght adjustment.
One day i will get motivated and install the switch.

Originally Posted by sandgroper57

Mine indicates a trailer all the time because i hard wired the linear electronics harness in and havent yet installed a switch to turn it off when i dont have the trailer on..
Not sure it makes any difference other than my reverse sensors are not working and the rock crawl hieght adjustment.
One day i will get motivated and install the switch.

Also impacting your transmission shift points and stability program..