Rear shocks - D4 - 3 tonne van

**JamesAdelaide** · 14th February 2018, 09:53 AM

Did a test run today with the van sitting more level (still down a but on the nose) and ti was better.
Then I went from 42 rear to 50 rear (coldish) and yeah , it got a lot better.
Very glad I went KO2's so I feel confident with these sort of pressures (Factory wranglers said 50 PSI max... KO2 is 85!)

Peter at Triumph Rover spares (d4 owner, tows massive car trailer and one heck of experience LR mechanic) came for a spin, said it felt fine to him, no issues at all.
he did say that there are various shocks in D4's, they changed over time, and the RR Sport has stiffer shocks again, but his advice was for the money, it would be marginal improvement.

So I think with a little more playing with hitch height (come up a bit more), try to slightly lower ball weight (280-300 IMO is a tad high) and keep pressures up, I think I wil be sweet!
I will stop looking at Amaroks and Crusiers on carsales now

Originally Posted by PeterJ

Towed my 3250 kg van for 60,000km or so and have noticed a deterioration of the rear shock absorbers, it does pitch a bit at times, exactly what and when to do something about it is another question, thinking out loud, an auxiliary set of shocks that would be easy to change would be good, have not looked into changing the rear shock/air bag assy yet.

By the way, the "10% rule" for ball weight is not really, it's not a bad guide line as a starting point, especially if you are towing 1500kg or less, but as you get up you can safely reduce that down to 7 or 8%, you need to be aware of how the van is towing.
Peter

Very good assessment I think on a 3 tonne van. Mine weighed this moring at 2.92, no kitchen gear/pantry/food/clothes, but with 360 litre water tanks full.

Originally Posted by orville

Not an expert but having just towed a van around the big lap the tyres will cop a beating.
From my experiences when I put more air in the tyres on bitumen there was less bounce. Let them down on gravel, pump them up on the tar.
I would think that with a big heavy caravan like yours the factory recommendations are not enough.Jax tyres suggested 50 on the D4 rear, this is 55 hot.
I think the D4 should be at least +5 from what it says on the decal on the door.
My experience is that the LH front cops it most from the road edges, I swapped it around.I would think 45 or more cold on the van.
There is a algorithm for working out tyre pressure based on load if you do a search.

Thanks mate, yeah I think I will start running 48-50 cold rear and 42 ish on front.
Having TPMS is super handy, FYI I went the safety dave one, reads the caravan no problems, very handy info and has saved me once already with an early warning.

**orville** · 14th February 2018, 11:22 AM

FYI I went the safety dave one, reads the caravan no problems.

Did you buy one with a screen or Android app? I have a gps already, too many screens!

**andrew53** · 15th February 2018, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by JamesAdelaide

Hi Guys,

I am having some rear suspension dampening issues.

Vehicle is Disco 4 2016 with 50,000km. Compomotive 18’s with newish BFG KO2. 3^rd row rear seats removed to save weight, cargo barrier, OL bulbar, rhino platform tray added. Using standard LR towbar.

Have just bought a second hand bushtracker van, 3 tonne loaded with water, but none of our gear (being confirmed this week on weigh bridge).

Ball weight 280kg measured on a set of SCA cheapie scales.
This is only going to get higher as we load the front generator box (genny + 2 jerrys)
Bushtracker are big on heavy nose weight, they are very against rear spare wheels, jerrys...

It was towing a bit too nose down, we’ve adjust hitch on van to level it up, yet to test.
So far have towed it from dubbo back home to Adelaide.

I’ve towed our camper trailer (1.4 tonne) and our 2 tonne boat heaps, no issues.

With the van however, the rear shocks just don't seem to be dampening well at all.
Hit a bit of undulation and there is a lot of ‘bounce’ in the arse.
On the smoother stuff it tows like a dream.

Tows really well other than that, van is not shunting, just a big dead weight and very stable.
The d4 engine and trans is a dream for the weight, trans in particular really shines using 6^th and 7^th well (wehere a 200 series would be revving its head off in 4^th no doubt!).

Has anyone had similar issues, surely after 50,000 km my shocks are nit stuffed??
Anyone got pricing on shock changeover?

I am talking it for a test drive with Triumph rover sprees this week.

Before you spend your money I believe the answer is in how you load the van and a measurement taken from the van side at front and rear when loaded should be no more than around 30mm difference. Google "how to level a caravan for towing" . The van needs to be not front or rear heavy and if it is then the front very slightly more than the back and cars towing with their nose in the sky show that the van is incorrectly loaded and and also could be designed to have too much weight at the front.

**JamesAdelaide** · 15th February 2018, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by andrew53

Before you spend your money I believe the answer is in how you load the van and a measurement taken from the van side at front and rear when loaded should be no more than around 30mm difference. Google "how to level a caravan for towing" . The van needs to be not front or rear heavy and if it is then the front very slightly more than the back and cars towing with their nose in the sky show that the van is incorrectly loaded and and also could be designed to have too much weight at the front.

Sorry mate but that's totally wrong, any trailer needs to be nose heavy to be stable on the road. Not nose DOWN, but 100% absolutely 5-10% nose heavy or it is downright dangerous to tow.

**GeoffH** · 15th February 2018, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by JamesAdelaide

Sorry mate but that's totally wrong, any trailer needs to be nose heavy to be stable on the road. Not nose DOWN, but 100% absolutely 5-10% nose heavy or it is downright dangerous to tow.

Based on my own experience, for such a large van, you need to get the Caravan's drawbar as neutral on the D4 as possible.

I've recently completed a 1.5 year trip around Australia with my family using our 2015 TDV6 D4 tug, towing a 3.5T Kimberley T3 dual axle off-road variable suspension van - not unlike your Bush Tracker in physical size & weight.

We ended up moving to instal a Mitch hitch male-mount on the D4 in replace of the standard LR hitch mount (which is far too low for such a heavy & large van) and throughout the whole trip, we never had one issue with towing, stability, dampening, swaying or pitching. We did the Gibb River Rd, Birdsville Track and several other explorer tracks on our trip ...all without a single problem. The key to effortless towing with such a large and heavy van is to ensure you align the height of the van's draw bar to as equal (or near too) of that of your D4's hitching position as possible. This is why the MitchHitch (Mitchell Bros, Brookvale, Sydney) D4 hitching solution worked so well as it's fixing pint & alignment raises the hitch point equal to your rear bumper bar - almost equivalent to your BushT, & in our case, our Kimberley.

The rear dampening issues & pitching you mention is almost certainly caused by your "ball weight" and the angle of the drawbar attached. The standard LR 4 hitching point was purposefully designed as low as it is for the main (not sole) purpose of towing horse trailers and floats. If you have ever towed one of these trailers, then you would know they are (typically) much lower to the ground to allow horses to get on & off the trailer much easier - therefore the lower hitching point on the vehicle.

This design however did not put to much consideration into towing a large & heavy caravan with large wheels & off-roads tyres - hence the downward angle of your draw bar. Equal this all up and your D4 will have a new lease of life when towing. Good Luck...

**DiscoJeffster** · 15th February 2018, 08:46 PM

Lol. Would it more be aligned to standards, not that LR owners only tow horses???

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Detai...0-898e679d0662

Section 5.2.3.2.

Tombie · 15th February 2018, 10:49 PM

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Lol. Would it more be aligned to standards, not that LR owners only tow horses???

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Detai...0-898e679d0662

Section 5.2.3.2.

Spot on!!!

Plenty of non-compliant vans in Australia!!

Look in the UK etc and they town heavy vans, but they’re all at a lower draw bar height.

It’s all well and good in Australia to have these offroad capable vans, but many don’t comply on multiple fronts.
Number plates, lighting, draw bar heights are amongst many things several manufacturers turn a blind eye to.

**Discodougie** · 16th February 2018, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by TrustyRusty

Hi James,

Ive got a D4 TD6 2015 with 50,000kms and towed a 2.8t caravan (with water tank filled only). The tow ball on my D4 is also a bit low causing the nose of the van to slightly dip but still no issues like you describe from the rear shocks.

Ive just bought a new offroad 2.8t tare caravan so will probably be 3250Kg when fully loaded --- do you think this would be pushing the tow limit or asking for trouble for a lap around aus....Im just a bit worried im too close to the towing limit???

Regards

I have a 2012 tdv6 with an off-roader weighing in at 3.2t loaded and 260kg on the ball. All up have done 150,000 and about 50,000 towing the van around Oz without any problems. Just remember to get your auto serviced.

**Discodougie** · 16th February 2018, 06:38 AM

Originally Posted by JamesAdelaide

Hi Guys,

I am having some rear suspension dampening issues.

Vehicle is Disco 4 2016 with 50,000km. Compomotive 18’s with newish BFG KO2. 3^rd row rear seats removed to save weight, cargo barrier, OL bulbar, rhino platform tray added. Using standard LR towbar.

Have just bought a second hand bushtracker van, 3 tonne loaded with water, but none of our gear (being confirmed this week on weigh bridge).

Ball weight 280kg measured on a set of SCA cheapie scales.
This is only going to get higher as we load the front generator box (genny + 2 jerrys)
Bushtracker are big on heavy nose weight, they are very against rear spare wheels, jerrys...

It was towing a bit too nose down, we’ve adjust hitch on van to level it up, yet to test.
So far have towed it from dubbo back home to Adelaide.

I’ve towed our camper trailer (1.4 tonne) and our 2 tonne boat heaps, no issues.

With the van however, the rear shocks just don't seem to be dampening well at all.
Hit a bit of undulation and there is a lot of ‘bounce’ in the arse.
On the smoother stuff it tows like a dream.

Tows really well other than that, van is not shunting, just a big dead weight and very stable.
The d4 engine and trans is a dream for the weight, trans in particular really shines using 6^th and 7^th well (wehere a 200 series would be revving its head off in 4^th no doubt!).

Has anyone had similar issues, surely after 50,000 km my shocks are nit stuffed??
Anyone got pricing on shock changeover?

I am talking it for a test drive with Triumph rover sprees this week.

Is that TR Spares in Adelaide? Don’t be upsold!

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 16th February 2018, 06:44 AM

What suspension is under your Bushtracker?

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