Thread: Won’t be retro...

Originally Posted by JDNSW

This is often stated, but how many prime movers are heavier than the trailer they are pulling?

You know you can't compare a 5th wheeler with a regular caravan . Put a Turntable on a Ute above the rear axle and wheels toward the rear of caravan and you can tow 4 x weight of tug if the brakes are accordingly specced.

If a semi trailer had wheels in the centre , like a caravan there would be rollovers on every corner.

Originally Posted by SBD4

Here ya go:



New 2017 Land Rover Discovery driven – the ultimate 4x4 returns to rule off-road

Ha. I thought they drained the tank first. If it can start underwater thats even more impressive!

Originally Posted by JDNSW

This is often stated, but how many prime movers are heavier than the trailer they are pulling?

A prime mover is a VERY different animal to a 4WD, It is designed Exclusively for one thing and one thing only and that is to tow heavy loads and the drivers are trained professionals.
4WD's and SUV's cannot be compared to a prime mover because they are nothing like one and in most cases the drivers towing their van around don't have the skill sets that the professional truckies have either.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

This is often stated, but how many prime movers are heavier than the trailer they are pulling?

further to prev reply, here are some photos of a Holden '5th wheeler' I saw at Boulia.

note the 'towball' is directly above rear axle , same as a prime mover , and trailer wheels are toward rear like a semi trailer . The trailer will also be fitted with Air Brakes .

You can not compare a regular 4x4 Ute and caravan to a Prime Mover / 5th wheeler .

This combo will be magnitudes safer than any 3500 kg rated 4x4 towing even a 2500kg caravan .

I am not disputing that a fifth wheel connection is different from a ball (or similar) coupling, but my point really was to ask the question - what is magic about the ratio of the trailer mass to that of the towing vehicle? Why 1:1? Why not 1.5:1? or some other number?

The safety of a trailer depends on a wide variety of factors, probably the most important being the weight distribution. But others are also important. For example, I regard the Citroen I sold a few years ago as one of the best tow vehicles I have driven (but limited by power and gearing) because the towbar is only about 15cm behind the back of the rear tyres, self levelling suspension, and no sideways play on the suspension.

Originally Posted by Zeros

Hopefully Defender won’t be a sports car or an SUV.

A 4wd is a SUV, so the new Defender will be an SUV, the same as a new RR, RRS, Jeep Wrangler, Landcruiser 70, 200 etc etc etc are all SUVs - just as Evoques, X trails etc are SUVs - unfortunately that horrible American term has stuck.

I suppose it would be too much to expect that now the Americans have pulled out of manufacturing here that they took their terminology with them?

..so like many words in our limited increasingly generalist lexicon, SUV has come to mean nothing in particular. It’s pretty much any vehicle and it doesn’t even need to be 4x4.