Thread: A few questions re: towing

Cold pressures in the tow vehicle, use maximum recommended by vehicle specs.

Horse float, if it has light truck tyres, 45 to 50 psi.
If they are radials maximum recommended on the tyre.

Don't worry about sides and axles, just keep the pressures even.

If the float moves from side to side you have the pressure to low. If you can feel the horse float hitting every bump in the road, though the towing vehicle, back of the pressure by 5 psi.

The idea is to have the tyres tight enough to stop sway on both units.

Cheers,
Ron

Tow in 4th gear as 5th gear is to weak to tow with.
Your combined weight in the float will be approx 1900 kilo's,this only leaves you 100 kilo's left for gear and stuff before you are over 2 tons at which point you need Breakaway Trailer Brakes.

Originally Posted by xrayxray

Tow in 4th gear as 5th gear is to weak to tow with.
Your combined weight in the float will be approx 1900 kilo's,this only leaves you 100 kilo's left for gear and stuff before you are over 2 tons at which point you need Breakaway Trailer Brakes.

I think we are over-estimating our horses weights, but certainly don't plan on putting too much more gear on the float anyway. We've got a weighbridge not far from us which I plan on using before we go, just to see what the whole lot totals

Originally Posted by Treads

I think we are over-estimating our horses weights, but certainly don't plan on putting too much more gear on the float anyway. We've got a weighbridge not far from us which I plan on using before we go, just to see what the whole lot totals

It would be interesting if you posted the comparison between your estimate and what it actually weighs!

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

It would be interesting if you posted the comparison between your estimate and what it actually weighs!

John

I'm shocking with these things. I can look at a steer and guess to within 50kgs or so, but horses! Might get a chance to pop the horses on later this week and take it over.

I will echo what Ron has said, also i see your tow mule is a D1, if they are the same as the D2 in regards to tyre pressures, then i would go 46psi in the rear and 28 too 34 in the front.

46psi is what LR recommend when fully loaded in the rear, this is what i run when loaded and towing the camper with my D2 and it is very stable with this pressure, i'm about 400kg shy of what your towing, try it at least, do a few short trips and see what pressures work best.

As for towing in 5th, for me i use 5th all the time, as long as your not holding 5th for long periods up long grades and labouring the car i can't see a problem, you will feel the car starting to slow and this is when you decide when to go back too 4th, do it well before it's starts too struggle, just keep the car in the max torque zone and it should be fine.

The way i do it is if your in 5th and you put your foot down and it doesn't respond or excellerate, that's when i go to 4th, in some situations, when you put your foot down, the car will actually get slower, so changing back early rather than later is better.

Baz.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

It would be interesting if you posted the comparison between your estimate and what it actually weighs!

John

Well I took the rig over to a transport place who has a weighbridge today. Unfortunately I could only get over the bridge with either the rig or the trailer, so no combined weights.

My estimates were:
D1 = 2200kg
Float = 800kg + 2x horses 1100kg
Total = 4100kg

With the float on, the back of the truck 1/2 loaded and 2/3 of a tank of fuel:
D1 = 2500kg!
Float = 700kg
Total = 3200kg
The float placard says it weighs 800Kg, so would I be correct in saying that it has a 100Kg download on the towball when empty?

I went back and put the ponies on:
D1 = 2550kg
Float = 1750kg
Total = 4300kg! Poor little 2.5! No wonder it's a slug with the float loaded!

So it looks like the float must be pretty well weighted, only a 50kg increase in weight on the Disco with the horses on. And I was spot on the money with the horses weights! 1100kgs between them.



It sits pretty flat considering there's 1 & 3/4 ton hanging off it's bum!



None of the jerries or toolboxes on the float are full.



The first culprit (Ridden by the main suspect in all this caper )



The second one, and that dodgy person on the right again

It is not recommended to tow in 5th.

Drive goes straight through the gearbox in 4th and is the recommended gear for towing. All other gears need to put the drive through the lay gear and it is a common problem to have the input gear and the matching gear on the lay gear chew each other up as a result of towing in 5th. When I was getting my box fixed for this problem, the shop (non LR specialist but a Gbox specialist) had another R380 GBox in with the same problem.