Thread: How well does your Isuzu tow??

What is a 'crawl' to you? I reckon mine crawls up hills without a trailer...
2nd gear 30-40km/h up Bellbird Hill near Richmond or Scenic Hill near Lithgow, third gear 70km/h heading south from Sydney along the Hume,
But it tows other 4WDs out of predicaments gallantly

Mine is similar. When traveling in top gear any slightest hill will mean putting down a gear or two. But will generally hold at around 80- 90kmh in 4th gear pretty well with 1 tonne trailer unless hill is pretty steep. My Isuzu is also a na, highway speeds and hills do not mix. Wish I had the time and skills to add a turbo

Sounds normal for an un tweaked NA 4BD1. You can give it about half a turn OUT on the fuel screw, which will make quite a bit of difference, but any more and it'll be smokey.

Turbocharging it is a phenomenal increase in torque, in mine I would estimate at least 45% more!,

I can tow a 2.8Ton full height caravan at 100km/h on the flat, and my campertrailer at 1+tons laden will slow me to about 95 on most hills, steep and long ones can be down to 80.

JC

You REALLY need to fit a turbo...

I towed a 5m boat from Brisbane-Perth (via Canberra and Adelaide) and the only way I could tell it was there was higher EGT and fuel consumption to maintain the same speed as when not towing.

Compare that to an NA Isuzu 110 Dave_S and I were driving through Wyoming (not towing). The headwinds were so bad we couldn't pull 4th or 5th ON THE FLAT!

Once you fit a turbo, you will wish you had done it years earlier.

Originally Posted by AdsLandies

Wondering how you guys find your Isuzu when towing.
Reason is, when towing a camper trailer with mine, which I'm guessing wouldn't be more than 750kgs all loaded up, it really slows up on the hills, much more than I would have expected. Really makes towing the trailer a pain. On relatively flat Highway roads it cruises along fairly easily, but at the first hint of a hill it's not very happy. Mine is not turboed, but neither were all the Army 110s, and from what I've heard, they seemed to do ok when towing.
I've never done any work on the injectors or pump though as I've been happy with its performance until I put the trailer on.
Do others find this, or is it just mine?
Getting a bit tired of having some "pretend" 4WD fly past me towing some whopping big caravan, while the big tough Isuzu towing this modest little trailer crawls its way to the top of the hill.

I have highlighted your problem.

Originally Posted by justinc

Sounds normal for an un tweaked NA 4BD1. You can give it about half a turn in on the fuel screw, which will make quite a bit of difference, but any more and it'll be smokey.

Turbocharging it is a phenomenal increase in torque, in mine I would estimate at least 45% more!,

I can tow a 2.8Ton full height caravan at 100km/h on the flat, and my campertrailer at 1+tons laden will slow me to about 95 on most hills, steep and long ones can be down to 80.

JC

I think JC made a typo. Turning the screw in will reduce torque, yo need to screw it out to increase torque.

Originally Posted by isuzutoo-eh

What is a 'crawl' to you? I reckon mine crawls up hills without a trailer...
2nd gear 30-40km/h up Bellbird Hill near Richmond or Scenic Hill near Lithgow, third gear 70km/h heading south from Sydney along the Hume,
But it tows other 4WDs out of predicaments gallantly

My most recent crawl experience with the trailer was Clyde Mtn which heads up inland from the coast from Batemans Bay. 1st gear on a couple of occasion, mainly 2nd. Without the trailer I can do most of it in 3rd. So couldnt really crawl much slower than that!

Thanks for your comments fellas. Sounds like its pretty normal then. I reckon it would get pretty annoying driving like this for an extended trip, especially when travelling with other vehicles. May have to give the fuel screw a turn first as was suggested.
Id love a turbo, but that means a fair bit of work, plus changing the LT85 for a better gearbox to go with it. May need to keep dreaming about that one for a while yet. At least I know how happy you all are once its got a turbo.
Adam.