Towing Caravan with TD5 Series 2 Auto with SLS

**slug_burner** · 14th April 2013, 12:02 PM

The tow vehicle,

You have to get the towbar in as close to the rear axle as possible, if your gooseneck has adjustment holes, pull the pin and place the neck in as far as possible. Stiffen up the suspension on the tow vehicle, that is all the way from the tyres through to the suspension springs, use LT tyres with stiffer sidewalls, get the pressure up at the max allowed by the tyre manufacturer, can't do much about air spring stiffness.

The van (pig trailer configuration i.e., an axle group under roughly the center of the van),

Make sure that you have nose weight on the tow coupling onto the ball, rule of thumb is 10% of the ATM. There is a study floating around and I think once it gets below 5% you are asking for trouble. Make sure your suspension rubbers are in good condition. Load all your heavy components in the van over the axles, too much weight away from the axles causes a pendulum effect, that goes for weight too far forward or behind the axle. I'd also pump up the tyres on the van. Make sure the van is riding level with weight on both axles if it is a tandem.

Once you have a stable configuration you can start backing off the tyre pressure on the tug for a little improved comfort. Check as you lower the pressures that you still have a stable setup before lowering the pressure any further.

A number of threads on the forum on towing stability, the above captures most of what gets covered in these threads.

There are limits and I'd say that the 3500 kg rating on LR products is close to that limit. More likely to stay safe and stable by slowing down. You don't want to be on the limit only to find yourself coming down a hill and start to exceed it and getting the tail wagging the dog sort of speak.

**worane** · 16th April 2013, 01:41 PM

I have just retired form a caravan sales / service business.
In all the years I worked there I think that the only vans I saw without being over the front boot allowable weight , were the brand new ones we were pre delivering.
I think from memory the front permissible boot weight, was about 30 Kgs.
Most vans which came in for service were crammed to the gills with at least 100 kgs of "stuff".
The other comment I have to make is, most came back for a service with about 32 psi. in the tyres. LOOK AT THE INFO LABEL IN THE BOOT. you will find the tyre pressure should be around 50 psi It makes for a lot more stability AND less rolling resistance.

Tebby · 25th April 2016, 09:00 AM

Originally Posted by worane

I have just retired form a caravan sales / service business.
In all the years I worked there I think that the only vans I saw without being over the front boot allowable weight , were the brand new ones we were pre delivering.
I think from memory the front permissible boot weight, was about 30 Kgs.
Most vans which came in for service were crammed to the gills with at least 100 kgs of "stuff".
The other comment I have to make is, most came back for a service with about 32 psi. in the tyres. LOOK AT THE INFO LABEL IN THE BOOT. you will find the tyre pressure should be around 50 psi It makes for a lot more stability AND less rolling resistance.

Hi all, first time poster so hope this is in the right spot.
The info on towing is great especially being based on experience rather than theory alone.
Towing a 2.3 GVM van behind a 2002 TD5 with no sls but do have a H Reece wdh.
260 Kg on the ball with both water tanks full abut otherwise empty except for a couple of chairs & very lightweight stuff in the front boot!
Hard to figure how to redistribute the weight in the van to get the weight off the ball.Aussie vans have a lot of heavy stuff up front ahead of the rear axle.
Any other suggestions?

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 25th April 2016, 05:03 PM

Its not you,,
and its not the tug,,
its how caravans are built.
they are not designed to be towed, they are designed to sell,
some do tow, just.
some tow great,
and some just fail.

Its not even an engineering/physics problem,
the designers just build vans like shiney penthouses and expect YOU and I to buy it.
Thats it. BUY it.
they DONT care that it tows badly,
in fact, I doubt any designers ever taken one for a spin,
all they see is floor plan.

anyone you know taken a NEW van for a 4 hour test drive, with full tanks and gear?

Tebby · 25th April 2016, 09:45 PM

Thanks Pedro, will just make the best of it I guess. The whole rig tows pretty well as far as my limited knowledge can judge, I'm just concerned that the tow ball weight is over the limit of 250Kg's that's noted on the Hayman Reece label fixed to the door, & it will be well over when fully loaded.I'll just have to travel with an empty front tank, & live with not having as much H2o as planned when we bush camp.

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 26th April 2016, 05:49 AM

Dont forget Tebby,, that 250 comes off your rear axle loading,,,

brings up an interesting point about WDH though,,
how much of that (often read about) 300kgs makes it to the front axle?
and if it does,,
wont that overload it?

I think my D2 has about 100kg available on the front axle for load,,
I think,,

**DiscoKym** · 25th May 2016, 12:06 PM

I have scanned through all the pages and no one mentions tyre pressures?

I had stability issues towing with my Disco 2 - very loose back end. Always seemed to push wide on the back in corners etc.

I run 32 front and 40 rear psi pressures. I checked the tyre placard and it says 46 psi while towing.

As soon as I went to 45 psi on the rear while towing it sits stable and corners great. NOTE I have coils all round and ACE.

Just a thought from experience and reading the placard..

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