Thread: New Van?

Originally Posted by oldyella 76

Thinking about buying a van to tow behind the 2012 2.7 D4. I Would only be interested in a bogie setup, semi off road with a little bit of dirt but mainly sealed roads. We have dragged a camper trailer all over Aust but now looking for a bit of comfort. (3month trip)
So, query what size vans are being towed behind a D4 with a 2.7 comfortably?
What weight ranges would be suitable to tow without wringing the neck of the 2.7 that has been chipped.
Thanks in anticipation.
Lindsay.

Take your pick of vans.
With our 2010 2.7, we towed our 3.5T brick from Perth to Queensland via the Great Central Road, then north to Normanton, back to the Isa, up to Darwin and home via Highway 1. Apart from having to rebuild the front diff at about 150K km (the diff has only 800 mls of oil) we had very few moments of any concern.
I'd come from towing with a D2a, so the 2.7 was a quantum leap forward - but to be fair I did get a mild remap for the 2.7 before heading off.
Of course the newly acquired and then remapped 3.0L is another leap forward.

Personally I wouldn't go over 2.5t.

Agree - pretty much all towing capacities listed by the OEM's should be ignored IMO when it comes to long distance towing - I personably like to tow something that weighs less than the vehicle I'm towing it with. My work vehicle is a Hilux which I tow with weekly - it has a 3500Kg towing capacity but towing our heaviest gen - 3000Kg is a real chore and something I wouldn't want to do for long - we generally only do local deliveries with them behind the utes and put them on a truck for longer distances, but the smaller units - up to 2200Kg are easy and hassle free . My van weighs 1700Kg and likewise is hassle free towing. 2500Kg would be very comfortable for the D4 over any distance.

I have a 2016 New Age Manta Ray deluxe caravan. This is a 16ft off road van. Well off road in their eyes. After replacing every tex screw with bolts, putting lagging over every pipe, convolute cable cover on exposed wires, and mud guards (made of tin) to protect sensitive items like tanks and electric steps, the underside was "off road" ready. Inside I removed the ensuite sliding door, and the glass aluminium framed shower door which I replaced with a plastic roll out one. Saving in weight allowed an extra water tank. Van is single axle (easier to manouver) and weighs 2.4T loaded up. Has all the features of a larger van, Queens bed (North south), separate shower and toilet, washing machine, TV etc. Down side is their is not much bench space and inside seating is tight for "large" people (dinette). The larger vans have more space in the middle. We have done trips, Great Short Cut in 2017, Gibb Road, Oodnadatta Track, Painted desert, and the old Eyre highway (see avatar), Mt Augustus to name a few. It is great for two people and tows behind the D4 (been remapped) effortlessly. On most of my trips (bitumen, dirt etc) I consistently get better than an average of 13lphk. What would I change? I really would like the middle bit to be about 12" longer. That way there would be more bench space and more room when eating at the inside table. The newer vans of New Age dont have the features of the Deluxe as standard so optioning up can become expensive. The other van we looked at was a Crusader. It was a bit longer (more space in the middle bit) (17ft), but was more expensive and missed out on many of the standard feature of the NA deluxe. We use it at least twice a year to se a son in WA and another in Byron. I always take the roads less travelled and am not afraid to take dirt roads. PM me if you want further info

The elephant in the room is--
how long do you want to wait?
Lots of new vans in yards,, but theres usually a reason they are there...
its still around 12months wait for a crusader but they only do full composite vans now,, but you do get to spec how you want it.. (I would ELIMINATE anything thats built by dometic).

Plus if we do get that recession everyone is talking about there will be a heap of near new vans for sale....

Yeah - I'm wondering when the arse will fall out of the industry and there is a glut of near new second hand vans flooding the market. Maybe I'm just hoping this will happen so there's a spare campsite somewhere once in a while...

Just fyi my retired grey nomadish in-laws have a Hilltop Feathertop 17’6” single axle. They were happy stranded during lockdown in it and so was a good long term test. It’s really very very well finished inside with a great layout for 2. Are absolutely delighted with it so maybe worth a look.

Thanks for the comments, I can't find a reasonable, well constructed tandem van under 2.5 tonne tare.
So it looks like 2.5 tonnes tare with water in near the axles is the best we can achieve in the desired time frame.
There are a few second hand ones the have had a lot use and I don't want to run all round the country looking.
So the question is if we decide on 2.5 t tare, do people tow vans of this weight in Sports Mode?
Thanks again Lindsay