Towing Caravans

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Originally Posted by RonMcGr

This information is for Caravans only. Towing a boat irrespective of its size, is totally different.

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Originally Posted by RonMcGr

A weight of a boat is usually spread directly over the axles on the boat trailer and the draw bar is a lot longer than a caravan. Boats are more stable and rarely ever require a weight distribution hitch.

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Hi Ron
Fantastic post – backed up with a lot of pics and facts.
I do how ever disagree with the bit up the top on boats, I have not towed a caravan, but have towed 2.5 to 3.5t boats extensively along the QLD coast, and my experience is that it is absolutely horrible to have a trailer load that is balanced especially if it is significantly heavier than the tow vehicle! Yes the draw bar is really long but talk about the see-saw effect (up & down and side to side). Even most of the top boat trailer manufactures now recommend 10% of total mass as the ball weight. On the rigs I had I shifted the axle frame (they are all adjustable) to give close to the max ball weight up front – then learnt how easy towing is with the Reece kit.

There’s a club ex Melbourne that tow (mostly) 7.0 & 7.3m Whittleys (around the 3t) all over the place – I met up with these guys on the way to the Whittsundays a couple of years back and no surprise – they all use LDH set up and swear by it.
:)

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Originally Posted by BradM

I have used a Hayman Reece 750 kg WDH on my DII TD5 with SLS to tow my vans. The current van is 21.5 ft OFF ROAD with a loaded weight of 2,500 kg. It has all been problem free.

I am picking up a 1981 Ford Bronco 4X4 with a Cleveland 351 V8, C6 auto and 9" diff's this week. It will assume the "Tow Horse" duties and shopping trolly run.

At 94 cents a litre for LPG up my way it works out at the same economy as the TD5 with deisel selling for $1.65 here.

BradM

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Gee Brad,

Fuel is a little exy over there!!
Those Broncos sure are tough beasts :)
Pleased to hear the DII is working well, with that setup :D
You should have no rear suspension problems, at all.

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Originally Posted by Chucaro

Which vehicle are you using for towing ?
I have a Disco I and the maximum ball weight specified by Land Rover is 150 kg

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Have a look at MarknDeb's message, under the name :)
2003 TD5

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Originally Posted by Chucaro

Which vehicle are you using for towing ?
I have a Disco I and the maximum ball weight specified by Land Rover is 150 kg

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Gday as in my signature, we have the D2 S TD5 250kg ball weight

Mark,. what is in the Td5 that allows 100kg more weight in the ball than the Td300 ? It is the suspension or the engine ?
I was under the impression that the wheel base have a lot to do with it ?
Just learning :)
Cheers

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Originally Posted by sfako

Hi guys I have read your towing info with great interest.
We take our disco td5 towing our 23ft caravan lotsa places and i use a WDH at all times and find it very stable.

Realy the reason i am relpying to your post is to find out what sort of tow mirrors you have fitted to your discos,a pic would be goo as i am having a hell of a time finding somthing sutible.

Thanks Steve

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I use these and havent had any issues yet

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Originally Posted by Chucaro

Mark,. what is in the Td5 that allows 100kg more weight in the ball than the Td300 ? It is the suspension or the engine ?
I was under the impression that the wheel base have a lot to do with it ?
Just learning :)
Cheers

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Mate hoestly i dont know the reason for this, when we where looking to buy we looked at the older disco to start and the ball weight buggared that for us so we ended up forking out to get a new one

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Originally Posted by p38arover

I reckon it must take a special kind of person to tow a van. I couldn't put up with the hassles or the slowness of it all.

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Yes well when ever we do a trip we overtake a few other caravaners all the time and dont we get some bad bad boy looks, we over took a semi once and he couldnt believe he got overtaken by a caravan and called us on UHF18 to ask if i was powered by a rocket, lol

The best thing about the caravn trips is when you get to where you are going you have your home and your own bed that you are used to not to mention cloths food and water

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Originally Posted by MarknDeb

Mate hoestly i dont know the reason for this, when we where looking to buy we looked at the older disco to start and the ball weight buggared that for us so we ended up forking out to get a new one

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The new Defender factory specs :eek:
Recommended max. trailer nose weight 150 kg
What it is going on with Land Rover design :eek:

Ron here is a pic of our car and van setup without the WDH