New Disco setup, need advice

[nosivad_bor]

I'd say the truck in stock for is what you want but it sounds like it has SLS so there is a bit of a reliability worry with the bags blowing out.

Based on everything else it sounds like a 2" OME HD lift with bilstien shocks (though i like the feel of the matching ome shocks) and some 265/75-16 AT tires and you are goodd to go.

for the winch don't cheap out on the junk winch just don't. the factory winch tray is not just slapped together and is fairly bad ass in its quality construction with sweet recovery points. Though I admit its pricey its a damn good solution. especailly for some one in your situation.

Other than that if you can learn to drive the truck you will not need much more.

peep expeditionexchange.com for the springs and shocks and other useful information.

 

[4Runner]

You will be amazed at what you can do in a stock Rover off road, or snow, or whatever. Just drive it for a while before you do too much to it. I wouldn't do spacers if your towing. Do an inch or two of lift with heavy duty springs and shocks. I don't know what they are called ( I don't tow much ) but install an "in cab" control for your trailer brakes so you can tap your trailer brakes to straighten things out. I love Rovers but the short wheelbase and lack of extra power probably isn't the best for towing. Doesn't mean you can do it though.

 

[AMCM Disco]

roversnorth may have some of the factory trays as well, comes with or without the A bar and the one on the site without the A bar has recovery points on the front of the tray next to the fairlead rollers...

I'm on General Grabber AT2's and love 'em. Pretty quiet IMO. Good ride for long road trips with the truck fully loaded as well. I've still got the SLS but have the spring fund set up for if/when they go (but i'm also in a 2000 vs. a 2004)

IMHO tires, recovery gear (so you have the ability to get out), then work on lifts, ect... That would take the most worry out of doing the things you discussed with the family onboard.

Good luck and welcome to the addiction!
atriot:

 

[M3Tony]

I love this board.

Here is a bit of advice... take it or leave it... but if you want input from someone that has towed 5000lbs, take note:

My Disco: '04 D2 SE w/ 2" OME lift - HD springs
My track car: '95 M3 ~2800lbs
Trailer: open, 16', dual drop axles (lower to the ground so I can load my very low profile M3), hitch height is about 16" from the ground, electric brakes on both, 1900lbs

Experience: I towed it once w/ the Disco on a 160 mile round trip... NEVER AGAIN! I value my safety, my passengers' safety, and other drivers' safety.

1) You'll need a significant drop on your hitch... like 12"+ inches depending on your tongue/hitch height between trailer/Disco. This SUCKS because the tow points are so misaligned...

2) The Disco's tongue limit is 300lbs back there... check your manual... the info is in there... depending on the trailer, load position, etc... you can easily exceed that.

3) The 4.6L... sounds powerful... its not... have fun backing up traffic while you count to hundred as to go from 0 to 60.

4) Braking... LOL... these trucks have difficulty stopping themselves... better invest in an expensive after market brake control unit... Discos like to really dip forward under hard braking... you'll enjoy adjusting your controller for a specific brake pressure, then while going down hill and hitting the brakes you'll enjoy the trailer brakes locking up.

5) The 100 inch wheel base is great for that "rocking chair" ride quality while towing.

In summary... if you enjoy the challenge of towing with an incapable vehicle (in reading your previous posts I really question the stability of the other combos you've used)... and knowingly want to endanger yourself and others while out there... Please post here to let us know when you are planning to tow and where so we can stay out of your path.

 

[rovercanus]

Tony,he's an expert towwer, he doesn't want to hear that.

 

[Sam C.]

As many have suggested it is not the best truck for towing. My only suggestion is to get some HD coils. I pull my 4500lb boat with my 03 with the 4.6L. Before I got my lift (HD coils from RTE) it was less than comfortable, and as Tony mentioned had a rocking chair effect. The coils certainly help with stability.

Regardless of that it is still a slug and if you live in a hilly or mountainess region expect the tramsmission to constantly be jumping around the gears to accomodate the extra load.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I love this board.

Here is a bit of advice... take it or leave it... but if you want input from someone that has towed 5000lbs, take note:

My Disco: '04 D2 SE w/ 2" OME lift - HD springs
My track car: '95 M3 ~2800lbs
Trailer: open, 16', dual drop axles (lower to the ground so I can load my very low profile M3), hitch height is about 16" from the ground, electric brakes on both, 1900lbs

Experience: I towed it once w/ the Disco on a 160 mile round trip... NEVER AGAIN! I value my safety, my passengers' safety, and other drivers' safety.

1) You'll need a significant drop on your hitch... like 12"+ inches depending on your tongue/hitch height between trailer/Disco. This SUCKS because the tow points are so misaligned...

2) The Disco's tongue limit is 300lbs back there... check your manual... the info is in there... depending on the trailer, load position, etc... you can easily exceed that.

3) The 4.6L... sounds powerful... its not... have fun backing up traffic while you count to hundred as to go from 0 to 60.

4) Braking... LOL... these trucks have difficulty stopping themselves... better invest in an expensive after market brake control unit... Discos like to really dip forward under hard braking... you'll enjoy adjusting your controller for a specific brake pressure, then while going down hill and hitting the brakes you'll enjoy the trailer brakes locking up.

5) The 100 inch wheel base is great for that "rocking chair" ride quality while towing.

In summary... if you enjoy the challenge of towing with an incapable vehicle (in reading your previous posts I really question the stability of the other combos you've used)... and knowingly want to endanger yourself and others while out there... Please post here to let us know when you are planning to tow and where so we can stay out of your path.

2) 300lbs? This truck is missing the owners manual. The specs online (on Ford's website) say 500lbs. Which is it? Find it hard to believe they'd rate it at 5500lbs with a 300lb tongue weight because yeah, that's not gonna work.

3) Know how much HP at rig has? 400-500, and it's moving 80,000lbs. I drive with the rigs, and never had a problem. If you think having a 400hp turbo diesel pickup means it's "safe" to go driving around with a trailer at 80mph... let *me* know so I can stay out of your way.

4) What else have you driven? I've been in plenty of bigger trucks with way scarier brakes than the Disco. The Disco is actually pretty good as far as trucks go.

The other combos are perfectly stable. When towing my Seadoo with the Focus and the cruise control on, I have to keep reminding myself it's back there. Utitlity trailer with a motorcycle on it, only way I know it's there is the fore/aft shock from the leaf spring suspension on that trailer.

I'll just never understand what people are really expecting when they tow something. If you have the power, or THINK you have the stability because of a 120+" WB to go flying around at 80mph and think THAT is safe...

 

[Steph]

Oh common guys, cut him some slack. The guy has experience and his own opinion on some stuff, just like all of us. Doesn't make him a know it all. I'm sure we will all profit at some point from his experience, like maybe '' that guy that killed himself trying to tow a car, so don't attempt it '', but I have a feeling that he knows what he's doing and he'll prove you wrong!!!

IMO, its a nice change from the ''which lift'', ''which bumper'', or ''what tire size'' that you guys love flaming all the time.

And its not because he's Canadian and their junior hockey team beats the living hell out of your team year after year, that he shouldn't be welcome here

 

[M3Tony]

2) 300lbs? This truck is missing the owners manual. The specs online (on Ford's website) say 500lbs. Which is it? Find it hard to believe they'd rate it at 5500lbs with a 300lb tongue weight because yeah, that's not gonna work.

There is certainly conflicting/misinformation out there...

Page 151 of the D2 Owners Manual...

Max. Trailer Weight: 4410lbs
Tongue Weight: 330 lbs
Onroad in low: 7700lbs / tongue at 550 lbs ... unless you plan to tow in low, it really isn't a good setup.

The other factor working against you is the hitch requirements on p147. Do not exceed 8" length which is ok... but no more than 3" drop measured from the connecting pin... that means a fairly high trailer (which most car haulers are much lower). Mine needed 12 inches of drop to connect making the trailer level.

Also, as stated in the manual... no distributing / equalizing hitch is to be used... so you don't have the option to reduce sway either.

I know of guys towing enclosed trailers with duallys that brag about being able to go 100 mph... not safe and I don't want to be on the road with them either. But the truth is, a full sized pickup, such as a 2500 Chevy or GM (gas), even Nissan Titan, will be much more capable and comfortable at towing 4000+ lbs than our Disco.

Also, its not HP that equates to towing or accelerating... its torque... its torque that gets you moving...

I hope that helped.

 

[03springer]

I towed my short bed full size chevy truck using a tow dolly with my 01 D2. Only had to go 20 miles with it and was sweating the whole way.:ack: Just seemed like way too much load for it. Last leg of the trip was down a steep hill and the brakes were getting really had to push and then I could smell them bigtime.
I never exceded 45 mph with it because in an emergency it would have been out of control. I have lots of experiance towing with other vehicles and never had such a problem. The only thing I would tow with my D2 would be a small trailer.

 

[flyfisher11]

A little off topic but if you have never towed with the GM duramax/allison combination then you need too. This is by far the best towing vehicle I've experienced especially in the mountains. They don't call it the Big Kahuna for nothing.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[M3Tony]

A little off topic but if you have never towed with the GM duramax/allison combination then you need too. This is by far the best towing vehicle I've experienced especially in the mountains. They don't call it the Big Kahuna for nothing.

Cheers,

Mike

+1... although I wish you could get a Cummins/Allison combo... in the GM

 

[antichrist]

2) The Disco's tongue limit is 300lbs back there... check your manual... the info is in there... depending on the trailer, load position, etc... you can easily exceed that.

From the '03 owner's manual (I assume '04 is about the same).
He said he didn't have SLS I think.

I still say don't do mods until you've driven it a year, except maybe tires if you want something in 16" that fits without a lift. Obviously anything with a larger OD is going to negatively impact towing.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I towed my short bed full size chevy truck using a tow dolly with my 01 D2. Only had to go 20 miles with it and was sweating the whole way.:ack: Just seemed like way too much load for it. Last leg of the trip was down a steep hill and the brakes were getting really had to push and then I could smell them bigtime.
I never exceded 45 mph with it because in an emergency it would have been out of control. I have lots of experiance towing with other vehicles and never had such a problem. The only thing I would tow with my D2 would be a small trailer.

Well yeah, now you're talking probably 5500lbs truck, plus a 500lb dolly, with no brakes. So you were in fact over the limit.

Did you downshift going down the hill? I've never had a problem going down hills with heavy unbraked trailers. Just downshift. Yes, emergency stopping is another matter....

From the '03 owner's manual (I assume '04 is about the same).
He said he didn't have SLS I think.

I still say don't do mods until you've driven it a year, except maybe tires if you want something in 16" that fits without a lift. Obviously anything with a larger OD is going to negatively impact towing.

Thanks for posting that, interesting. (going to have to find an owners manual for this thing...)

Looks like I'm in range with a careful setup. I knew the truck wasn't the ideal tow vehicle. The reality is, I won't be towing *that* much, and I just don't want a big full size truck just so that towing is more comfortable a couple times a year but then everything else about it sucks. When I said "priority" is towing, what I mean is that I don't want to do mods that will make it worse.

Good point about the tire size. Looks like I probably won't want to be lifting this or going oversize much on the tires. It will make it more unstable, higher gear ratio, and make the tongue height situation worse.

I will likely be building the trailer myself, so I can make the tongue height what I want. So that's less of an issue.

roversnorth may have some of the factory trays as well, comes with or without the A bar and the one on the site without the A bar has recovery points on the front of the tray next to the fairlead rollers...

Yeah? I'll have to look at these thing again. I hadn't seen them with the recovery points. Are the trays "better" than the Arb bumpers as far as bending under load?

 

[M3Tony]

From the '03 owner's manual (I assume '04 is about the same).
He said he didn't have SLS I think.

I still say don't do mods until you've driven it a year, except maybe tires if you want something in 16" that fits without a lift. Obviously anything with a larger OD is going to negatively impact towing.

Strange... my '04 manual has a 2003 publication date... that page in my manual doesn't have the line with the 5500lb max. limits or the 385lb tongue or 550lb SLS tongue limits... only the 4410lb and the 330 lb for both coil and SLS... very strange... I wonder if they amended the manual for some reason between 2003-2004 to reduce the towing limits to 4410lb for high range?

I see the occupancy limits is different between the two too... 4410 says 4 and 5500 is only 2 for the coil spring setup.

 

[M3Tony]

If you guys really care I'll scan the page...

 

[antichrist]

Ya never know what's right in the manual. My '95 has the Satellite 1 and 2 panels reverse labled which cost me serveral hours labor time trying to sort out an electrical problem.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yeah, I'd be curious to see that.

I'm guessing that they were worried people weren't paying attention to the "two passengers only" on the 5500lb rating, so just dropped that part.

Either that, or they dropped it in 2004, so that they could raise it for the LR3 and have all the mags talk about how they increased the tow rating. Wouldn't be the first time that happened.

IIRC, the tow rating is on the door sticker, and it simply says 5500lbs in high and 7700 in low? I think even on this 04. Maybe I'm totally fabricating that, looked at too many things recently.

 

[jackp]

As others have said, it's not the best for towing but I've towed small boats (no problem at all) to a 16' enclosed Pace Cargo Sport (2600lbs empty). It does struggle with a heavy trailer behind it and is especially tricky in high cross-winds or an 18-wheeler blowing by you at 80MPG. The trailer wants to 'drive' the vehicle.

Given your experience driving a tow vehicle, just take your time and give yourself plenty of room to stop and have lots of gas money. The D2 should tow your trailer w/o a problem.

Do make sure that your trailer has brakes - especially helpful controlling a descent. I didn't read closely to each post but I did read your comment on downshifting to control downhill speed. IMO, it's much cheaper to replace brake pads on the Disco than the transmission.

Based upon the other things you want to do, adding a winch will give you peace of mind and require upgraded springs in the front. There are some winch mounts that will work with the factory bumper with a little trimming. Other than that, your bone stock Disco will go anywhere you've described (and way beyond).

 

[flyfisher11]

...............
Good point about the tire size. Looks like I probably won't want to be lifting this or going oversize much on the tires. It will make it more unstable, higher gear ratio, and make the tongue height situation worse.
...............

Hence my recommendation to go with 4.11 gears esp if you went to 265/75/16s. You said you wanted moderate upgrades for offroad....

Cheers,

Mike