| Author | Message | ||
     Darren Waller (Darren_w) New Member Username: Darren_w Post Number: 1 Registered: 09-2003 |
I'm hoping you guys (and girls) may be able to clear the mud with respect to towing with a Range Rover. I currently own a series 1 Discovery and after many years of touring outback Australia the wife wanted to upgrade the accomodation from "Swags" (ourdoor sleeping bag) to a proper bed in a caravan. I've bought a caravan and just completed a 12,800km trip around Australia. The Disco is a diesel and whilst a little under powered did the job ok. I've now been made aware that what I have just done was illegal. The vehicle is rated to pull 3500kg - no probs the van weighs about 2000kg fully loaded. The rating causing the issue is the "ball weight". The manual states 150kg Max , my van is in the range of 200-250kg. I decided I'd swap the Disco out for another Land Rover product and have been looking around at Defenders , Disco's and Range Rovers. From my investigations (I am in Australia) I've found the following. Series 1 Disco - 150Kg Series 2 Disco - 250Kg Defender all but ther brand new (2003) - 150Kg 95-02 Range Rovers - 150Kg. I had my heart set on a pre-95 Range Rover (Classic) but seem to be getting conflicting information from different dealers. I'm hoping someone has either an owners manual or perhaps access to a "RAVE" cd to look up the owners manual for a classic. I'm not sure if their would be a difference,but please state the country of origin of the information. Typically the owners manual references towing on 2 different pages. Can you please paraphrase what is written inrelation to towing in your manuals. Thanks Darren Melbourne Australia | ||
| Geoff 93 RRC (Geoff) Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 103 Registered: 11-2002 |
A lot of people here in the US will use a weight distributing hitch. It has torsion bars that cause some of the weight of the hitch to be transferred to the front axle. No doubt they are available in Oz (I quickly found this link: http://www.haymanreese.com.au/main.asp). Check with your caravan dealer also. | ||
| Madison Smartt (Madison) New Member Username: Madison Post Number: 9 Registered: 06-2003 |
pg 96 owner's manual - "...recommended trailer tongue weight limit is 550 lb (250 kg)." | ||
| Darren Waller (Darren_w) New Member Username: Darren_w Post Number: 2 Registered: 09-2003 |
Geoff, thanks for your response, I already have a haymen reese distribution hitch. It does a great job of levelling up the car, but I've been told that it does not actually remove the ball weight. There were various articles on a caravanning bulletin board about the same subject. The conclusion given by "the experts" was that it doesn't reduce the weight ??? Madison, thanks for that info. I looked at a few cars on the weekend and what I found was that it appears as though it changed with the introduction of AIR BAGS. The pre airbag models upto 94?? had an owners manual produced as a book , the 1994/5 had loose leaf pages in a folder. The books show 250Kg , the loose leaf 150Kg. Does anybody have an airbag Classic that could confirm this ?? | ||
| Madison Smartt (Madison) New Member Username: Madison Post Number: 10 Registered: 06-2003 |
To clarify - mine is a '95 classic. You're right, my manual came in a looseleaf style notebook - but it shows 250Kg. I had the air susp. but removed it for coils. I never tow anything so I really couldn't give you any firsthand info on towing with the truck. | ||
| Geoff 93 RRC (Geoff) Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 109 Registered: 11-2002 |
My SWB '93 Classic manual says 250kg too. I thought the Range Rovers and Discos had the same frame, so its puzzling why yours is stated differently. I suppose the tongue weight has to go somewhere even with a weight distributing hitch, although the rear axle is definately unloaded to some extent. How this transfer works might be interesting to investigate. If a vehicle can tow 3500 kg and tongue weights are typically designed to 10%-15% of towed weights (or the trailer is not stable at speed), then I would suspect LR may use a weight distributing hitch to get their max rating. Check your manual for max tow rating in high range (I think low range is needed for the 3500 kg and perhaps LR think you can't go fast enough in low range to worry about trailer sway). I think it is 2500 kg. If so we could infer that the max tongue weight is 250kg assuming the 10%-15% rule is correct, or that a weight distributing hitch may mitigate the tongue weight. In either case perhaps the Aussie manual has a misprint. I wouldn't give up on the Disco yet. |
