Towing caravan

[aye you]

hey all, feel stupid for asking but for the life of me i can't figure it out. i've got 18 inch rims on my AU. we're looking at purchasing a caravan in the near future. I understand i'll have to get strengthened shocks and need electric brakes on the caravan but will I need to ditch the rims or will they cut the mustard?

if the rims need to go, i'll probably sell the car, by a 4wd and use some of the left over funds to help purchase the caravan, but i really don't want to do that if i can help it

[Blue Ice]

Depends on what the load rating on the rims are and the weight of the caravan you'll be towing.

[Maggot]

Be sure you want to go the van..

We are travelling around oz with a 4wd and a singel axle luggage trailer instead of a van.

If you have kids you may be up for 80 bucks a night for a powered site for your van, you can get a house / apt for 700 - 1000 / week instead and you do not have to tow the stupid van.

You will save fuel.. add lots of flexibility (ie we are in the world towers sydney this week.. last week we were on a farmstay, 2 weeks before in a house in hobart etc).. and not sped any extra money. esp when you can save 50 grand buying the van.

The extra money can be put into a 4wd (patrol or even a land crab if you win lotto). .. as well as having lots for fun you you/kids.

Did I mention you wont have to tow the stupid caravan!!

If you do tow a van with a sedan (even a falcon).. make sure it is a fairly lightweight / pop-up style otherwise you will get killed when running in hilly country and esp. into the wind.

Good luck.

[FrogInASock]

If your caravan is correctly weighted (not nose heavy) then the extra weight on the back of your car should be far from excessive. You see these rigs that have the bum of the car just about dragging on the ground, that's very bad news for any car at all.

Not so much the rims, but 18" tyres certainly used to be sports tyres, softer and stickier. Consequently, they would wear faster with more load. Once again, a correctly loaded rig shouldn't have a great deal of trouble with this, and if you aren't doing a lot of touring (the six - 12 month trip) then it shouldn't be an issue.

Ensure that your towbar is physically and legally capable of towing the caravan. You have already noted that the caravan will need suitable brakes (override is acceptable, electric is better).

Falcons have always been a good choice for towing, especially the wagons with their cart springs and long wheelbase. It is not necessary to have a 4WD for towing, indeed many 4WD's are no longer full chassis but monocoque construction. A full chassis 4WD (LandCruiser, Patrol, up to NL Pajero, others) is preferable for heavy towing, but not necessary for lesser towables.

[aye you]

its not for touring. basically i'm a pilot and will be moving to the east coast, starting at cairns, and moving south looking for work. I'll be setting up shop for a month or so in each place, so the caravan will be stationary for awhile.

just gotta work out my load rating on the rims. but looking at max 20 footer, around about 1600kg max

[mik]

i`m pretty sure the load rating will be stamped on the rim on the back somewhere, i don`t think, i`ve ever used electric brakes before , always hydraulic, but what ever works is good, au towbar weight on the towball recomended maximum is 120 kg from memory, you don`t want to have it pointing up in the air like the space shuttle (although some do), i like the big vans myself, open the side door its ready to go, when i did my trip it (about 4500 k`s maybe a bit more, probably nearly doubled my fuel consumption, mind you it was loaded heavy and had the aerodynamics of a kenworth and we sat on 100 k`s ,some may disagree with this but we towed in 3rd gear as recomended in the ford manual, if your pulling a heavy aerodynamicly challenged load in my case anyway it actually used less fuel, it takes the load off your overdrive gear and stops the auto from hunting up an down gears all the time, also if your gunna tow an auto cooler would be a good investment. we pretty much stayed away from caravan parks , except to pay a couple of buks and use the shower now and again , parked off the road , rest area`s, the odd truckstop, absolutly loved it did`nt have any reliability prolems , not one, had the van fitted with its own battery to run lights off, and my brother solderd in resistors or diodes(resistors i think?) into the trailer plug, so it was like a one way valve you could put current into charge the van battery when you turn the parkers on, but the lights would only suck power out of the van and not flatten falcon battery....worked a treat, if your shocks are a bit floaty some firmer ones might be nice ,i loved the firm suspension of the au xr6 absolutely the best tow car next to my f100 or a big 4wd, shocks are good but personally i think its the spring rates that really make it a brilliant tow car, it feels so planted, sorry i`m rambling.

[ebxr8240]

Unless the rear tyres are really low profile ?? 45 series is fine ..18's I assume are lower A.R ??
Just keep tyre pressure a little higher and as said balance weight in van.. It will be at least 2 axles .. Yep trans cooler is a must .. If tow bar was fitted by dealer chances are it will have cooler fitted.. A lower final drive helps, even smaller dia wheels just for towing?? Will achieve the same result...XR's usually have lower final drive ratio...
If car is in top nick, well maintained ?? It will be fine...
Firmer springs and shocks are not way expensive either..

[castellan]

Look at getting them polly air bags for the rear, they are the best way to go..
And like mik has said use 3rd gear not overdrive when towing.
And the HD transmission cooler is the way to go.

[Pinch]

Rocked up to my tyre place (who I know personally), cash in hand for some decent 17's for my NC. The guy says how heavy is your boat. 1700kg.

Put your wallet away mate was the reply. There was nothing I could get (for an NC) that would be legal. He said best case was that I would keep hassling him to have buckles taken out, worse case was that I would have an accident (related to wheels or not) and one look by the RTA and insurers and I would be out of pocket for my car (bad), boat (worse) and whatever I took out (there goes the house).

I have to stay with any factory wheels that were available with the heavy duty tow package, which is sadly very little for pre-au wheels.

AU and onward wheels might be a different story - might be made for heavier loads, but I would double check, and check any aftermarket stuff REALLY carefully. Might not cause an accident, but might be a convenient excuse to void any insurance claims (whether you have told the insurer about the 18's or not).

Someone I know from my boat forums had an accident towing with an ED. They were pedantic about their legality but the state transport authorities hauled their car and trailer over the coals looking for errors.

Towing heavy stuff is fine until it all goes wrong - then everyone is out to find something wrong with it it seems. I just had to spend $2500 bringing my trailer up to new safety specs.

[ebxr8240]

Towing is not [total] weight on towing vehicle..
Keep to manu specs and towing weight of the local authority.
RTA etc...
I've towed horse floats interstate and use my car to tow car trailer long distances at times.. Wheels are 17 X 245 / 45...
Check the load on aftermarket rims and tag inside door, owners manual...
It should contain all the info you need..
Utes etc have a load limit ...

[aye you]

righto, since i had a new replacement rim sitting in the house i had me a squizz at the back, rated to 650kg, the tyres on the car are rated to 730kg. correct me if i;m wrong but 650 x 4 - 1515(car weight) = 1085 kg absolute max i can have on the caravan. assuming of course i have the caravan evenly weighted and use a leveling hitch on the van

[lofty]

Normally the max weight on the hitch is ten percent of the max trailer weight. Eg, my ute is rated to tow 2300kg, with 230kg on the hitch. So presumably the extra rear tyre/wheel load would only be 230/2.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by aye you

righto, since i had a new replacement rim sitting in the house i had me a squizz at the back, rated to 650kg, the tyres on the car are rated to 730kg. correct me if i;m wrong but 650 x 4 - 1515(car weight) = 1085 kg absolute max i can have on the caravan. assuming of course i have the caravan evenly weighted and use a leveling hitch on the van

I see where your coming from in trying to determine load, but what you have calculated is basically saying that your carrying a caravan on the roof of your car. The caravan also has wheels and these would carry most of the weight.

[mac_man_luke]

The weight on the car from the van should be less than a 100kgs if loaded correctly

eg even a 2300kg heavy duty bar has a ball weight max of 200 odd kgs

Rims should be fine, BA falcons etc came with 18"s and 2300kgs tow ratings

[aye you]

ok, so basically i'm getting that if i have a correctly weighted and leveled caravan there should be minimal weight held up by the car.

So, so long as i've been careful with packing the caravan, and when attached to the car it doesn't cause the back end to droop too much then I should be fine?

sorry for the questions but i am new to all this

[lofty]

You first need to check your tyre placard and owner's manual.

[fourl6]

Hey nick only just found this thread... Hows it all going? just thought id remind you that a AU Manual is only rated to tow 1200kg... the auto is alot higher... im not sure what the issue is? if its the clutch you could just get a heavier clutch... feel free to stop in if you travel this far south

Cheers Cam

[LUXO_8]

you just need to add ball weight to the rear.....1700kg van ball weight will be roughly 170kg if weighted correctly

weight on your wheels will be like having 2 people in the back and lugguage in the boot.....
it could wear the tyres quicker, but your wheels will be fine