Ford Territory towing

Jim,
From memory at the van show they said around 1800 kg and yes you are right it has heaps of grunt we have been towing a camper trailer around for a while sits on 100klm/hr no trouble though do not think i will be doing much over 80klm/hr with the van.
I drive a fair bit on the open road in a body truck and i am surprised how fast some people tow their vans i would like to see them stop in a hurry.
So you believe a wdh would be better than a sway controller.
I imagine when we go to brisbane to pick up our van that supreme will help us with the ball weight as this is all new to us.
I see our van comes with electric brakes does this mean we still have to buy the brake controller for the car.
Thanks for the above

Michael

Michael,

I'm not familiar with a Sway Controller, perhaps it is anonther name for a WDH. The WDH actaually has bars that connect to it and the drawbar to even up the load and they dramatically reduce swaying.

Yes you'll need an electric brake controller fitted to the car, typically less than $300. As for brands, the Tekonsha Prodigy gets the best reviews here. I had a Tekonsha Voyager and wasn't impressed with it, too fiddly to adjust.

Your ball weight will be primarily impacted by the way you load the van.

Cheers,

Jim.

Jim,
Its a hayman reese that bring out the sway controller very different from the WDH.
As soon as i figure out what 4x4 to buy I will be in contact with you for those drawers seen a similar home made version recently but yours is much better also looking at the Land rover hear some good reports on these a-well thanks for the imfo.

Michael

Cruiser,
When we bought the territory we fitted the tow pack because we intended to do this but a lot sooner than we have.
Supreme and Traveller caravans at the Brisbane van show we found the most helpful but decided on the supreme x-tender smaller van as our first van and they could not be more helpful would change anything to what you wanted unlike some of the other manufacturers.
We expect it to be heavier than they told us due to the poptop being changed to full van height.
Looking at changing the car to either a Mazda BT50 turbo 3ltr 4x4 or a secondhand landcruiser diesel 07 up 4x4 still deciding to many choices would rather buy new.
Thanks for the help

Michael

michael k,

At least you have had the tow pack fitted so you might just be halfway there.

Not to sure but from memory my brother had to buy a Ford WDH for his van as he was tolf that the Ford towbar isn't compatible with the HR WDH. That may have been just Ford talking up another sale, I don't know.

Anyway, my brother ended up trading the Ford Territory for a new Ford Ranger dual cab (AKA BT50 in disguise) because of the extra 500Kg tow capacity, plus he gets extra storage capability with the ute section. He elected to have a hard cover fitted over the ute section for weather protection.

There are a lot of caravan dealers out there who will say anything to get the sale and be damned with the truth or legalities, but as you said, hopefully the caravan dealer will do the right thing and advise you on the legality of the Territory and the X-Tender.

As for weight of Poptop V full height van, I guess you will have to ask Supreme about that.

We went to buy a new dual axle poptop 3 years ago and ended up with a full height van with ensuite etc and as a matter of interest I asked about the weight difference and was told that the poptop actually weighed 80Kg more than the dull height van, mainly because the roof of the poptop has to be reinforced around the opening to support the weight of the poptop roof. True or not, I don't know but it makes sense to me to some degree.

Either way, have fun, thats the main thing.

Cheers,

Cruiser

Cruiser,
hows your brothers ranger going would like to hear any news good or bad and yes you are right I do now remember the sales man saying that the poptops are heavier just like you say amazing what you forget but we were pretty well impressed with the amount of at the show for our first time.

Michael

michael k,

I think he is reasonably happy.

Having said that, he has only towed the van once, up to his son in laws where it is stored because he is in Ireland at the moment (lucky buggar)

Cheers,

Cruiser

Jim,
Reading an old post and these people said ford said they were not to tow anything until there was 1000klm's on the clock,apparently to run it in mmmm.

Michael

Ozjohn,
Thanks for this we really like the territory but not 4x4 so will be changing in the new year unsure what to buy at the moment will have to make some hard decisions very soon.
Last Friday I seen a traveller van brand new tandem axle up north QLD that had lost the rear left hand wheel and on my way home noticed a new van being towed by a local distributor on its way up to replace it that's not bad service,have not seen to many vans lose wheels before.
Thanks for answering my questions.

Michael

Yes I would certainly fit a stand-alone trans cooler if it already didn't have one. especially if the Territory you get has the 'old' 4 speed auto in it.