2002 Subaru Outback - Towing limits

Che`C

Legally I think you will have to up grade your car.
Cheers Dave

Che C
If you go back to page 4 of this forum and look at

ThreadID: 106672
Date: 12 Mar 2014 18:05
Truck drivers view of a caravan rollover you will see some bad effects of poor choices in towing.

You seem aware and finding out first, that is good.
Pushing your vehicle to the towing limit probably isn't a wise thing to do, mostly you get away with it, sometimes not.

When the towed mass and also size of that mass can begin to control the tow vehicle then it can have negative effects.
Camper trailers aren't going to catch as much wind effect as a caravan but the weight aspect for stopping/braking ( need electric brakes) and the weights effect on suspension movement is worth looking into.

Std suspension is going to struggle to control properly when the towball loading is high.

Cheers
Ross M

A good place to start is your owners manual. It will have the recommended maximum tow weights for your vehicle - these would not be able to be changed no matter what you did to the car.
The camper weights you've posted seem modest enough, but I would imagine they would be dry weights. You'll lose another 500k.g. plus in food, water, gas clothes, bedding, toys, spares etc, so make sure your car is well legal when loaded for camping.
You don't mention if your outback is the 3.0 or the 2.5 which will make a difference in towing ability.
If you joined a Subaru specific forum, you'll find plenty of people who tow with them, and plenty of real advice, as opposed to the bog standard 'I think you'll need another tow vehicle' that the old boys come up with on this forum.
The video link you were given is indicative of a number of things - most of which have no relevance to you - wind loading, overloaded single axle sets etc. It is still a good learning tool when viewed as such, but it isn't an indication of what will happen when a Subaru tows anything.
Good luck with your research.
I would have no problem hooking up 1.2 t to an outback.

As others here have said, you will need to look at upgrading your tow vehicle.

Nothing you do to the car will increase the GCM (Gross Combination Mass). This is the maximum weight of your fully loaded car including all passengers, luggage, add on's, like tow bar, roof racks, bull bar tow ball weight etc. Plus the maximum weight of the fully loaded caravan or camper.

I had my Dmax suspension upgraded, this allowed me to legally have the GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) upgraded from 2,950 kg to 3,220 kg.
BUT, the GCM remains the same, which is 5,950 kg It just means that when not towing I am able to carry more weight.

You CANNOT exceed the GCM.

IF you go over ANY limits and you are involved in an accident that is or is not your fault, you risk losing all insurance cover and leave yourself wide open for lawsuits that would probably ruin you, plus any other legal action that is taken against you.

Also remember that anything over 750 kg will require you to fit electric brakes.

Do the smart thing and tow legally.

A couple of sites that may help you understand it a little better...
Towing Guide and this one, it is for SA but is still relivent. Light Vehicle Towing & Trailer Regulations

Ché C

You are at the point where "the tail wags the dog"
We have seen the result of this on a number of occasions.
The result is NOT pretty.
You are trying to do the maximum, with the minimum.
When it turns nasty, .............................

You have asked the question, good for you.
Get a smaller camper.
Get a bigger vehicle.
Your two options.

Cheers,
Wayne & Sally.

Open the glove box & read the manual.
It may be as simple as upgrading the tow bar.

For some years Subaru made two weights of towbar for Foresters but the bigger one still only had a max tow weight of 1400kg.

For two folk you should plan on at least 200 kg in gear.

Even if it was legal, you would be pushing a 2.5l to its max with that weight. It would be approaching the mass of the vehicle itself. And no matter what springs upgrade you did the rear end would still just work like a pivot and the front be lifted up making for sub-optimal steering and braking.

We tow with a 2.5l Forester a CT with about 850 kg gross and I wouldn't want more than that for long distances or on gibber or corrugated roads.

Hi Folks

Sorry about not replying sooner - I have been travelling the last couple of weeks. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their views and input.

I have managed to do a little more research. From what I can tell if I invest in a towing weight distribution system (http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/towing/equipment/hitches/towing-weight-distribution-systems.htm) that this will give me up to 140Kg allowance on the towball/ tongue. (up from 90Kg) We could also look at a sway control.

One of the camper trailers we are looking at has a tare weight of 1165kg. If we allow for wet weight of 300kg this will make it 1465kg tare weight (vehicle weighted to 1400kg). So I am thinking if we ensure that we are not carrying liquids in the camper trailer and load the car up before the trailer, then we should be ok.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this approach?

Thanks again for sharing all your views