HELP!!!! Towing question :/

Yes, you will need a vehicle with a 3500kg towing capacity.
The Tare is the empty weight of the float - it appears to be quite heavy, so I assume its a triple load? The ATM is the weight fully loaded, ie with horses and gear on board.
A Jeep has a 3500kg towing capacity.
We went for a 200 series to tow our horse float.
Cheers
Leanne

Any modern Landrover product - in particular the D3/D4, RRS or RR will tow that with ease. The Defender will also tow it with ease albiet a little slower and a little less comfort.

Garry

Just a thought but a friend of ours tows a 5th wheeler wt 3400kg with a d-max with a chip in it and he swears by the reliability ,power and economy .
I know you said you didn,t want a ute but maybe the new Isuzu 4x4 could be an option.
cheers

"Accepted wisdom" by experts and authorities in this field suggests: 1. With an ATM of 3400kg, a downforce of 340kg on the ball is recommended for safe towing. I'm sure this 10% 'rule' can be happily compromised but it gives you an idea of what the rear of your car can be required to support, let alone pull.
2. Some vehicles that can legally tow 3500kg cannot support anything like 10% of that figure on the ball....(they can only achieve the 10% factor at lighter loadings).

The 3.0l Patrol with 2500Kg capacity is the auto. The manual can go to 3200Kg. All 4.2 Patrols are manual as well.
The Tare of 1620 is the empty weight. The ATM of 3400 is the Maximum weight that the trailer can be loaded to. That means the trailer can carry a load of 1780Kg.
If you were to use the Patrol with the 3200Kg tow capacity you would only be able to have a load of 1480Kg. So it depends on how heavy the horses and anything else you want to load in like hay and saddles are as to whether or not it would suit.

Where do you intend towing this float? If you are running around a place like the NSW Riverina where it is hard to find a hill, then any car with a capacity of 3500 kgs will tow it. If your driving includes the Great Dividing Range or similar areas, many of those cars will be struggling which is most likely why people start playing around with chips and larger exhausts in an attempt to keep them going. That does make them go better and they are reliable, that is untill the extra stress on the engine and drive train breaks something.

I would prefer something that is heavier than the float which would be an F series. A Landcruiser would be next on the list, particular a dual cab. The V8 dual cab would tow it with easy in standard form but it is still much lighter than the fully loaded float. The big advantage is it would suddenly become the ideal thing if the float was a 5th wheeler, as has already been mentioned. That design of trailer is about 1000% more stable than a conventional trailer when towing something heavy at speed. Its wheels are down the back and the forward weight sits directly over the tow vehicle axle. This means it has no long heavy tail behind its wheels to throw around and it can't "wag" the end of a lighter weight tow vehicle. This is why the design is used on heavy trucks where the trailer far outweighs the prime mover..

Thank you everyone for you reply's, that have been very helpful :)

Question..Some of you are talking about the fifth wheel, excuse my ignorance, but isn't that only suitable for gooseneck trailers only and doesn't the hitch go on the the back of the ute not where the usual tow ball is?

We have a triple axle horse float, rated to 3500 kgs and it's right on the weight limit towing with two big horses (just over 600kgs each), tack, water (200 litres for horses and for the bathroom), food, etc.

Discovery tows it with ease.....even our Touareg tows it with ease.

Discovery has electronic air suspension so the back lifts up once the weight is applied. So much easier to setup.

The Touareg needs a weight distribution hitch to level it all out (requires a bit of effort for the wife with the 800 pound kit.....it's usually up to me as she struggles to lift the weight), and with the 200 series you will definitely need it as they are particular soft in the rear. Our good neighbour is in the process of setting her 200 up with a wdh hitch. They tore the tank off their float due to how soft the rear of the 200 is. Her ball weight with two horse was 320 kgs, and ours is 340 kgs. You need the wdh to restore the light steering created by high ball weight, and saggy bum created by heavy ball weight trailers.

Brett.....

Buy a good used Ford F250, it will tow that weight safely with ease.

Does the aggregate include the horses I presume. A lot of people are now buying the new Ford Ranger which also has a rating of 3500kg. I haven't driven the dmax but the Ranger is a great drive and vehicle. I use both a Hilux and 200 series TD, the later the king of towing vehicles IMO.

You will need a vehicle capable of towing, at least, 3400 Kgs if you intend to load the float up to its rated limit. A 200 series Landcruiser would do the job without effort and I am pretty sure the 4.2 Patrol would be suitable, as well. ATM refers to the total allowable load and the weight of any horses would be part of the load.

Iza

Just bear in mind that if you tow a 3400kg trailer with a 3500kg rated tow vehicle you are within 3% of its rated capacity. Horses tend to move around a bit until settles down and I would certainly be looking for something giving a little more leeway.

BTW we had an F350 and towed approximately 5600kg 200,000 miles with no problems.

Julie

One important thing for towing is the amount of torque. The more the better. You don't want a ute - that does restrict the vehicles.

A twin cab use does have some advantages. It is also a growing sector in the market and there is a lot of competition. Because of that competition there are some very good twin cab utes.

The pick of them is the Amarok but its towing capacity is 3000kg which is less than your ATM. The next best is the Mazda BT50/Ford Ranger. They have a towing capacity of 3500kg and put out 470nm.



Tjilpi