Fwd towing with swan outback

Johnny,
Everything in camping / caravanning is a compromise. My first foray into this world was brought on by necessity. I had 3 young children, a wife who was a stay at home mum, a job that wasn't paying heaps and a mortgage that took most of my bring home dollars. I wanted my kids to enjoy family holidays as I had done and camping was the only way I could do that. A Jayco Swan hooked up to the company provided Magna (front wheel drive) no brakes on the Swan and off we went. The Swan was a 70s version that was quite heavy unlike the more recently built versions. Was the towing ideal - not really. I don't remember too many hairy moments though apart from misjudging the fuel usage driving it over Mt Hotham. Your front wheel drive shouldn't be a problem with a relatively lightweight trailer. Get to know how it feels to tow fully loaded. Get to know the braking etc before you do any long travels. How you load it can have an effect on how well it tows as do tyre pressures on both tow vehicle and trailer. It is a matter of experience and practice in my view.
Good luck with it - you'll have a ball.

Ken

Johnny .

You will be fine .
Enjoy the camping .

Cheers

We used to tow a Penguin Outback with a Landrover Freelander TD4 (which is a part time AWD). Wet days were a problem with wheelspin until the part-time AWD decided to engage the rear wheels. Put on a Hayman-Reese WDH which put some of the weight back on the front wheels. No problems and the combined rig felt much better both on the blacktop and the dirt. Check the towball download of the Swan Outback and make sure the Kluger and its towbar is rated for this weight.

" I have heard front wheel drives aren’t very good for towing ?"

A lot depends on the design of the car. Collyn Rivers COLLYN said in one of his technical books that a particular model Citroen was a good tow car despite being front wheel drive. The reason was it had next to no overhang at the rear.The overhang is the distance between the rear axle and the tow ball. That distance is a lever and the van will use it to try and wag the end of the car from side to side if it starts swaying. .

The main problem with a front wheel drive is a load on the back will take weight off the front wheels. These are responsible for driving, steering and about 80% of breaking. Having them in full contact with the road at all times should be your number one priority.

Toyota will almost certainly have designed the Kluger to have a higher tyre slip angle at the front than the rear. That is the angle between the distorted tryre in corners and the wheel. The reason for the higher angle at the front is to make the car understeer in corners instead of oversteering which is sliding its rear end out first. Look through these photos and the charts. Little suspension changes can make a big difference.HANDLING

Loading up the rear and adding weight on the tow ball can reverse this feature of the suspension design. To help restore it you can lift the rear up with a WDH [weight distributing hitch]. This may be listed in the car's handbook as being essential , it is on my Toyota, so do not ignore it if yours is the same. They lift the rear of the body and take weight off the rear axle. That weight is then redistributed between the front wheels of the car and the wheels of the caravan. Lifting the rear with stiffer springs or air bags can not do this.

Two problems can develop here. One is a WDH is not suitable in many off road conditions because the angle between the car and trailer may exceed the bending limits of the bars and damage them or the car. The other is the latest overseas research is saying you should not allow a WDH to put more than 50% of the weight removed from the front wheels back onto them.

If you find your car feels a little light in the front end while towing then reduce the front tyre pressures by about 5 psi to help increase the slip angle.

Other things to do are:

Insist on the dealer weighing the van and its tow ball weight before you buy it. Vans are notorious for having higher tare weights and tow ball weights than are listed on the specification sheet.

Try and avoid having anything mounted outside on the back of the van. Weight out there just makes it easier for it to swing its tail from side to side.

Do not overload the rear end of the car. If it sags below its limits then you have done something wrong, not Toyota. If you start modifying the suspension then you can end up with a car that looks good and feels great on the road until that one day when something causes the van to get the wobbles then all hell can break loose in seconds. Look up caravan jack knifing on Utube and you will see what I mean. The idea is to have a car that is always in control of the van, not the other way around.

These two links are always worth reading if you are new to towing.
DYNAMICS

TOWING WEIGHT GUIDE

Hi, I have a 2010 swan which I towed with a Kia Sportage awd diesel. I had no trouble with it on hills winding roads dirt long distance short distance and had the benefit of good fuel economy
Brian

Just curious how many of you towing swans have used a wdh?