How to tow???

Hi Grazza

We tow a 6m van everywhere without a hitch behind 4.2 cruiser, you didn't mention if it had any braking system as this will obviously make a considerable difference, I assume it has so as long as you allow for extra distance when stopping and following other traffic, that should be ok, and tuning corners if the camper is longer than you are used to allow a wider turn area.
Most towing is common sense, just keep an eye in your mirrors and allow extra room for braking, the heavier the load the longer it will take to stop and the longer the load the moor room it will take to turn, the 4.2 will take it any where

Regards
Rene'

To start off, take it slow until you get enough confidence to know how much extra road you are taking up, how much slower you accelerate, how much longer to slow down, how much slower you have to go on corners, etc. Once you have that confidence, you should be able to keep up with most other traffic over most roads.

Two very important facts though.

1. When turning, your trailer will take a tighter line than your tow vehicle to allow plenty of extra room at the apex of corners.

2. When overtaking, you will accelerate slower than normal, BUT you are also twicwe the length that you used to be so you need heaps more room for overtaking and do not pull in too early.

If you have brakes on the camper, brake as normal and read the instructions for the brake controller. If you have no brakes on the trailer or on very steep downhills, think about using the gears to slow down, saves overheating the brakes.

Change gear early for hills if you think that you will not get up it in top. This keeps your speed up.

If the trailer starts to sway, take you feet off all the pedals and you will find that it will soon stop. If you get the swaying too much, there is a loading problem on your trailer, maybe more weight is needed on the front - but make sure that you do not go above the reccomended towball loading.

Thats all I can think of or now - towing is really a piece of P*** after a few Km and have a great trip.

Stevesub

My advice would be, once you start towing don't try and keep up with the traffic, allow more room for stoping, keep the weight off the tow ball as much as possible and finally enjoy your trip.

Carry spare wheel bearings, pre greased and and ready to install. And regular checks on vehicle and trailer.

Until you have a bit of experience, be vewwwy careful when executing manouvers such as backing :))

I think the important points have already been covered, but I would just re-inforce some of them:

1 - electric brakes - marvellous invention and well worth the money

2 - reversing - find a large flat area to practice before you leave for your trip, and stick to either mirrors or looking over your shoulder - switching between the two methods only causes confusion!!!

Grazza,

Find an empty carpark with line marks for the parking bays and try to reverse and drive through these marks. The biggest thing with towing is knowing where the trailers wheels are and being able to put these wheels where you want them to be. This can only come with practice. Empty shopping carparks make great practice areas.
Towball load is reccomended to be 10% of trailer mass so load trailer appropriately or swaying and the like will occur. Especially with SWB tow vehicle.
I would suggest to tow in 4th gear max (no 5th) but talk to a gearbox specialist for the reasons why or why not. It won't make that much difference to fuel consumption but may save thousands on a gearbox rebuild.
Other people have already mentioned braking and turning distances so I won't add to what has already been said on these topics.
Anyway find your confidence and have a safe and happy trip.

Regards Trevor.

Grazza

Keep an eye in your rear view mirrors for other traffic and if you get a line of vehicles behind you try and find a spot to let them overtake you,especially if you are towing in hilly country.This courtesy wiil allow you to travel at your own pace and will be greatly appreciated by other road users.We find travelling at 95 kph with the camper trailer really helps with the fuel consumption and gives a bit more room for error but you get the consquence of traffic build up so you have to allow those behind the chance to get around.

Hi Grazza,

There is some good advice on this site under the "vehicle rquirements" tab. I am not sure where you are, but Great Divide Tours in Braidwood NSW offers off-road camper trailer courses - no doubt other operators have similar courses.

Cheers,
Jezza.

!MPG:7!

Many years ago when I first started towing trailers, the best advice that I got was ... don't worry about it, unless the trailer overtakes you!

Some other tips:

make sure your Patrol has sufficient lift so thats you can connect up to the trailer and still be able to lower the jockey wheel

get into a routine to hooking/unhooking to make sure everything is connected/disconnected e.g. make sure you lower and secure the jockey wheel before separating from vehicle

be extra aware of ignorant drivers; I can't believe the number of people who spot I'm towing, see the larger gap and decide to zip in front of me with no allowance for breaking distance

available parking is limited, be prepared to walk a little further

the places that you can go can also be limited ie 3 point turns don't work like they used to and you can't always reverse yourself out of trouble.

get wheels that are like the ones on your 4WD

It is important to practice emergency braking (locking up the wheels) at the local shopping centre. Start slowly and build up to a good "slam on the brakes". You will now how vehicle and trailer reacts and which way things may pull, left or right .

You must be confident braking heavily when the time comes and not hesitate.

Also EVERY time you hitch up, walk around the whole caboose to check things - what this really does is slow you down so you check and double check everything throughly.

Be always mindful of where the trailer is, we saw some poor chums scrape there lovely new Teardrop on a bollard in a service station.

Don't be in a hurry.
Cheers
John

Grazza,

on a different part of the same topic......
learn how to re-pack the wheel bearings
carry spares such as a wheel bearing kit and some grease
carry a couple of spare wheel nuts
run the same wheels as your Patrol
Use LT tyres with plenty of tread

have a great trip
Ian

Grazza,

I have been towing a camper for a long time, most of it with a 4.2Diesel Patrol.

I found that the car was happiest just under the 3,000 rpm mark. That is about 100 to 110 kph. It would happily do more than this so overtaking is quite safe, just remember what others have said about acceleration and the length of your vehicle

If you are at this speed then as soon as the slope starts to slow you down grab 4th and keep your foot a little off the floor. On bigger hills don't let it labour in a any gear or it will be more likely to overheat. Go to a lower gear and lift the foot a bit. On steep decents go down the hill in the gear you would need to get up it and you will be able to leave the brake pedal alone.

Make sure the trailer is level when coupled to the car. You can easily adjust the height of the coupling by about 50mm by turning the tounge of you towbar up the other way, ie the tounge comes up and out rather than down and out. That's as clear as mud. If you have a hayman reece type tow bar the removable bit is a box section with a heavy L shaped piece welded on the end. By turning it over the taab tha you fit the coupling to is at the top of the box not the bottom and the coupling height of the trailer is about 50mm higher. This can make a big difference to the comfort in the tow vehicle as it better distributes the weight and improves vision over the top of the trailer, if you have any vision at all, some do some don't.

If you are going to be towing off road I recommend that you go to your favourite 4wd track and try it with the trailer on. Take a mate in case you get stuck.

Finally don't worry too much, it's not rocket science and after a couple of days on the road, or track, you should be having a ball.

Duncs