defender towing ability

I have owned 6 cylinder Toyota diesels for the last 20 years, always towed with them but never 1.5t, rather a camper trailer that never weighed more than 750kgs.
I also have rellies and mates with Defenders and Disco's one of which is a 130.
The biggest difference between the 6 and the 4 is the off the mark grunt, I know I'm probably spoilt with the 6 but I find i have to use 1st gear a lot more especially off road or on say rough patches on track. In the 6 you can slow to an idle in 2nd and putt through the rough bit then it will pull away cleanly, the 4 won't especially with a load on, you are constsntly having to drop back to first.
The only exception is one of the disco's is an auto, much better as the auto allows the 4 to build revs to get the turbo spinning and get boost and it will on occasions pull better than the six off the mark.
On the road I'm sad to say the Landy will pull better and use less fuel than the cruiser as long as you keep it on the boil.
The question is what will it do with 1.5t, can't help as I've never driven one with that much on the back.
On the couple of times I've towed a car trailer with car on the cruiser it has guzzled fuel and wouldn't go, the semi's were quicker off the mark than I was.
You might have to try it and see.

mark. i have not a fender but ford transit winniebago 2.4 turbo diesel 6mtrs long .the motors are about the same as my son has 130 fender. i towed a gypsy trailer with a suzuki x90 4x4 about 7,000ks last xmas new year & had no trouble at all .you know you have it on when you get to the hills but you drive & change gears accordingly.on the highway 100ks no worries fuel consumption went up little but that was not a concern. overall very happy with the perfomance.hope this help you.bob

Hi Mark,

Don't have a Defender but have towed caravans extensively with a '97 Discovery 300Tdi manual in the last couple of years and 100,000km. Doesn't set any speed records but does pretty well IMHO. Our old 'van would have been 1.8-1.9T and the current one has been weighed at 2.2T.

What model 'fender are you looking at? The Td5 (1999 onwards) go better then the earlier Tdi's but all can be 'tuned' for quite respectable performance. The Tdi's are all mechanical injection systems while the Td5 is electronic and needs to be 'chipped' for more go. Our 300Tdi has been 'tuned' by yours truly for what I consider optimum output without anti-social black smoke. Intercooler is standard but exhaust has been modified for less back pressure (very easy and cheap to do - sounds good too!).

Fuel economy: vehicle alone typically gets 10L/100km, 10km/L, 28.2 mpg on highway, best ever was 8.86L/100km, 11.28km/L 31.9mpg. Long term average for "all towing" kms is: 13.5L/100km, 7.4km/L, 20.9mpg - not bad considering the weight, I reckon. Overall average over 103,000km (estimate ~50/50 towing/solo) is: 12.0L/100km 8.3km/L 23.5mpg. If you can get those figures out of a Tojo, buy it! [By the way, standard size tyres and the odometer is accurate.]

Ian

The Rover 2.5 Turbo has 6 less Kw than the 79 N/A diesel Toyota but 15 more NM of toque than the Toyota.

The Turbo diesel Toyota beat’s it hand’s down at 122KW and 380NM

If you were comparing the N/A Toyota V.S the Rover 2.5 turbo it’s a close call.

If it was the turbo Toyota V.S the turbo Rover> well the Toyota gives 32KW more and 80NM more than the Rover does.

Hi mowing.
Have a 130 tray back defender ,and find it a very capable vechicle for towing.
!.5 t wont be a prob for it Providing you use low range for start offs and rough going. You can change from low to high on the move with defenders but have to know what you are doing.( or Bang) Have towed a1200kg van all over the place with ours ,fuel consumption hardley varies. The defender is slightley lower geared than the disco in the transfer box , so that helps a bit to.
Cheers Axle

The Defender's towing ability?.......no problems. I see them being towed all the time.

Sorry, just too good an opportunity to miss. ;-)

We tow a 1.25t trailer with a TD5. Slowww... heavy start but cruisers along very well at speed.

You will know the trailers there with the TD5 not with the 75/79. Fuel economy on the TD5 will be around 14.5lt/100klm (that's with a roof rack fitted and loaded vehicle - 2.75t).

I have a Defender Td5, which is great for towing. I tow a double horse float regularly and a 1 tonne camper trailer. Also in the SES where we use 79 Troopies pulling 1.5 tonne trailers. The Troopies are fine on the level but as soon as they look at a hill they die. We have a couple of long steep hills locally where the Troopies will be down to 2nd gear, while the Defender will maintain 4th with the loaded horse float.

The only slight hassle is setting off from a standing start, you need to stir the pot a bit, whereas the 79 gives you the torque straight away.

Economy doesn't change much, 10.5l/100km, worst I have had with the trailer is 14, with a strong head wind

Thanks everyone for the information. Much appreciated.

Regards

Mark

FYI i have seen a few defender clutch plates shear off between the hub and where the lining starts. They look pretty thin and weak there.