towing capacity

Thank you.You're right. Looking at the specs Nissan's towball download is dependant on reducing the gvm whereas the triton still keeps the payload up there.

Thank you Steven.We have looked at cruisers,but went back to the triton for sheer value for money. we would prefer to buy new and know that the toyotas are a great vehicle but a 4.2l turbo wagon would be about 75k on road and 30grand would buy us a lot of leisure time

Hi there mickeyboy, yes fully understand where your coming from as wanting a new vehicle and yes 30k is whole heap of leisure time and some extra goodies for yourself and wife.If you go the triton then I hope all works out for you and you enjoy your travelling. Take Care Regards Steve M

Unless they have improved the new triton markedly over the old I would say cheap and nasty rather than value for money

I agree wish Davoe i had a v6 triton as a work vehicle for one of my staff & had to through it away, gear box & transfer case etc etc it was just not up to it ,had the same with a ford courier, had no problems from narvara or rodeo

Should be be not bee
Cheers
Charlie

Thanks Charlie. Towball weight of the triton is 230kg. We would look at using the tub of the triton to carry extra weight so as to distribute the weight more evenly.

Thanks Norm. I am new at this and need all the advice I can get. Do you think I would be right if I minimised the weight of the van by storing more stuff in tray of the ute and thereby achieving improved weight distribution?

Mickeyboy, I'm not claiming to be an expert. Just sharing my experience and views.

While weight distribution within the vehicle and van and between them is important, it is generally easier on the vehicle to tow weight than to carry it. Tow capacity, ball weight and other practical considerations notwithstanding.

My Hilux has a load capacity of 915 KG and a tow capacity of 2250 KG, but not both. If I did both at the same time, I would exceed the Gross Combined Mass by about 450 KG. If I tow at the vehicle capacity, my vehicle load capacity reduces to about 500 KG; a big reduction.

None of this is as simple as it first seems. You need to get the full specs of potential vehicles. The key ones are kerb weight, GVM (the difference is the load capacity often including fuel, passengers etc depending on how kerb weight has been defined), GCM (gross combined weight of the fully loaded vehicle and the fully loaded trailer), tow capacity and ball weight capacity.

To complicate things, you can often not rely on the tare weight and ball weight specified by caravan and CT manufacturers. You probably should check these at a weigh bridge.

All of this is why I try to maintain a reasonable margin of error. My Hilux, when fully loaded for a trip including boat, motor, trailer ball weight and all our stuff is right on it's 915 KG load capacity (might even be 50 KG over with extra beer and wine sometimes). But because the trailer is well under tow capacity, my GCM remains within it's limit.

One of the reasons I got the ute is it's load capacity. Most wagons have much less load capacity, but the newer ones have a bigger towing capacity and GCM than my Hilux.

Many people just ignore all this stuff and travel way overloaded. If it is important to you (it is a safety as well as legal issue), I can only suggest a nice big spread sheet of vehicle specs and load combinations. This will pop out a short list of vehicles for you to then target based on personal preference. But I would always maintain a margin for error. It is surprising what you (more likely your wife) wants to take on some trips.

I actually enjoy this sort of research when we are making decisions, but I'm probably a bit strange.

Thanks again, Norm. As stated, I'm new at this but would like to get it right. And it's true, the people who do overload probably never have problems. Just in the last week I saw a Kluger (1500kg tow capacity) pulling a van aprox 18ft and also saw a new Hilux (2250kg) pulling a van about the same size as mine, so it all becomes very confusing!

Thank you, Mike

Hi there Mike I have heard this before tow vehicle must weigh more, but makes me laugh as I had 3 choices when fitting towbar to my commodore, (all factory towbars) 1st one is 1200 kg 2nd 1600 kg 3rd is 2200kg my commodore only weighs 1629kg, would love to know who would be responsible if I decide to tow a 2200kg boat behind my commodore and I ran up the arse of some one as Im sure the brakes on my commodore would noy be able to pull some thing of that size up even with trailer brakes. I ended up putting the 1600 bar on as my inboard ski boat weighs approx 1400kg. Wonder what the go is with this situation. Regards Steve M

Also forgot to mention that when you buy the 2200kg bar you get extra bracing that has to be bolted up to the rear end inside of boot, runs down both sides apparently to stop the rear end pulling out of alighnment, mmmm I reckon thats telling me some thing ???? Regards Steve M

Thanks again,Stephen. It's appears to be a very grey area and the manufacturers are worried about getting their balls kicked

Thanks Willem.I see where you're coming from. How does Nissan get away with putting a 3000kg towing capacity on their stx navara?

Mickeyboy

I have no idea why Nissan put a 3.0 ton towing capacity on their Navara. I wouldn't buy a Navara in the first place mainly because the driver seating is too small for me but also that it is a small vehicle and it does not suit my needs. Its off track ability is also not as good as my old open diff part time 4x4 GQ.

I spent 5 years on the road towing a 27ft Viscount. It weighed in at 1.3 ton as a shell, when I bought it, and by the time I had fitted it out and stored all our crap in it, we were up to 3.5 ton. Over the years I reduced the weight by atrition to 2.5 ton which made towing a lot easier. I towed with a 4.3 petrol Toyota FJ55 to start with and ended with a 4lt Nissan Patrol. I swore I would never tow another bloody thing again, but never say never, and these days tow an off road bush trailer(not CT)

Smaller engined vehicles just struggle with heavy vans. I know that the engines of today are a lot more advanced(hi tech) than the old technology ones but they also fall apart a lot quicker too. Go for a strong chassis 4.2lt tow 4x4 and you can't go wrong.

Cheers

Bit the same I think that toyota did when they rated my 2.8D hilux to tow 1500kg, would pull me bloody backwards going uphill, only has enough power to get its own arse up the hill let alone another 1500kg LOL. Regards Steve M

Yeah, the ratings of individual vehicles is a source of confusion. Before you even worry about a trailer, varying vehicle payloads are in some instances very unequal. Some utes with average suspension setups are higher rated than wagons with better suspension. We've all seen tradesmen driving around with straight leaf springs. LOL

Think the Navara is a Pathfinder with a ute back and pathfinder rated to 3000kilo thats probably the reason ......

Well worth a thought, Ian. What are your thoughts on the stx navara as a tow vehicle? has a 3000kg capacity, but in order to achieve towball download of 250kg, I would need to reduce gvm. Haven't heard much about them. Thanks

Mickeyboy,

I'm no vehicle expert, but all their advertised figures stack up well. I suppose it depends on what you want in to put in the tray. For me it was motorbikes and the tray was not big enough, but the weights were still OK. I was only working on a ball load of 170kg but when I've weighted it at a weighbridge, it actually turned out to be 280kg! So I was really glad I decided against the Navara. As others have quite rightly advised on this thread, we can change a lot......you just have to know acurately what you're starting with.....then distribute weight accordingly and the tray of the ute may be a good help, it all depends on what you intend carrying in the van. The 400kg payload usually allowed over the van tare doesn't go too far!!!!

Ian

Sorry, should also have said, I've been told by the few caravanners that tow with the ST-X, that the smaller diesel is excellent and also conforms to the Euro level 4 emission standards (I think).

Ian

Might be the way to go. Interestingly, the Triton's gvm doesn't nneed to be lowered to achieve the desired towball download (230kg) and it has a higher gross comination mass(5000kg) as against 4850kg? which means I could put more weight in the rear of the Triton to distibute the load. It's all very confusing. I might just stay at home. Once again, thank you

I have a mate who works at the local Mitsu dealership and he has been trying to talk his boss into putting a towbar on a triton. He wants to hook up his own van (21ft), weigh it, and take it for a run. Sound advice. Thanks once more, Charlie