Maximum Towing Capacities

I suspect that it fits in with Toyota, and other manufacturers as to where they want to slot their vehicles into the market.

For instance if they made the Prado 3.5 tonnes, who would buy a LC 200.

A lot of these so called 3.5 tonne capacity only hold good if the GCM isn't exceeded.

So if your GCM is say 5.5 tonnes and the vehicle weighs 2 tonnes bare then you may be able to tow up to 3.5 tonnes. There again load it up like most of us do and the vehicle may weigh up to 2.8 tonnes or so then you can only tow 2.7 tonnes.

Bit od a can of worms this towing, maybe I should go back to me toyota echo and stay in motels??

It's got me knackered too.

My Terracan was a 3.5L V6 Wagon rated to 2.5T.

Now I have a Courier 4L V6 Ute which is a commercial vehicle designed for hard work and it is only rated to 1.8T.

Work that out?

Jim.

Maybe something to do with coil springs v's leaf springs, unless its a coil spring Cherokee as well. Then I dunno.

I think Notso maybe pretty close to the mark.My HiLux was 2250 but a Navara and Bt50 are 3 tonne.subsequently traded the HiLux on TD100 series to tow my van legally.

Cheers

Don't take this as gospel Philip, but I was lead to believe it has a lot to do with braking ability, chassis design (strength), cooling capacity of engine/transmission and GCM (as already mentioned) of the tow vehicle.

I would hazard to guess that any non "ladder frame" chassis vehicle will not have as high a towing capacity as say an older ladder frame chassis vehicle.

Only the manufacturers would know the real reasons why their particular ratings are given though.

How many people want to tow something weighing 3500kg anyway?? I would guess that it would be so few that its not worth the extra engineering and design costs for most manufacturers, hence Toyota only have the biggest vehicle (Landcruiser) in their range with that sort of towing capacity.

I take it you're referring to a V6 3.0 litre TD Jeep Grand Cherokee, that engine produces 510nm of torque and 160kw and is regarded as one of the best tow vehicles on the market. Maximum tongue weight is 325kg

There are technical specs which rate the vehicle as having a 3500kg towing capacity and it's principally the torque of the engine matched to the gearbox combined with it's weight.

I tow a 6 metre boat with mine which weights close to 3 tonne and it makes towing the boat a breeze, the torque of that engine is incredible.

When you compare the Prado it has a 4 cylinder TD enginebut the Jeep has a V6 common rail variable geometry turbo diesel which means the turbo is working even at low revs. The Prado's engine only outputs 127kw and 410nm of torque so there's a bit of difference in the 2 power plants particularly when it comes to towing.

Even though they are both 3.0 litre engines I think to compare the 2 would be like comparing apples and oranges

I believe the Prado's engine and gearbox would really be working hard to tow 3500 tonnes and would be overall better matched to the 2500 tonne rating and I'd suggest that's why Toyota have rated it as they have.

If you compare the cruiser with it's 3500 tonne rating there's a bit of a difference in it's engine to the 3.0 litre Prado.

I wouldn't underestimate a jeeps toughness compared to your Prado. As I've noted other members on this site say, they are a very underestimated vehicle.

Land Rover are rated to 4 tonnes.

Those of you that know the road between Dalby and Chinchilla QLD. There was a flash commodore sedan towing a huge Jayco Heritage. It looked all out of wack. Even the truckies were talking about small cars towing big vans. If the vehicle and towed vehicle isn't sitting level, get it sorted. its dangerous.
While up near Bundy we were following a jayco off road camper that didn't look to healthy travelling at the speed limit. Coming to a T junction they didn't realise it was there and couldn't pull it up. They went straight across the intersection narrowloy missing a couple of tip trucks coming along. We were going over to see if they were ok until we saw the tow vehicle. Rav 4. Thought only got one thing to say to them and we moved on.

I think towing capacity is rated on braking ability and chasis strenght, the new LC 200 has a very low towing capcity than what alot of people think. L/C has tried to upgrade the capacity through the federal transport dept without much luck. Same as the heavy transport industry trucks are not trucks when it comes to the weight that brand of vehicle is cabable of carrying, some trucks have the horse power but are not rated for road train for a lot of reasons, ie air supply to start with for the brake sysytem. The average lay persom has no idea what a vehicle is able to tow or stop safely,as goes for the main stream caravan sales person selling vans not able to be towed safely behind a big percentage of a lot of tow vehicles. All the above comments are the writers veiw and may not be fact. Col

Philip's question is one I've always wondered about also.

In it's starkest form, compare my Avalanche wagon to a 10 year old Falcon sedan

Wagon is 270kw/475nm/all wheel drive/ humungous brakes/ huge tyres/long wheel base/ estimated 2"wider track front and rear.
Rated 2100kg. towing

Base Falcon sedan appx 180kw/appx 380nm/2wd/skinny brakes/skinny tyres.
Rated 2300kg towing. - legally

Go figure!
(this is not a Holden vs Ford post - it's much more serious than that).

I've towed our 1900kg rig over the last decade with an 80 series, a 2.7CRD Grand Cherro and now the Ava wagon. With an incident in Victoria when using the Cruiser, where there was a whoopsy in the highway (like a pot hole but with the bitumen in tact), there is no way in the world I would tow this weight with a 2wd!! The deisel Cruiser, due to ample mass and constant 4wd, was just able to pull the rig out of the sway (more power would have helped!!)

The official legal tow weights of many vehicles defy common sense - as others have inferred above.

I'm not sure where I read it but I understand the Pajero is rated at 2.5 in Australia and 3.2 in New Zealand. It was said that the braking system and average temperatures in Australia caused the manufacturers to down grade the capacity.

There's the rub, its the plated values (van and car) are the things that count for legal and insurance purposes.

Russell

From above,


Don't take this as gospel Philip, but I was lead to believe it has a lot to do with braking ability, chassis design (strength), cooling capacity of engine/transmission and GCM (as already mentioned) of the tow vehicle.

This person has stated the correct reasons for the rating on vehicles.
The Manufacturer makes these limits so that the tow vehicle will be able to handle the weight within limits.

There are in some cases max speed limits placed on vehicles when towing. EG. Volvo 80kph when towing the full capacity. See this months Caravan World.

The problem is that many exceed these limits.

Something else that people forget when towing is that the Ball weight is part of your load in the towing vehicle.
EG towing vehicles load capacity is say 600kg
Ball weight is 300kg.
Therefore you can only load 300kg in the vehicle or you are illegal.
Just something to think about

This site has some enlightening articles on towing ,weights and suspensions etc

http://www.lets-getaway.com/index.htm

Specifically here

http://www.lets-getaway.com/caravan-complianceplates.htm