3 TON TOWING???

100 Series Landcruisers, Nissan Patrols, Ford F Trucks even a Lawn Rover ;)


Cheers Kev

Bonzee

Sounds like a Landrover Defender foots the bill (3,500kg tow capacity). Plenty around that are on the 'older' side and don't usually cost as much as the more popular brands.

Cheers

My nissan 4.2 td does it easily. I tow a 23ft van with it.
Peter

Have a look at the Jeep Grand Cherokee 3L CRD. Rated for 3,500kg tow and plenty of grunt with 510nm torque. Low fuel consumpsion and comfortable to boot. Late model resale value is pretty low.

Cheers

Towing is nothing

Stopping is everything

'04 Nissan Navara has 3000kg (braked) towing capacity.

I don't think it matters what type of vehicle it is......towing at the maximum allowed limit of that vehicle is not something that should be encouraged....and anybody that says their vehicle tows at that limit "easily" is dreaming !!

Get a smaller van or get a bigger vehicle !!

woooow
great response!
thanx heaps for ur time guys, really appreciated!!
All in all, within all of these makes and models does anyone know a cheap side of these makes.
Bit low on cash after buying the boat which turned out to be 3.2 ton fully loaded (fuel and water etc etc..).
Something around the $5000 range??
or is this not possible?

thanks again
Bonz

$5 K ? :shocked:

Struth - your boat will take more than that in fuel just to fill it up! ;o)

Tell you what - add $100K to your $5K, and you can have my tow rig - she will pull your boat all day at 100k like it isn't there at about 20liters / 100km's.



When towing you'll get about 1250 kms between fills with the 250 liter long range diesel tank and 146 liters of LPG in the back.

Whats an extra $100K these days - you can't take it with you when you go & he who dies with the most toys wins! ;o)

Ohh and about the 1996 80 seriers cruiser towng capacity upgrade...from 2500 - 3500 kilo's

Well Landcruiser upgraded the size of the front and rear disc rotors and brake calipers / pads in 1996 for the upgraded towing capacity - this is why the wheel rin size indcreased from 15 inch to 16 inch to accomodate the larger disc rotors & calipers!

Also in 1996 the toyota engineers uprated the Hayman Reece drawbar by specifying the same 2 inch solid steel barstock drawbar to match that specified by Nissan engineers for their 4.2 TD patrol which came out with the 3500 kilos tow rating and was killing cruisers in sales volumes for a couple years from about 1994 & 1995 as a result until Toyota re rated the identical Hayman Reece tow hitch that Hayman reece was fitting to their 4.2 TD's.

The only difference prior to that (excluding the smaller breaks) was that the Toyotas had a 2 inch rolled hollow section drawbar inside the hayman reece hitch.

The Hayman REece Hitch part numbers remain identicle today between the pre and post 1996 80 series fixture - only the solid barstock 2 inch insert alteration was made.

Just fitting a solid barstock drawbar doesnt automatically however uprate the pre 96 80 series to 3.5 tonnes because astated already the stopping power isn't as good on the pre 1996 80 series due to smaller disc rotors and break calipers / pads.

You can upgrade the pre 96 80 series to the later larger disc rotors calipers - but you have to upgrade the rims to 16inches to accomodate the changes as well.

Providing you did BOTH alterations the pre '96 80 sereis SHOULD be capable of being ceritified to tow 3500 kilos.

Probably easier to buy a '96 or '97 80 series already rated to tow 3500 kilos but good luck finding one for $5K.

Back when I did the same dumbazzed thing (bought a big boat) - I ended up getting first the '92 80 series for some $26K and doing all the conversions to make it legal to tow the boat - only too find - it wasn't really heavy enough to hold the road well with the boat on the back.

Stiff breezes and passing road trains would push and suck the boat half way across the double white lines into the path of oncomming and overtaking trucks - it was white knuckle driving!

Example 7 hours to tow Perth to Geraldton averaging mybe 75kph!

In the end I bought the F 250 to tow the boat which it does with ease.

B
O
A
T

Break
Out
Another
Thousand $

You'll get used too it!

Cheers

Bonzee, no problems, $5000 will get you a good MQ or a modest GQ Patrol LWB T/D 4.2 or the P40 petrol.

Maybe not as refined as the newer cars but twice as tough.

Dragged a 4280 kg tri-axle trailer and boat from Perth to Derby last year, heavy on fuel and a little slow on some the steeper hills, but had no dramas.

Trailer did have electric brakes but they were playing up, so I disengaged them. Just meant I had to be alert and fully aware how I drove the vehicle.

Having said this, I never did check the towing capacity of the MQ, but the reece hitch did have a plate attached that said 4500 kg.

I think you can get a little too bogged down with legalities, insurance, do's & dont's, etc.

Cheers.....Lionel.

Land Rover Discovery 2 can tow 3,500 kg with a max of 250 kg on the ball. We use ours to tow a van just over 2.5 tonne. Handling, braking and comfort are outstanding, power (standard 4 litre V8 auto) is just adequate, but we upgraded to the 4.6 which is fine. The TD5 is probably better to tow with due to the torque at lower RPM. And no, it doesn't breakdown all the time as some would have you believe.

However, despite loving the Disco, the fact that most big vans we see are towed by LC100s, that would seem to be a bit of a clue as to what is best if you can afford it.

Cheers,

Terry

Nice options guys! the MQ is looking pretty promising.
One more question.
When it comes to the Landcruisers, ive been told that around 96' and up are the landcruisers that fit a 3.5 ton towbar. Is this correct? the 80 series landcruisers???
ive been looking at the HZJ75RP and the HZJ75RV.
Whats the verdict?
thanks again for your time.
much appreciated!