Landcruiser Handling
Submitted: Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 12:15
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VDJ76
Has anyone had any handling issues on dirt with their 4 door troopie ? I've just taken
mine to Couburg towing a boat, and wow! what a handfull at 60-80 kph!!
Reply By: Member - Redbakk (WA) - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 12:36
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 12:36
I have a troopy....would be the same underneath and no....she travels very
well and if anything she loves the bush, gravel, beach and sand etc more than the highway.
On good roads like the hotmix freeways she's fine....but on the narrow rutted bitumen she can be unruly at times....I put that down to her rigid
suspension and the way she tracks.....but put her onto gravel or sandy tracks and she is in her element and a pleasure to drive.
I never run the tyres too hard and in some cases I even lower them a bit more if necessary....some say this is no good for the tyres...but I paid for the tyres, not them and I run the tyres to suit me and the conditions I find at the time.
My wife gets motion sickness in soft sprung disco's and pajero's but never in the troopy.
Luv her...or and the wife as
well.... : )
.
AnswerID:
366460
Follow Up By:- Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 12:49
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 12:49
I reckon he might be referring to the front track being 100mm wider than the rear. This isn't the case on the older 6 cylinder models.
Cheers,
Mark.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Crackles - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 13:11
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 13:11
"would be the same underneath "
The 4 door Troopy or 76 wagon is shorter in the wheel base with shorter & lighter duty springs than a regular 2 door Troopy. Combined with the 100mm narrower rear track it doesn't surprise me some are finding they handle funny when towing but it's not a common problem being reported on the Landcruiser sites.
Cheers Craig..........
FollowupID:
634179
Reply By: John L - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 13:39
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 13:39
We have towed a small (1.3 ton) off road van over thousands of kilometres of sand, rough dirt and corrugations with our 76 series wagon without any handling problems.
Could it be the way your boat is loaded?
AnswerID:
366468
Follow Up By: VDJ76 - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 15:06
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 15:06
May have been, although I've dragged the poor old boat quite a few
places behind my 75 loaded similar with no issues .
FollowupID:
634192
Reply By: VDJ76 - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 14:56
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 14:56
The wagon has a 50mm lift and fitted with Mickey MTZ tyres that were inflated to 30 Psi . It was loaded with supplys for a week so had some weight in it plus the tank was full (160 litres), on corners it was skipping around quite a bit (enough for the passenger to mention it ) slowing right down solved some of the problem . My old 75 ute used to corner like on rails, so some fault may lay with me being used to a different ride. Will the different wheel tracks cause it to handle strange ?
Oh ! it was it's first outing on the dirt.
AnswerID:
366475
Follow Up By: John L - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 15:52
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 15:52
I guess it depends what you are used to. Our previous vehicle was a solid front axle 100 series and we don't notice much difference on dirt. The power steering is a lot better on the 76 series.
We have about 140kg draw bar weight. When the front tank in the van is low, draw bar weight lessens and handling becomes a little less precise.
Dont know about the effect of the 2" lift?
Perhaps try more weight in the front of the boat, less in the back
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Follow Up By: VDJ76 - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 18:06
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 18:06
Will give it a go next time.
Thanks
Aaron
FollowupID:
634210
Follow Up By: tim_c - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 23:07
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 23:07
Did you have it in 4WD? I've often found the car will skip around a lot less (particularly on corrugated corners) if you engage 4WD, even if you don't really think you need it for traction.
FollowupID:
634294
Reply By: Gone Bush (WA) - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 16:10
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 16:10
VDJ76,
what sort of handling problems are you experiencing?
I have the TDV8 trayback and it too, has a narrower rear track by some 4 inches.
I'll tell you what I experienced. On its first run we went over to Victoria to pick up our Trakmaster caravan. We brought it
home via all sorts of
places. we were up near
Eulo in QLD on a gravel track, not going fast at all, when the whole thing got out of whack and it felt like the van (2500kg) was trying to push the vehicle into the bush. It was close to jack-knifing. Gave us quite a bit of a scare.
Later that same day we were having lunch off the road and another trayback pulled in but it was the previous model. He came over and during the conversation asked if we had experienced any severe fishtailing becasue a friend of his with the new V8 definitely had, and he put it down to the narrower rear track.
This was too much of a coincidence and if you think about it, and take to to the extreme, if the vehicle was a 3 wheeler with a single rear wheel (the narrowest rear track available) then you can really see how a heavy tow, like a van or boat, could push the vehicle out of plumb.
Anyway, I ended up speaking to Snake Racing about spacers. Can't say if I did or did not go ahead with them because there is a cloud over the legalities.
cheers
AnswerID:
366485
Follow Up By: VDJ76 - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 18:05
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 18:05
Thank you for the explanation of the three wheeler. The penny drop's.
It was sort of drifting from the inside of the corner to the outside giving the impression that if I was aggressive it would fishtail.
Food for thought may have to give Snake Racing a call . Let's say hypothetically you had tried the spacers do you think that they may have helped ?
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 18:36
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 18:36
are you able to post your email address?
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: VDJ76 - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 21:21
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 21:21
jonaaron@bigpond.com
FollowupID:
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Reply By: stevesub - Monday, May 25, 2009 at 07:50
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 07:50
Our standard Troopy 2000 78 series 1Hz non-turbo pop-top camper with 750-16 tyres and all original
suspension is great on gravel roads - over the weekend, we were up to 100kph with no handling problems at all. It handles better than our Rangie on dirt roads and over bumps.
Too much right foot will get you into trouble and a lifted vehicle will also not handle as
well due to a higher centre of gravity.
Stevesub
AnswerID:
366569
Reply By: Foxhound (WA) - Monday, May 25, 2009 at 09:43
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 09:43
VDJ76,,,,I have the same vehicle 76 Series wagon and have also noticed the back end can fishtail at times, particularly on sand or gravel. I put it down to the narrow track on the rear, don`t think there would be anything you could do about it. Now I am aware of it I will just drive accordingly but in all other respects I love the vehicle.
AnswerID:
366584
Reply By: Member - The Crow (QLD) - Monday, May 25, 2009 at 12:12
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 12:12
No Problem with ours. We towed our old van over to the
Kimberley and back with no dramas. We did the GRR with a rooftop camper and it was great handled all the rough stuff with ease. The rear didn't seam to give us any problems maybe because we have an aftermarket
Suspension.
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Thanks for the Rest Flying West and Flying Very Low along the track not coming back. The CrowLifetime Member My Profile My Blog Send Message |
AnswerID:
366602
Reply By: Wherehegon - Monday, May 25, 2009 at 17:50
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 17:50
Makes me wonder why Toyota would do some thing like this with narrower rear end. I went to put new tyres on wifes car the other day and I wanted to go a bit wider instead of the narrow cheese cutters on it now. I only needed two new front ones as the back still ok, He told me your not allowed to put wider tyres on the front they would need to be put on he rear and the rears bought to the front otherwise major handling porblems would be an issue. Wonder by the narrower track on the rear of the new cruisers would this cause the same problem ??? WHG
AnswerID:
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