Towing Jayco camper Trailer with 2008 Subaru Forester
Submitted: Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009 at 20:46
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DuncanDonuts
Just a quick post for a point of reference for others who are interested in knowing how the Forester tows.
My Forester is a 2008 (My 2009) XS Premiumwith a stock standard 50mm (2") towbar supplied by Subaru. Its stock standard with no load levelling hitches or anti sway bars fitted. Of course, I had an electric brake controller fitted to the car.
Just did our first trip with our new Jayco Dove camper (offroad model they say approx 1000kg fully loaded - no didn't get it weighed) from
Sydney to the Central Coast of NSW.
Averaged 12 litres/100km (12.40 and 11.80). I drove it using the sequential shift so that I could control which gear the car stayed in on the hills and overtaking. I tried not to rev it past about 4500 rpm seeing that this was my first trip towing the camper. For a point of reference I normally average 8.2 litres/100 km on the freeway and about 10.20 litres/100km around town.
For those of you who know the road to the central coast I managed no less than 90kmh at the top of mooney mooney
hill heading north and 100-110kmh on the
hill up from the hawkesbury river heading back to the city.
Got caught behind some trucks on the
hill out of the hawkesbury heading north and mooney mooney heading south so don't know the speeds I could have achieved. I hope I learn to judge the traffic a bit better when I get a bit more practise so that I don't get caught behind slowing moving trucks. Bit difficult when you have some eejits in the middle and fast lanes doing 100 and not 110kmh as per the limit.
Everything I've read on the subaru and jayco sires indicate that I'm towing
well within the limits of the forester but I must admit that I couldn't find any real info on the web for my situation, hence my post.
I didn't feel that the car and van were effected by passing trucks and yes most of them did pass me (within speed limit of course ;-)l
Besides that, we had a great trip.
Reply By: Best Off Road - Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009 at 21:10
Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009 at 21:10
Well DD,
You've proven the theory that it is not necessary to drive a hulking 4wd to tow.
Those Subies have always been a great vehicle.
You've obviously got a
well balanced vehicle/van combo. That is what it is all about.
Happy travelling,
Jim.
AnswerID:
386050
Follow Up By: DuncanDonuts - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 20:56
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 20:56
Thanx BOR,
Just hope this continues and that we don't have any issues down the track.
I do tend to be a conservative type, so will of course be careful
Cheers
Duncan
FollowupID:
653747
Reply By: PradOz - Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009 at 21:40
Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009 at 21:40
Congrats on your first safe trip.
Just my 2 cents worth - travelling at 110km/h (even 100) will be very hairy when you get the wobbles up (sway). Dont think it cant happen coz it can and theres no warning, just sway and sway and sway etc.
Remember its not a race - not real sure why you are so concerned about needing to keep up or overtake when towing. Experience may change your thoughts one day. Anyway like I said, my 2 cents worth - glad you are having fun
AnswerID:
386057
Follow Up By: DuncanDonuts - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:38
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:38
PradOz, Thanx for the feedback.
I'm not concerned about needing to keep up or overtaking (unless I become a
hazard to others). It was more a point of reference to the towing ability of the subaru (eg speed, revs etc).
I travelled mostly in the slow lane and was mindful of the van getting the wobbles, which is why we only made our first trip a short one, so I could get a good idea of the behaviour of the van under tow. I varied the speed I travelled according to the conditions and traffic around me.
I haven't excluded the need for load levelling or anti sway bars, but there's a distinct lack of real information out there so this trip was also about me trying to determine whether I needed either asap or the van seemed to travel ok without them.
I hope the setup continues to work
well and will further assess on our next trip in Nov up to Sandbar/Forster.
Cheers
Duncan
FollowupID:
653725
Reply By: mintrax - Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009 at 22:36
Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009 at 22:36
Duncan, At a guess your probably quite a bit over limit on the ball weight. I have a late 2008 Forester - latest model and I was limited to a Jayco Finch because of the low ball weight capacity of the Forester.
The Forester has a maximum ball weight of 110kg and the current Finch has an unloaded ball weight of 137kg, so, with gear,
water etc in the camper you would have a ball weight a far bit in excess of that.
Mine is the basic Forester, so maybe the Premium has a higher ball weight capacity but I would doubt it.
Regards
Mintrax
AnswerID:
386065
Follow Up By: mintrax - Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009 at 22:42
Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009 at 22:42
Sorry error in my post...should read "the current Dove has an unloaded ball weight of 137kg"
I guess one of the worries is if you have an accident and they see that you were towing something a long way over the ball limit of the vehicle , there may be problems.
Others may know more about this.
Regards
Mintrax
FollowupID:
653612
Follow Up By: FOZSA - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 13:26
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 13:26
I have an 06 forrester with a dove. Ball weight limit in my manual (the book, not the gearbox) says 140 but a limit of 80kph. Also a requirement for a WDH.
I have a few mods done to my
suspension to help with towing the weight.
From when I was setting
mine up the x and xs have the same limits, the turbo one was higher.
Mine works great for me. gone from
adelaide to
darwin down to
gladstone, now in
cairns. no problem. Done a few gravel roads as
well.
FollowupID:
653677
Follow Up By: mintrax - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 15:08
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 15:08
Hi Forza,
I think I have read about this 140kg ball weight with WDH in 06 manual on here before.
Checked my manual after reading the posting. There is definitely no mention of 140kg with WDH in the 2008-2009 Forester Manual (Much to my disappointment.)
Regards
Mintrax
FollowupID:
653689
Follow Up By: DuncanDonuts - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:52
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:52
The subaru website currently has the towing weight at 1400kg and the ball weight at 140kg for the XS and XT models without the need for a WDH. I made sure of these specs when I looked into buying the Subaru 14 months ago and the van (bought that in July). I don't know if its because of the self levelling rear
suspension or not, but I did look into it. Another issue that pops up is that Subaru have determined that the automatic in my model doesn't need a transmission cooler. I wondered about that too, but can only take Subaru's advice.
BTW - the van is a recently rebuilt older model (rebuilt by person whose job it is to service vans like these) and I was advised that in regarsd to registration, teh van was weighed with all the add ons and
water already in the
tank. I deliberately emptied the
water tank to reduce on travel weight.
The car book makes very little mention of towing requirements/limits apart from tyre pressures. The website appears to have more information
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - greg S (QLD) - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 16:50
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 16:50
Is your Dove camper an outback or an on road version.
The on road has a tare weight of 915kg and the outback has a tare of 1068kg.
The outback has a GVM of 1368kg and a ballweight of 137kg.
300kg is all the weight you are able to take with you.
According to Subarus website all you can tow with a Forester XS Premium is 1400kg.
You might think about getting it weighed as it may surprise you about how much it actually weighs especially when you load it up with 82L of
water (82kg) food in the fridge and all the other gear you may take with you.
AnswerID:
386153
Follow Up By: mintrax - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 18:46
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 18:46
According to the original post it is an off-road version. Whilst I would guess the Forester is close to the limit for towing weight with a loaded Dove, IMO he is way over in relation to the ball weight.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Mark S (cns) - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:36
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:36
minitrax
Ball weight for current model XS premuim forester is 140kg.
forester ball weight on subaru website!
How is he way over the ball weight? Don't know how the camper is loaded, could easily be distributed so that ball weight remains in vicinity of 140kg.
I say in the vicinity, as there are safety factors built into specified allowable weights, i.e a 150kg ball weight will not suddenly break the towbar of the car.
At the end of the day, the loaded allowable camper weight & ball weight falls within the forester specs, therefore legal.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: DuncanDonuts - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:56
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:56
The subaru website currently has the towing weight at 1400kg and the ball weight at 140kg for the XS and XT models without the need for a WDH. I made sure of these specs when I looked into buying the Subaru 14 months ago and the van (bought that in July). I don't know if its because of the self levelling rear
suspension or not, but I did look into it. Another issue that pops up is that Subaru have determined that the automatic in my model doesn't need a transmission cooler. I wondered about that too, but can only take Subaru's advice.
BTW - the van is a recently rebuilt older model (rebuilt by person whose job it is to service vans like these) and I was advised that in regarsd to registration, teh van was weighed with all the add ons and
water already in the
tank. I deliberately emptied the
water tank to reduce on travel weight.
The car book makes very little mention of towing requirements/limits apart from tyre pressures. The website appears to have more information.
I am planning on getting the van weighed for peace of mind, but from what I've been told and the detail on the subaru website, I should be
well within the limits of the cars towing capacity.
Thanx you all for your comments and feedback.
My intention was to add some information on this site to help others make decisions about the suitability of the Forester for towing.
I carefully looking into all of these issues (after much reading) and made sure that I covered them when I bought the car and the van.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: mintrax - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 20:09
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 20:09
I tell you Duncan you could've knocked me over with a feather. I could bet my life on it that when I was looking to buy the 2009 model Forester X 11 months ago. I did tons of checking on the Subaru website relating to ball weight, towing weight etc and it definitely quoted 110kg on the X model.
I am not aware of any changes to the X since I bought it 11 months ago, but the site now quotes 140kg as the max ball weight.
I am now totally confused and apologise for the errors.
BTW The Suby tows my Finch beautifully.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: DuncanDonuts - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 20:55
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 20:55
Mintrax,
You were correct with your original statement.
The general specs on the web for the X model say 1400kg and 140kg ball weight.
But when you look into the specs on the towing option pack, it states there that the X has a lower towing rating as per your original reply.
Easy to get confused and possibly make mistakes too.
Reason why we bought the XS model was because of the extra towing capacity.
Just went back and checked the website and the X Model doesn't have the self levelling
suspension that the XS models do. So I can only assume thats when the X has a lower towing capacity?
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: mintrax - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 22:03
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 22:03
Duncan,
I must be losing the plot here, I can't find anything about a towing option pack. Can you send me the link.
Thanks
Mintrax
FollowupID:
653763
Follow Up By: mintrax - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 22:10
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 22:10
Actually I found it just under towbar. So you look at the specs of an X and it's 140kg. Then you put the tow bar on and it's 110kg!!
Basically the 140kg on the X specs is incorrect and misleading isn't it.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Outa Bounds - Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:42
Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 at 19:42
We had a Forrester the same as you, it seemed to tow our off road camper trailer without any problems, apart from the fact that the trailer had big
wheels and the back of the forrester (tow ball etc) was a bit too low for it.
In the end we sold the camper trailer, financial reasons mostly but also incompatibility with the Forrester.
AnswerID:
386172