Jayco eagle towing masses

Yeah, I might have to try and find one I can hire or something.

If you don't mind me asking, what is the ATM/GTM and ball weight on your van?? I imagine the Prado has a towing capacity over 2000kg also!

Our car is a new forester and they are rated to 1600 kg with 160 kg ball weight, so I thought it should be fine.

I did hitch up the 2008 eagle and I took it for a run down the street and back and I definitely knew it was there. However the street was only a 800 metre run and was flat. I definitely knew it was there though. The car had no problems towing it, the torque is 320 Nm with power at 170 kW with AWD, so I guess that is not going to be a problem considering it produces loads of torque fairly early.

I would like to see how it handles it on the freeway and other roads, hills etc. One would think that 1300 kg is not a hell of a lot to tow, I am just thinking that the tow ball weight may be very high, perhaps 130 kg plus, but it doesn't make sense.




We were set on the eagle however if I am not comfortable in towing it we might have to go back to looking at the smaller van, which is the Jayco flight, there really is only 3 of us, and we really only want it to sleep in when camping more than anything, plus if we want to take others I guess we can set up the annex.

The flight is around the 800kg and less than 80kg tow ball weight, so would be much easier to tow I imagine... and probably save a bit on fuel too! It would weight no more than 1100 kg fully loaded. I think Jayco made it for smaller cars.

It is a pity they don't make these pop-top style vans lighter, surely they could use more aluminium and drop a good couple of hundred kilos!!!

Thanks for the reply.

James

Can I also suggest setting one up and packing it up as well before you buy, we bought one just before Easter to go away in at Easter, it was painful! Too long to set up for overnighters and an hour to pack up with limited internal storage, also very heavy to tow.
We sold it on the Tuesday after Easter, we had it a whole 3 weeks!

Hi David

I did set it up with the owner, basically undo 4 clips, wind up top, push beds out, put door top on, wind down legs, do up bed end canvas and hook up power, water. This took about 15 minutes max so was alright.

But we didn't do the bed ends or awning. Which I imagine would take another 15 minutes max, depends if you have one or two doing this.

We also packed it back away, which was pretty quick.

We don't travel with a lot of gear too, just small fold out table, a few chairs and portable (round plate) BBQ and a table top two burner. Cooking gear etc would stay in van and be used as required, in cupboards.

3 weeks wow! That's a quick turnaround. What do you use now?? What was your tow vehicle??

Yes, my concern is mainly the weight and stability, though most of our trips are intended weekends or week away at camp grounds within 2-300 km of home. I don't know what other options there are however, other than a camper trailer, which I know though very light take a LONG time to set up, may as well go for a tent!

Maybe the flight is a better option, less space but then we dont needs lots as we will spend most of our time outside, that is the idea of camping for us.

Cheers

James

Hi James,
We ended up buying an Ultimate camper, it's fantastic only takes 5 mins to set up and has internal kithen and lounge. It now opens up the whole country for us to explore rather than just 2x4 tracks. We are towing with a navara stx. The first time we packed up the jayco it was raining and all the bedding and matresses got wet, could not avoid it.
David

James.
Sorry I had camper on my mind from a previous post, but that same info applies for a Pop Top van.
Ozjohn.

OK... So the tow ball mass empty is 13% of the TARE..!!

It just seems that tare + allowable 300 = ATM, which is 1314, which adds up and makes sense. Then ATM - GTM = 131, which is the ball mass, which if that is the case takes into account the payload etc, fully legal loaded. I think that the empty ball mass definition is maybe wrong or misleading!!! Or am I missing something here? The figures all add up, the definition of the ball mass does not make sense!

I understand that allowable 300 includes accessories such as extra canvas gear, poles, gas bottles, jerry cans, food, pots and pans, forks, knives etc, clothes, water, gas, kayak on roof etc, so the actual allowable left over from the 300kg original after a few accessories are added may only be down around 150-200 kg at max!!!!

Add some more gear to that and the tow ball weight could get up around the 150 kg easy, depending on how it is distributed obviously.

That's a lot for a little trailer. That seems like a ridiculous tow ball weight for something so light! It doesnt add up!!!

The term "empty ball mass" does not make sense to me. It calculates from the ATM and GTM to be the fully loaded, or maximum fully loaded ball mass allowed.

The little swift is a smaller van but still has a double and a 1.5 single bed and a table conversion bed too. It still has fridge, sink, stoke, cupboards, dining table, but no lounge (who needs that when you are camping anyhow) and it only has a tow ball weight of 62 kg and weighs 792 kg tare.

I think it is going to be our best option by the looks of it. I will look into it some more in that case as I don't want to kill the car or feel uncomfortable towing up hills or on the freeway.

The swift will be much easier to store in the garage too I guess. It is only 4770mm long in travel mode but is 3750mm when set up.

Thanks for info

James

cool?? sorry not sure what you meant!
James

We have decided to go for something lighter and smaller, The Swift. It has double one side and a 1.5 single the other side. Smaller, lighter, easier to tow with Tare of less than 800 kg and tow ball weight of 61kg. Easier to store in garage also and I should be able to lift the tow end by hand without too much trouble. There is only three of us too, sometimes four, but two of them will be 8 year olds,

I actually saw a mid 2000's model holden commodore sedan towing a swan today, very similar to the eagle, and it was sagging really badly, actually it looked really unsafe to drive with the nose up and tail right down low.

I didn't feel comfortable with the load of the eagle on the rear of the XT.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I am sure some of you have set up s that work with the forester, and yes 1300 kg plus 150 kg tow ball weight is legal and within the allowable for the XT, however it just didnt feel safe and I guess a comment made here makes sense, a tug of 1500 kg towing 1300 or so kg, just doesn't sound safe really! under 1000 kg with a smaller ball weight sounds better.

Cheers

James

James.
The rear of the Holden may have been low, but you have no way of telling what the ball weight was. It could have been anything.
As per my reply to your original question.
"The loaded ball weight will be dertirmined by how you distribute the weight you add to the camper. It will continually alter as you use up water/food etc"
Ozjohn.