towing far too much

rob83ke70 · Post by **rob83ke70** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 9:31 am

Hey
Just wondering, If I was to put a ej20t or a ez30 into my L series sportswagon, do you think I could beef the towbar (and brakes) up enough to tow a car trailer with a car on it on a regular basis? or is this asking too much of the chassis? Just an idea anyway.

Robert

jim · Post by **jim** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:18 am

more load = more wear on everything, the old VL comodores used to twist in the back end when they were used for towing, i doubt the car would like that sort of loading your talking about, diesels are far better for that job

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:31 am

im gonna say to much for a regular basis.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:33 am

no, absolutely not.
Yes it puts more wear on things but the main point is safety.
The amount of engine power your car possesses has almost nothing to do with it's ability to tow safely. (and that doesn't mean you can fill it up with bags of cement to compensate!).
The overall weight of your car is what counts. A large landcruiser for instance is going to be quite a bit heavier that the car trailer with a car on it. It's brakes and suspension are already designed for the weight. This means it will hold the road no matter what the trailer tries to do to it.
If the thing you are towing is heavier than your vehicle, then all it takes is the trailer to build a little momentum just at the wrong point and suddenly you are a passenger.
It happened to us very recently after stupidly overloading a trailer. It resulted in a completely totalled car (after it slammed into a 42 wheel semi) and a very near death experience for the Mrs.

Yeah, at Matt says way too much for a regular basis.

That being said, I've towed a car on a car trailer a few times with my EJ20turbo wagon, but if I can borrow a large 4x4 I'll do that in preference. It's a dicey operation and one you shouldn't do unless you are pretty experienced towing and very very careful.

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:38 am

what is said above is true. but please dont let that stop you from doing a conversion

vlad13 · Post by **vlad13** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:50 am

I don't know about the chassis, I towed a few trailers included furniture to melburne and back and a car on trailer on my MY leone, I would say the problem would be the brakes, they are really bad and I suspect the disks would suffer from fade as well. They might even crack or suffer some failure, which I'm sure you do not want.

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:15 pm

The thumb rule is... you shouldnt be towing anything more than the total weight of your car!, that includes the trailer itself & object on the trailer.

I don't think the body of L series would be strong enough for that>
Cheers
AP

rob83ke70 · Post by **rob83ke70** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:43 pm

Thats what I thought.

The brakes aren't much chop as they are anyway, I made the mistake of putting lucas trw brake pads on it before I knew what they were.... WORST BRAKE PADS EVER INVENTED!!!

I have since had to machine my rotors, and they are warped again almost straight away. it took over 100km to bed the brakes in properly, and they felt like crap during that time and wouldn't pull the car up ok, and about every two weeks my white wheels are black covered in brake dust worse than a vectra or saab..

Robert.

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:45 pm

Look up the GVM for your L series, then minus the weight of your car, and thats the maximum load you can carry, from memory, about 450kg

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:16 pm

Suparoo wrote:Look up the GVM for your L series, then minus the weight of your car, and thats the maximum load you can carry, from memory, about 450kg

Which pretty much allows you to carry a bag or two of cement in a 6x4 trailer

I'd be looking for something larger (read heavier) to regularly tow with. I've recently seen the cops around here drag a fella to the weigh bridge to check out the load on his 4x4 + tandem trailer (3 pallets of 'stuff'). The bullbar was higher than the bonnet. I've seen the same bloke since carrying 1 pallet on the 4x4 only.

You've gotta think about yourself and ultimately others that use the road as you'll effect them as well if there's a problem in braking and anyone is in firing line...

I also back what AndrewT was saying.

Cheers

Bennie

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:30 pm

Suparoo wrote:Look up the GVM for your L series, then minus the weight of your car, and thats the maximum load you can carry, from memory, about 450kg

thats the PAYLOAD not the TOWING weight.

PAYLOAD - being how much weight can be put into the car 'legally'

GCM is what would help you find out what you can tow

Subyroo · Post by **Subyroo** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 11:10 am

AndrewT wrote:The overall weight of your car is what counts. A large landcruiser for instance is going to be quite a bit heavier that the car trailer with a car on it. It's brakes and suspension are already designed for the weight. This means it will hold the road no matter what the trailer tries to do to it.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:01 pm

Yeah well perhaps not no matter what, but at least what would happen in most normal situations.
For example if you get the speed wobbles in a trailer way overweight for an L series then you will almost definitely spin out. In a large 4x4 it will still hold the road.