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Just wondering what kind of trailer weights people are pulling with their series Landrovers. I move a 7000lb dump trailer and a 14000lb goose around on the front hitch but have never actually towed anything heavy with it from the rear and wondering how the Landrover behaves with weight on the rear hitch. I'm think about changing to parabolic springs but not sure yet if they could handle the weights. Comments??
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1971 series 2a 88, series 3 trans, Fairey OD, owned since 1978. -
My factory hitch, which is the 52mm ball with built in pin, has a rating of 3,500kg or 7,700 lbs. The most I've towed is about 4,500 pounds. My 88" with 2.25 struggles to pull that much weight up steep mountain hills. Get up to 45-50 on the down hill and brakes become an issue, not running trailer brakes. I have the stock springs, they are 10 or 12 leaf. The chassis seems to hold the weight well it's the acceleration and braking that is lacking. -
That is interesting to note that the factory hitch is rated at 3500kg I didn't know that, if the factory installed a hitch with that rating they must have expected people to use it as rated and that is comforting to know, that is more than I expected TBH. My 2 inch receiver is bolted to the rear frame member which is new and carries through to the front side and then across from frame rail to frame rail so I have no doubt it can handle the hitch weight. Electric brakes are required on any trailer over 2000lbs here so all mine have them on all axles and I recently wired a 7 pin plug into the rear of the Landrover for towing. My rear springs have had a thicker extra leaf added many years ago but they are getting tired and perhaps it's time for parabolic springs. I hear what you are saying about acceleration or lack of it, the 2 1/4 L gas engine struggles without a load. Anyone else that tows with their Landrover?1971 series 2a 88, series 3 trans, Fairey OD, owned since 1978.Comment
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i tow with mine all the time, but never a huge load really. i just haul stuff to the dump, but i do it often.
i have towed some very heavy loads a couple of times. I couldn't really guess at how much most of my loads weigh, but i have towed a boat with a dry weight of about 1700 lbs. It towed fine, but i was a bit nervous, and wouldn't want to take it down the highway or anything. The engine struggles, and the brakes struggle once you do finally get up to speed. Down country roads with limited speed is fine.
I would not want to tow more than about 2000 lbs just based on the one time i towed the boat.Comment
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I don't know what the weight is but I've towed 2 cu yds of wet mulch just not very fast.
JimComment
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I tow a 22" boat back and forth to a boatyard from my house twice a year - 5 miles each way. Total weight is about 4,000 lb.
The experience? I don't recommend it; Very squirrelly, to say the least. My stock engine is new and it struggles big time on the hills.
Surprisingly, the brakes do pretty well.Comment
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Hitch rating and vehicle rating are two very different things. I have a 2" ball rated at 6000lbs on the hitch of my Toyota matrix. But I can bet the car isn't rated for anything close to that. The data plate on my ser III 88 says 2 tons and refer to the owners manual.
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The whole idea of towing 7700lbs in a series with drum brakes might qualify for a Darwin award.
D1's were only ok with that weight in low range on road!Comment
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I have been doing some research and found these figures in quite a few places.
Max. Permissible Towing Weights On-road Off -road
kg lb kg lb
Trailers without brakes 500 1100 500 1100
Trailers with over-run brakes 2000 4400 1000 2200
4-wheel trailers with continuous 3500 7700 1000 2200
or semi-continuous brakes, i.e.
coupled brakes
As you can see the difference from a boat trailer with surge/over run brakes is vastly different to a 4 wheel tandem axle trailer with electric brakes. Such a trailer is equipped with brakes capable of being applied independently or in conjunction with the vehicle brakes and are capable of stopping the trailer by itself so the Landrover just has to stop it's own weight.
I have searched for a data plate with such numbers on mine but one doesn't exist and there is no evidence of one ever being installed. Does anyone have an owners manual they could read the data from?1971 series 2a 88, series 3 trans, Fairey OD, owned since 1978.Comment
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What Arlow said.
In some jurisdictions, Land Rovers are rated up to 4000kg, but the rating includes a braked trailer from 750kg. That is because the vehicles are designed from new to pull that much weight, but a 30-50 year old vehicle will not perform the same as a new one.
Will it pull it? How long is a piece of string? Will it stop? How many knots can you tie in the string?
The high ratings are expressed for farm machinery and the like (short distances). Heavy loads over long distances are only recommended for LWB vehicles, while SWB vehicles will cope on short pulls. If you dig up an old owners' manual, you will see diagrams that illustrate these.
The hitch itself may not be rated to pull the capacity of the vehicle, and 750kg limits are common for domestic (family car) vehicles. Even a rated coupling may not be fit to pull to the capacity described in the plate, especially if it too is 30-50 years old. For example, bolts may become rusted or weakened from pulling or recovery snatches.
Parabolics of the right type are perfectly fine for towing with: very large trucks commonly have parabolics on them. From those I have seen/heard with parabolics and use their vehicle to tow withComment
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Oops, let's try that again:
Parabolics of the right type are perfectly fine for towing with: very large trucks commonly have parabolics on them. From those I have seen/heard with parabolics and use their vehicle to tow with, they recommend and use the heavy duty spring combinations (three leaves IIRC) but standard duty springs will compress too much. If you experience lateral movement, then you have other problems to address.Comment
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