Safe Towing Capacity

[amcordo]

Hi!

So I need some guestimates... I've got my truck that has an alright frame (alright meaning some small holes in a few spots that I'm going to weld up, but otherwise the frame passes the hammer test). I've got an original transmission, so ignore the fact that I've got a more powerful motor - the power it has is limited by the capacity of the transmission which was just strong enough for the original engine.

What's a reasonable expectation for towing a boat? I need to find a matching boat for it and don't want to get carried away...

[LR Max]

I used to tow a Nissan 240sx on a full trailer. Towed a Honda CRX and RX-7 with a tow dolly on a regular basis for a while.

My 109 has a healthy 2.25 gasser. I was fine as long as I had plenty of braking room and wasn't expecting to go above 50 mph. But then again my towing was around town.

Oh, make sure your parking brake is in REALLY good condition . TRUST ME on that.

[amcordo]

I used to tow a Nissan 240sx on a full trailer. Towed a Honda CRX and RX-7 with a tow dolly on a regular basis for a while.

My 109 has a healthy 2.25 gasser. I was fine as long as I had plenty of braking room and wasn't expecting to go above 50 mph. But then again my towing was around town.

Oh, make sure your parking brake is in REALLY good condition . TRUST ME on that.

Yeah my parking break doesn't work.

[Wander]

Don't forget to factor tongue wieght and it's effect on the rear springs. You should be fine as the springs are stiff but if they are worn or damaged and you have a heavy tongue weight that will cause a bad sag on the rear. What type of boat do you have in mind? Unless you are looking for something large or a sailboat with a heavy keel you will be well under 5K in weight and mostly likely under 3500lb which should be a problem to tow-but stopping it might be a bigger issue. Something in the 18 foot center console or 20 foot or less family runabout should be pretty easy to trailer. I would suggest a classic Boston Whaler Montauk, that would look just right behind the Landy!

You should add a tranny cooler if you will be towing any distance. Not to be a spoiler but if the water isn't very close by your boat won't see much use and you'll have more problems with it. I used to have a nice old sailboat on a lake in SC. It was about 40min from my house which doens't sound like much but in reality it meant you needed a full day to go out and those free full days where few and far between so it mostly floated on it's mooring. I sold it 2 years later and since it was an old sailboat it was cheap to buy and cheap to keep, I sold it for what I paid for it so no loss. Power boats are a different matter-those engines are expensive and unless they are used often, they can be trouble. I do miss my boat sometimes but unless I get lucky and can find a place on the water so my boat is on my dock and easy to get to, I won't get another.

[printjunky]

+1 on the Montauk. or any of the variants. (aunder 2,000 lbs fully loaded)

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/16-17/models.html

Or for bluewater, switch up to the Outrage, which will put you, fully loaded, a little over 3,000 lbs, I'd guess.

[scott]

not that the military entities are exempt from having stupid systems... but a sankey wide track wieghs 1100 lbs and has a capacity to carry 1500 for a total of 2600 lbs and these were drug around with 109s w/ 2.25s. now the sanks do have inertia brakes so don't get a boat & trailer near 2600 lbs without some kind of additional breaking system

[NickDawson]

Have had no problems towing a 19 foot "bay runner" boat with my 88. Tranny gets hot, so make sure its got plenty of clean oil in it.

Braking distances are exaggerated as is acceleration. I ended up on a very steep city street, on a hill at the top of a red light. Some bozo pulled up right behind my boat... needless to say that was an tricky start involving the e-brake and some quick foot work.

I had it on the highway around 55mph, and wouldn't want to do that for too long

[LR Max]

You should add a tranny cooler if you will be towing any distance.

My Transmission always seems hot. How does one put a cooler on a manual transmission? I've never seen one. If you have, please elaborate!

[Wander]

My Transmission always seems hot. How does one put a cooler on a manual transmission? I've never seen one. If you have, please elaborate!

Ah...sorry I was thinking about towing my old boat-which I did with a HD Silverado that had an auto tranny. In theory the gear oil in an manual tranny should prevent the need for a aux cooler and air cooling should be enough to keep it in a good operating range. The only way to set up a cooler on a manual is to run plumbing with a pump to and from the tranny through the cooler and you would have to use much lighter oil so that it would flow freely. Race cars use this type system but they also see MUCH higher speeds. Now that I'm awake, you shouldn't need a aux cooler in a manual tranny even if your towing a boat that isn't too heavy for your set up. If your tranny is running hot you might want to check to see if you have a lot of mud/gunk on it (it used surface area for air cooling which is why there are fins along the side) and/or change the gear oil.

Hey Nick, I think I would have told the guy to go around in that situation-good job not putting a prop blade in his radiator!

[NickDawson]

My Transmission always seems hot. How does one put a cooler on a manual transmission? I've never seen one. If you have, please elaborate!

Now I'm tempted to build a dry ice cooler for long hauls...
It would have the added benefit of disguising the smoke that already comes out of the truck

[LR Max]

Nick,

Ok. I'm on the same page as you. My Chebby 1/2 ton has a trans cooler, better believe it!!

I bet if I wrapped the exhaust some more, past the drivers seat would help with heat. Its hard to dissipate heat in an area that is already hot.

[amcordo]

You should add a tranny cooler if you will be towing any distance. Not to be a spoiler but if the water isn't very close by your boat won't see much use and you'll have more problems with it. I used to have a nice old sailboat on a lake in SC. It was about 40min from my house which doens't sound like much but in reality it meant you needed a full day to go out and those free full days where few and far between so it mostly floated on it's mooring. I sold it 2 years later and since it was an old sailboat it was cheap to buy and cheap to keep, I sold it for what I paid for it so no loss. Power boats are a different matter-those engines are expensive and unless they are used often, they can be trouble. I do miss my boat sometimes but unless I get lucky and can find a place on the water so my boat is on my dock and easy to get to, I won't get another.

This was very insightful. I told my GF I want a boat. She's not amused - she knows how much time I spend on the rover and doesn't want to lose me to a third love.

Maybe I'm rethinking this, though; I'm about 40 minutes from the water.

[amcordo]

+1 on the Montauk. or any of the variants. (aunder 2,000 lbs fully loaded)

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/16-17/models.html

Or for bluewater, switch up to the Outrage, which will put you, fully loaded, a little over 3,000 lbs, I'd guess.

Something in the 18 foot center console or 20 foot or less family runabout should be pretty easy to trailer. I would suggest a classic Boston Whaler Montauk, that would look just right behind the Landy!

Awesome suggestions! I like the look!

[Wander]

Not to spoil your enthusiasm Tony but the old saying that to the two best days of boat ownership are when you buy and when you sell it isn't just a joke.

I am a major boat fan-love nothing more than being on the water but if it something that has a reoccuring cost it can kill the fun pretty quick. Something like an small center console is great because it lives on a trailer, not at a dock so there isn't a monthly fee to park it but you have to use it often, boats don't like being dry and those outboards need to run. A Whaler is a classic and has some of the prettiest lines, becareful about what you buy and be sure to take a boating safety course if/when you do find one. Others with the look of a Whaler and similar build quality, but a little better price; Wahoo, McKee Craft, Dusky, Scout

[yorker]

My Transmission always seems hot. How does one put a cooler on a manual transmission? I've never seen one. If you have, please elaborate!

Ha!

The military Land Rovers 110 etc withthe R380 have a tranny cooler IIRC but that doesn't help us here does it?

With these things what you can tow and what you should tow are ofetn very different things, I've seen some people tow some really stupid stuff with their LRs over the years.

THis topic always makes for fun reading on the UK boards:

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f6/towing-capacity-series-3-a-87728.html

http://forum.landrovernet.com/showthread.php/131746-Landrover-109-towing-weight

http://forum.landrovernet.com/showthread.php/120725-Legal-Towing-Capacity-Of-A-S11a-S-w-b

http://ollr.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=196846&sid=7c677dc719b2653e2af15780544f3eee