BELOW ARE JUST SOME OF THE OTHER ENTRIES…
WEIGHT AGAIN
There has been much discussion in respect to
legal weight carrying capacity of 4WDs when
towing caravans. Considering the actual
carrying capacity for each vehicle can vary,
individuals are required to investigate the
weight they can legitimately tow and how
much they can legally carry in their vehicle
while towing.
Add to this that manufacturers have varying
stipulations, unique to the particular model of
vehicle, and it is easy to see why consumers
become confused and often unknowingly
breach load capacities.
Three years ago, I bought a Jeep Grand
Cherokee with a towball capacity of 350kg
and an advertised carrying capacity of
3500kg. I did this in preparation for the
Bushtracker caravan I am having built, which
will have a Tare weight of about 2700kg and
an ATM of 3500kg.
That all sounds good for towing with the
Jeep; however, when I did the calculations, I
found I could only tow 3150kg (GCM minus
GVM) if I was to preserve the 610kg payload
of my vehicle.
I couldn't afford to reduce my vehicle’s
payload, so I was forced to look for another
vehicle. I now own a Land Cruiser 200 Series,
which has an unaffected towball weight of
350kg and a maximum unaffected towing
mass of 3500kg.
In my opinion, although the Land Cruiser
comes close, there does not appear to be an
overall ‘winning’ 4WD tow vehicle in Australia
that meets all the desired characteristics of
size, comfort, towing capacity, payload and
price for the general tourer.
Each vehicle has attributes that frustrates
the purchaser when considering it as a
heavy-duty tow vehicle. I also feel consumers
are inadvertently not being given the full
facts about towing weight capacities by
some car dealers.
In some cases, I have found car salesman are
not even aware of the actual towing
capabilities of the vehicles they are selling.
We need more upfront honesty in making the
consumer aware of 4WD towing capabilities
so that a confident decision can be made when
considering a vehicle for towing purposes.
Andrew Sip