turbo 3b max weight towing question (1 Viewer)

[alberta mac]

I will be putting a ct26 into my bj60 with 3b so I can pull a camper trailer through the mountains and am wondering what is the max weight I can tow ?
Will I also be able to tow another cruiser on a trailer if that ever happens ?

 

[CruisinWithDogs]

About 3500lbs max.
, trailer + cruiser on top will be more than 5000lbs, I would not pull that with a cruiser, maybe short distance slow speed with good trailer brake system will be ok but I wouldn't do it..

 

[BEE-JAY42]

Towing capacity is more about stopping than going.

 

[alberta mac]

Cool ! that gives me an idea of a max weight when looking for a trailer camper.
thanks for the replies !

 

[Dougal]

Your safe towing weight will be the same regardless of the engine you've got. As BeeJay42 says it's about stopping which is basically braking and stability. Engine power is more about driver patience.

 

[alberta mac]

I see the importance of braking, here in Calgary the mountains are an hour away and in a cruiser with a 3b and 5 speed, stock tires with no mods the drive without pulling anything can. be slow !
On some parts I'm down to 3rd which is pretty common !
The woman and I have been thinking of purchasing a camper trailer - no pop tents ! As hotel ing and food are the biggest expenses when your off on vacation !
So at this point the turbo is the plan and finding the appropriate trailer & curb weight so that said ...
If anyone has any ideas on a camper trailer please chime in !!!
Thanks
Mac

 

[Lasse]

Here in Norway I am allowed to tow 3500kg trailer if it has brakes but only 400kg without brakes.
We have a lot of mountain, hills and twisty roads. My hj60 has great brakes with a proper adjusted LSPV and I feel that I can tow that weight safely. Of course driving carefully and always considering and thinking of my total weight when braking, cornering and picking a line far behind the next car on the road.
Towing with my hj60 are slow and sometime a pain.
My hj61 with a lift and not yet correctly sat LSPV and big tires are way harder to brake and control with a big and heavy trailer, but boy is it fast and powerful up those hills and twisty mountain roads. With my hj60 I never experience any overheating problems, it goes slow and steady, my tuned hj61 on the other hand I need to watch a bit on the hills towing or it will overheating. About time to install an intercooler

Hope this is somewhat helpful

 

[gerg]

I've towed quite a bit with a turbo bj60 and the max tow limit is 3500lbs but have gone up to 5200 before. Not a fun ride. I live in bc and ran the flats at 90kmh in 4th to avoid stressing 5th gear out and recomend you absolutely have good trailer brakes. Depending where the axle sits, load levellers and sway bars can make it much more stable. A good turbo and coolant system are required as you will be maxing that little engine out all the time. I personally think a ct26 will respond sluggish and won't boost properly as its a huge turbo. You need a properly matched turbo especially when towing as you need a wide operating window of boost, otherwise your going to hate it shifting on the hills and might be in 2nd a lot.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I've done lots of towing the last three years (LJ78 and 16' camper trailer). In addition to everything mentioned above, I'd like to add that a good cooling system is really important. Turbo IDI diesels make a ton of heat when they are maxed out for long periods of time while towing up long hills. Slowing down helps, but sometimes not enough. Gerg and I both run Evans waterless coolant. I highly recommend it. Will give you some peace of mind when your motor gets real hot (which it will if you tow in summer).

 

[Dieseler]

Owners manual for fj62 which I assume is the same for the earlier 60 models as 3500lbs max and over 2000lbs or (900 kgs) it is necessary to use a sway control device.
I would suggest electric brakes on the trailer this may help to stop you when your cruiser brakes crap out from over heating.
It says not to exceed 45 mph which I think would not be obtainable with a 3B on any uphill grade.
It does not mention tongue weight capacity but I would assume it to be 200 lbs which seems to be standard on most standard hitches.
The manual suggests our Cruisers are primarily a passenger and load carrying vehicle and is vague towards a towing vehicle with lots of warnings.
One word of caution make sure your frame is in A-one condition I just discovered on my Cruiser the rear frame was not as structurally sound as I thought it was even though the trailer hitch was in perfect condition and I have been hauling a 3500 GVW trailer for my 2 ATVs average weight with 2 ATVs and trailer was 2000lbs

 

[Lasse]

I would guess that an atumatic are far less happy to tow than a manual transmission. If you do have automatic, watch out for transmission temperature. It might be a good thing to install a trans cooler.
My 60 cruiser's are both allowed to tow 3500kg legally and both have diesel engines and h55f manual transmission.
That said, I do not recommend an emergency braking with a 3500kg trailer on the hitch.

 

[Dougal]

I would guess that an atumatic are far less happy to tow than a manual transmission. If you do have automatic, watch out for transmission temperature. It might be a good thing to install a trans cooler.
My 60 cruiser's are both allowed to tow 3500kg legally and both have diesel engines and h55f manual transmission.
That said, I do not recommend an emergency braking with a 3500kg trailer on the hitch.

It seems to be quite common for vehicles sold in the US & Canada to have a much lower tow rating than elsewhere in the world. I don't think it's because they consider their use more extreme, I think it's to limit liability.

 

[gerg]

So I've towed 5000lbs with my bj60 turbo and I can tell ya that you feel it and it's not a super cozy ride. I can't imagine adding half again as much weight (3500kg). Now that is a serous trailer. On the flats it wouldn't be too bad, but we have mountains here much like in Norway and Newzealand. It's doable, but would be extremely slow to say the least. That's a little too crazy for me, and I'm use to doing crazy stuff regularly.
g

 

[AJAEbj42]

Towing towards the mountains will also have some serious head winds along highway 1.

I would tow as light as possible, like a Boler or something in the sub- 2000lb range. Just my $0.02 worth.

I might tow another cruiser on a flat deck home at 50km/h but certainly not long distances. The '42 is a short wheel-base vehicle which doesn't stop well to begin with.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I don't think I'd tow any more than 3500lb with any cruiser (except the 100 or 200 series). My trailer ends up around 3500lb when loaded, and tows pretty comfortably. Never feels like the trailer is in control. A rule of thumb from the UK is never let the trailer weight exceed 85% the weight of the tow vehicle. I think that is about right.

 

[Dougal]

I don't think I'd tow any more than 3500lb with any cruiser (except the 100 or 200 series). My trailer ends up around 3500lb when loaded, and tows pretty comfortably. Never feels like the trailer is in control. A rule of thumb from the UK is never let the trailer weight exceed 85% the weight of the tow vehicle. I think that is about right.

Rules of thumb are only useful in the absence of real information.

Most land cruisers in the rest of the world had either 2500kg or 3500kg tow ratings. But without a braked trailer usually less than a ton.

In Australia and NZ they bumped the 80 series tow rating from 2.5 to 3.5 ton to match the competition. Landrover has had 3.5+ ton ratings forever. One of mine states 4 ton in the owners handbook but they reduced to 3500kg in later years.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Rules of thumb are only useful in the absence of real information.

Most land cruisers in the rest of the world had either 2500kg or 3500kg tow ratings. But without a braked trailer usually less than a ton.

In Australia and NZ they bumped the 80 series tow rating from 2.5 to 3.5 ton to match the competition. Landrover has had 3.5+ ton ratings forever. One of mine states 4 ton in the owners handbook but they reduced to 3500kg in later years.

Perhaps, but the original poster is getting real world experience in this thread from people with similar/same vehicles that tow in the same conditions. There is a lot of weight to that; especially compared to paper ratings created to match the competition.

In my mind the physics of towing a trailer heavier than the tow vehicle (with hitch behind the rear axle) is pretty simple. Stability and control is compromised and in an emergency, the heavier mass wins. Put the hitch in front of the rear axle (only possible on pick-up trucks or commercial tractors), and a much heavier trailer is very possible with great stability and control. This is all really redundant anyhow, as we are talking a 150hp engine here (turbo 3B), which will be the limiting factor in this case regardless.

 

[gerg]

So I only know that here if you go above your rated tow weight and get in an accident our monopoly insurance agency will not cover you, in BC anyhow. They will even try and deny you coverage on maintenace issues if they can. It's also tuff as we live in super big pickup country with 8000lb gigantic pickups that can tow 10000 trailers up 6% grades at 120kmh, so there isn't a lot of forgiveness for a 150hp cruisers, and that's being extremely generous, doing 50kmh up the same hill. This is especially true on our secondary roads which are all only two lanes. Lots of talk here about trailer brakes helping... I towed once without brakes and will never do it again, and that trailer was only 3000lbs. I'd tow ginormous weights with my 3b on the flats, but it's the hills that make it nasty.
g

 

[Dougal]

Perhaps, but the original poster is getting real world experience in this thread from people with similar/same vehicles that tow in the same conditions. There is a lot of weight to that; especially compared to paper ratings created to match the competition.

In my mind the physics of towing a trailer heavier than the tow vehicle (with hitch behind the rear axle) is pretty simple. Stability and control is compromised and in an emergency, the heavier mass wins. Put the hitch in front of the rear axle (only possible on pick-up trucks or commercial tractors), and a much heavier trailer is very possible with great stability and control. This is all really redundant anyhow, as we are talking a 150hp engine here (turbo 3B), which will be the limiting factor in this case regardless.

You do realise that 85% rule of thumb rules out every heavy vehicle in the world? So it's kind of impossible to justify. 85% of a 2T vehicle leaves you at 1700kg. My 4wd car is legally and safely allowed to tow that much on a braked trailer.

Here we have 8T tractor tucks towing 44T gross all day. Our steepest roads (mountain passes) hit 17% slope and towing speed limit is 90km/h. The max weight allowed on the tractor axles is 20T (8T single front axle, 12T for a tandem axle set).

The physics are simple: The trailer needs to have it's own brakes. Unbraked tow limits are usually less than half the vehicle weight. Sometimes as little as 400kg and many trailers can weigh more than that empty!

Real world experience: I have towed 3-3.5T myself several times (2-2.5T vehicle on 1T trailer) without issues but that's not a LC. The last time I towed that much the trailer had electric brakes and I found out afterwards the wires had broken during the trip were only working on one wheel. It was a hired trailer.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

OK, I don't want to start an arguement and ruin the value of this thread. It's clear you did not even completely read what I wrote. However I will just point out that the 85% figure is from a caravan owners club in the UK, so is specific to passenger vehicles towing camper trailers (which this thread is about). It is just a rule of thumb, nothing more. To me it makes sense. I'm done.