Landrover Discovery

I can only remember two off the BOG, towing with Discos...
"Landy" I believe is happy towing a 19', and "Bogged Mick" with an 18'....

Among those not on the Internet, or not computer literate, or not on the BOG: I can tell you we have quite a number happy towing the 18', and a collection of Rave Reviews on the Disco, but from memory most are doing it in 18'...

20' behind a Disco is a rarity for some reason, I can only think of one, with children, and they are not traveling anymore, back in the system.. We know of one other, gone years ago, but cannot think of the name.. It is rare.. I know that the New Disco with the Diesel V-6, has more power and longer wheelbase and almost all ratings better than the Landcruiser now, but I cannot think of anyone off-hand that could give a current report on towing with a 20'.. You might have to wing it a bit on this one and Pioneer the first report for the Record... Sorry I cannot help more..

If you are patient, when "Landy" sees this, he might tell you how he is going with a fairly loaded 19' and that is probably about as close to an actual, as you are going to get...

Kind Regards from the Lone Ranger....

Hi

I have a friend with another brand of offroad van (19' external) towing it with a V8 Disco II and he is not very happy with the stability of the Landy in that the van can push the Landy around. He is currently saving up for a Cruiser.

With Da Rangers expansive info on the pro's of a F250 being a safer tow vehicle than a Cruiser etc I suspect it would be the same for a Landy compared to Cruiser etc - ie the Landy has a much shorter wheelbase.

I'm sure the Landy will pull the van but will it do it safely to you and other road users ??

Cheers

Darryl
Brisbane

OK Steve

I was talking about the superceded Disco - D2. I agree the D3 looks great on paper with wheelbase , power etc etc.

Cheers

Darryl
Brisbane

Jim,

I have a feeling you may have problem with the legal towing capacity of the Discovery. I may be off track here but I seem to recall that whilst the tow capacity is around 3-4,000kg, there is a limitation on ball weight. Theoretically, ball weight should be 8-10% of the weight of the van and if you reverse this calculation the the maximum weight you can tow is say, 10 times the maximum ball weight allowable.

I have a feeling that the ball wight for the Discovery is around 200kg which means the maximum towing load is around 2,000kg.

As I said, I seem to recall this discussion in relation to Discovery's but can't remember where.

Might be worth looking at the specs and seeing what the maximum allowable ball weight is

Jim,

I have now done about 50 000 km towing an 18 footer with our Disco TD5.

Motley is correct in alluding to the limited ball weight on the Disco II which is 250 kg. The maximum towing load is 3.5 tonnes which gives you a 7% of caravan weight on the ball at the maximum. Some people would say this is on the lower end of satisfactory ball weight but I understand that others consider it acceptable (obviously Landrover). I am not aware of any upgrades to increase capacity of the vehicle legally.

My Bushtracker has a tare weight of 2.4 tonne and loaded approximately 3.0 tonne which means it is heavier than the loaded Disco. My Disco (2002 auto) has the self levelling air suspension which has proven to be very durable - I have had no need for suspension upgrades.

I agree with all the arguments about the longer wheelbase, heavier vehicle being better for towing. However for a number of reasons including the desire to have only one vehicle which can tow and be used around town I have found the Disco to be a very satisfactory vehicle.

I have progressed through a number of towing aids to reduce instablility and improve the road handling. I started with none and progressed through the Hayman Reece anti sway brake to HR load levelers to the heavy duty HR anti sway attachments which work with the load levelers. This final arrangement has virtually eliminated any effect of overtaking trucks (a good indication of vehicle stability) and I am very happy with the arrangement. Along the way I installed a HR towbar as the standard Landrover towbar cannot handle the torque applied by the HR load levelers.

I have had a transmission temperature gauge fitted after "doing" an automatic transmission. I found out that the high temperature warning light for the transmission (which never activated) only activates when the temperature reaches 130 degrees C. With mineral oil at this temperature I am told the damage is already done. I now use synthetic oil in the transmission and have installed extra transmission cooling capacity. The temperature gauge is fantastic as you can immediately get an indication of the work level of the transmission. For example leaving it in Drive on gravel roads when travelling at 60-70 kph sees the temperature rise as the torque converter is unlocked and the gearbox hunts for gears.

The economy of the TD5 diesel is outstanding - we travel at 90 kph and achieved 17 l/100 km in a 25000km trip around the block which included significant dirt road sections. We have maintained this economy even on trips which have included substantially more dirt roads.

As to whether the Disco would be happy with a 20 footer my view would be that you would struggle. I think we are on the limit of the vehicles capacity for long term longevity and would suspect that a heavier caravan would see reduced life of some components.

My two cents worth!

Mick