Towing advice

[Mark1968 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Mark1968]

Hello,
Looking at doing central australia over the July school holidays. We have fitted out a tandem tradies trailer as a camper. It weighs circa 750kg empty but will probably be 1300-1500kg loaded up with gear for 6 people. My question is I am not sure about towing with my 2016 Prado. Should I just leave it in Drive or should I lock-out 5-6 gears and to do this should I change gears manually up to 4th gear. Any advice much appreciated.
On a different note we are thinking doing the OT slowly from Marla to Maree as part of the trip, anyone attempted it with a trailer or caravan with similar suspension to a trades trailer?

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

I have tried experimenting with the 5th vs 4th scenario. If you don't have an extra transmission cooler I would suggest just putting it in S mode and 4th gear max. I have also noticed that fuel usage is less when towing in 4th vs 5th with the diesel.

Regards
cuda

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

Use S4. This is a direct drive [1/1 ratio.] The auto will use all 4 gears up to 4th by itself. There may be occasions where you can use 5th [ forget 6th] ie downhill or some flats- just select it manually.The handbook says to tow in 4th but in a lot of places 5th works ok so long as the torque convertor is not locking and unlocking and therefore heating up all the time. Oodnadatta track is fine for trailers and vans so long as it is not wet. On dirt don't forget to cover your rear screen to protect it from rocks bouncing off the trailer.

[sweetpea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sweetpea]

Hello,

On a different note we are thinking doing the OT slowly from Marla to Maree as part of the trip, anyone attempted it with a trailer or caravan with similar suspension to a trades trailer?

I've done the Oodnadatta Track several times in both directions towing either a soft floor camper tailer with just leaf springs and a hard floor flip over style camper trailer with leaf springs and shock absorbers.

The soft floor was a bit over 350 KG tare and about 600 KG loaded. The hard floor was about 600 K empty and 850 loaded (surprisingly little storage in the hard floor). The hard floor had electric brakes as required.

The first camper had a tow ball coupling and the second had an articulated Chinese imitation Tregg style. Should be no trouble on the Oodnadatta with just a ball coupling but the trip up through Dalhousie and Mt Dare may have been problematic without the articulated coupling.

Only problem we had with the campers was the stone guard on the front of the hardfloor was not wide enough and the outer edges of the front was completely sand blasted. The shock absorbers also looked like someone had hit them with a shotgun blast and the tubes were quite damaged making them useless although we didn't really notice any difference so at that weight they probably don't do much.

Have a great trip,

S.