What do you tow with your 120 with 1kz motor

[Dabeanian Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dabeanian]

Hi Boys,
Just wondering what weight you tow with your Prado 120 with 1kz motor and have you done any engine mods to improve your towing. ,exhaust, module,or chip, looking to upgrade my caravan so could go close to the 2.5 tonne don't have much confidence pulling that weight and the diesel I would use, also thinking of my engine, auto 4 speed with fitted cooler,
Thanks Alan.

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

I have a manual 1KZ and tow this Jayco Expanda 12.5ft weighing about 1300kg. It happily plods along at 100km and has a built in radar that can detect a hill which will then require a drop back to 4th or 3rd gear. I have no performance enhancements fitted but as the car has now done 215km ,I am about to do injectors service and clutch ,which I hope will give it a new burst of life and a little better fuel consumption. I have thought about the chip and exhaust path but for now I will keep it simple. Overall this Prado is only a occasional drive as we have wife car and work ute and so used mainly for tows with not only the Jayco but also the firewood trailer and also a tool trailer when needed. One day I may upgrade to a newer D4D but for now it is adequate.

[adrian5800 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close adrian5800]

I tow a ~850kg camper with mine and when loaded up to go away it's moderately more than that. I haven't put my setup onto a weighbridge but the GCM of a 120 is 5400kg (2900kg GVM + 2500kg towing capacity) and I am no where near that figure.
You can probably see from my signature that I have a few mods to improve towing performance. The chip was pretty much first but the addition of the 2 3/4" exhaust plus the chip made the most improvement. I drive a standard D4D Hilux for work and TBH if it was the same mass the Prado would sh!t all over it pulling up hills (apart from the fact the Hilux is a slush box - bleh!)

For towing you can't beat a diesel due to the torque and having a 1KZ is piece of mind compared to all the dramas involved with owning a 1KD common rail. Maintain a 1KZ properly and you can easily get over 1/2 million km out of it.

Ades

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Sister and brother in law towed a Kedron XC3 right around Australia for 34 weeks last year. Caravan would have been all of 2500 kg +. 2004 TD with the 4 sp auto.
The car was sold just before Christmas with 350000km. Traded for a LC200.

Rusty.

I wouldn't do it but they had a good time.

[johna Member Find all posts View Profile Close johna]

Have the 2003 1kz and towed a Jayco Heritage 2 1/2 tonne all over Aust, for 10 years. Van did 100,000 klms and 1KZ has 204,000 and still going as good as the day we bought it new. Only mod is a chip which is NOT set to flog the motor, and the fuel economy and power are better. Great motor and not a slug as some try to infer )

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Great motor and not a slug as some try to infer )

I totally agree with that. I went from a 2.8TD Rodeo to my 20051kz Prado and I thought it was like a rocket ship compared to the Rodeo, which really was gutless.

I towed my approx. 1100kg camper all over the country without issue but only towed a heavy load once, car on a car trailer that would have been around the 2.5 tonne mark, had 5 adults in the Prado at the time and travelled 400 odd kms including up the hills on the South Eastern Freeway into Adelaide and it did it comfortably.

Cheers Andrew

[macaroon1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close macaroon1]

03 1KZ 4 spd auto. Just pulled 1.22t of soil to the tip with a <750kg trailer. Was never going to Chip it but just did (Steinbauer).... but like johna it's not set to flog it as want to keep car long term. 2/3" aftermarket exhaust certainty helps get the hot air out! My Driveway is very steep but low range helped. Great motor, really don't want the hassle of the CRD motor...just have not got the time or money ...atm.. but yes there is easy >2K of enhancements here.

[Dabeanian Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dabeanian]

Thanks for the prompt replys boys , mine is 06 with 195###ks , do like it and dont want to swop it really sounds like an exhaust and chip might be the go to make me hang on to my Prado, like the idea of setting the chip not to flog the engine , is that an option when getting fitted or a discussion with the fitter ? Or is it not a problem doing yourselfe,think I would go for the exhaust then chip and tune to suite ,would you recomend an injector tune or what ever they do at my ks ?
Thanks again boys its what I wanted to here rather than go for a Pajero, PS any before and after KW figures,
Cheers Alan.