how long before towing

[fish71 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close fish71]

hi All

My prado which was promised last month!! has been delaide to the 13th of March, we are planning to tow our 2 tonne van over this period and will have about 2000klm on the clock by then.

how long do you need to run in for

cheer

[ABD Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ABD]

Re: how long before towing

G'day Anthony and Keera,
The owner's manual for our 120 says "Do not tow a trailer during the first 800 km"
2000 km sounds fine.
I presume it would be the same for the 150 series.
Good to see I am not the only Trakmaster owner on this forum.
I can share my camera experience with a pm later this evening
Cheers
Chris

[bilo33prado Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bilo33prado]

Re: how long before towing

hi All

My prado which was promised last month!! has been delaide to the 13th of March, we are planning to tow our 2 tonne van over this period and will have about 2000klm on the clock by then.

how long do you need to run in for

cheer

Great date to pick your prado up, same day i'm getting married 8) 2000km would be fine IMO, Depending on how much towing your doing i'd get engine oil and filter changed at the 1st 5000km, which should cost less then $100. As you'd find the 1000km inspection is just that, looking for any leaks or loose stuff. Try this link.... http://www.pradopoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=7856

[fish71 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close fish71]

Re: how long before towing

Thanks for your input Bilo and congrats on your wedding, i will be marrying my new toy!! at least she wont complain in a few years .................lol

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

Re: how long before towing

Hi Fish71, when i picked up my new 120 series last year the salseman helped me hook up a trailer weighing about 1.5 tonne and i towed that 250kms to get home, the car had 8kms showing on the clock. it has now done 10000kms about 9000 of which has had a trailer of some description behind, usually loaded. everything is running fine no problems whatsoever!

Cheersw Andrew

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

Re: how long before towing

Hi Fellas. A few years ago one of my mates brought a real tidy low mileage hi-lux ute. It was a real slug and couldnt pull the skin off a rice pudding. After trying all the usual tricks without success, as a last desperate measure he borrowed a mates large tandem axle caravan and packed in the wife and kids and thrashed it for a couple of weeks whilst on holiday. In his words "I gave it death". After he got back the ute was going like a rocket and his opinion was that the previous owner had been over cautious with the running-in process and had ruined it. He has had no further grief with it since. I would suggest you take a little care with the running in process but dont be a pussy either because generally speaking, diesel motors love to work.

[Eugene Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Eugene]

Re: how long before towing

Hi Fellas. A few years ago one of my mates brought a real tidy low mileage hi-lux ute. It was a real slug and couldnt pull the skin off a rice pudding. After trying all the usual tricks without success, as a last desperate measure he borrowed a mates large tandem axle caravan and packed in the wife and kids and thrashed it for a couple of weeks whilst on holiday. In his words "I gave it death". After he got back the ute was going like a rocket and his opinion was that the previous owner had been over cautious with the running-in process and had ruined it. He has had no further grief with it since. I would suggest you take a little care with the running in process but dont be a pussy either because generally speaking, diesel motors love to work.

I Could not agree more,

Diesels are designed to work, nothing will destroy them more than low load situations.

A friend bought a 20,000km rodeo TD dual cab a few years ago, it had been babied, all its life in Sydney, the old owner telling how it had never been revved past 2200 rpm, it was a slug, on the trip home, he flogged it, up big long hills at redline etc, then with a load and very impresive bang, she cleared her throat, a heap of sparks and carbon out the back and it has been perfect ever since.

Be kind to it, but dont baby, change the oil and filter at 2500-3000km.

Enjoy.

[cobbo150 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close cobbo150]

Re: how long before towing

Hi A and K,

We are just back from a 3500km trip towing our 2.3t tandem full van. The trip was a good workout for the Prado with some very good hills to contend with. NSW and Vic snow fields and then to Melbourne

Vehicle was picked up 29th Jan and we put 1500kms on the clock before we departed 19th Feb.

We did not let the engine labor and kept the revs around 2500 on hills.

We found the Prado performed well at road speeds between 95 and 100. Engine revs at 100kph on flat ground in nil wind resulted in 1900rpm.

We use a genuine tow bar in conjunction with a Hayman Reece WDH (hitch).

The gear ratios in the 5 speed auto seem to be well spaced for towing our size van.

I am a believer in working an engine hard during the early stages in it's life, but not letting the engine stress by allowing it to labor.......keep the revs up when under load.

The LC150 is an excellent tow vehicle with low noise levels in the passenger compartment.

Some strong cross winds were also encountered, which is a good test for the stability of a tug. The 150 performed really well in the wind.

Overall, we are happy with our choice of tow vehicle.

Cheers,

[jpmoonta Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close jpmoonta]

Re: how long before towing

Did you select gears for steeper hills or select drive & let the auto do the lot.
Thanks.
JP.

[cobbo150 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close cobbo150]

Re: how long before towing

Did you select gears for steeper hills or select drive & let the auto do the lot.
Thanks.
JP.

Hi JP,

I did a bit of both.

Early in the trip, I wanted to see where the change points were in the auto box, using the tacho as a guide and left the box in auto.

The box was a tad sluggish in it's change points and tended to let the engine labor a bit to long.......but did the job OK. I was just taking it easy at first, to understand the vehicle engine/gearbox characteristics

If the hills were a gradual shallow incline the box and engine torque were OK. Did not let the engine go below 2000rpm before changing down and getting the revs back to 2500rpm

On longer steeper gradients, I shifted into manual (4th) and watched the revs, to maintain 2500rpm where possible, sometimes dropping into 3rd or 2nd.

One interesting observation...............long gradual shallow incline when in auto.....box changed back to 4th......and when gear lever moved into manual.....there was a 200rpm drop when the "box settled". I checked this observation many times and the result was always the same. The box must have different software mapping in auto and manual, I feel. Someone may be able to explain why ???

One important 'must do' on steeper long uphill inclines is to manually change gears to ensure the engine is at, or above 2500rpm during the climb. Change early and keep the revs up.

Hope this info is of some help.

Cheers,

[fish71 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close fish71]

Re: how long before towing

Cobbo

Well we now have the 2000klm on the clock and looking forward to heading off for Easter, I read with interest the handbook says to use 4th gear !!, agree with your view to keep the revs up and 2500 rpm is pretty good range .

We bought a WDH so this will be the first time using one of those as well

thanks for your input

regards