What's the best spring setup for towing?

[Eddie Timson Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Eddie Timson]

Hi fellas I have a bit of an issue with my 150 prado, I am going to start towing heavy loads with it over long distances soon and I am looking at upgrading the spring setup, I have allready brought airbags for the rear, however I have been told that with the weight I tow the spring will pinch and pop the airbags with the standard springs, I also want a good ride out of the car without the load so I am hesitant to go heavy duty springs.. Also I have a few extra goodies on the front that make it sag so I wouldn't mind bringing it back up to a respectable height... I was thinking 30mm lift in the front and standard on the rears ? Please let me know you're thoughts?

Cheers
Eddie

[Guest Close Guest]

What do you normally carry in the back? Most go for medium duty with airbags so that you get a comfy ride around town when you're not towing. Those who go heavy duty in the back usually have drawers, fridge and recovery gear in their Prados all the time.

[Eddie Timson Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Eddie Timson]

I normally just carry rods and a bit of tackle... So medium duty should be allright?? How high can I go without replacing the shocks?

[Guest Close Guest]

You need approximately 70mm of droop. Droop is a measure of the amount of travel from the wheel's normal ride height to it lifting off the ground. What is your current suspension measurement measured from bottom of rim to the wheel arch?

[The Alberto Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Alberto]

What are you going to be towing and what weights are you talking about??

I run a 2" TJM XGS Gold Lift with Medium Rate springs all round and Coilrite Air bags in the rear. This leaves the unloaded ride around town quite comfortable, however when I load up for a camping trip or caravanning, the bags help the rear stay level.

I have a TJM bar and dual battery in the front and I tow a caravan with a 195kg towball weight. With Standard suspension, the van used to drop the rear 105mm, I picked some of that back up with the WDH but still less than ideal. Now with the lift, it drops the rears around 30mm - 35mm (depending on what else I have in the back) and with about 18psi in the bags I pick up about 15mm which is level for my van. This is the ideal set up for me and my van, yours maybe different but something you might look into.

Not sure I'd muck around just changing coils and trying to match these to the standard shocks though. I would be more inclined to say do the lot, shocks can make just as much or more of a difference to the ride than the springs. Mine sits at around 795mm at the front and 835mm in the rear with 6psi in the bags. I am adding a winch to the front soon and I am thinking that I will probably have to change the front coils to HD afterwards, but I will see how it goes first.

Good Luck

[Justinm Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Justinm]

Hi,

I have been given two options given a new camper trailer addition with a 150kg ball weight.

Option 1 is gold edition sgs and an sgs spring with airbags
Option 2 are bilstein shocks with Lovell springs with a recommendation that no airbags needed.

Currently difficult decision as both seem ok and logical arguments but still unclear on which way to go.

Cheers

[Eddie Timson Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Eddie Timson]

mainly i am going to be towing a boat which, fully loaded comes in at 2450kg... so she is getting up there, the boat is perfectly balanced and will put close to 250kg on the tow ball... i am hesitant in putting a full kit into it as i dont want to spend the 2k and think that just slightly stiffer coils and airbags should do the job? i love the ride of the rig at the moment and dont want to have it too stiff.

Cheers
Eddie

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

Trust me, speaking from experience, spending the money and doing everything (springs/shocks/airbags) will only have a good end result. The car will behave so much better with aftermarket kit, you will wonder why you didn't do it in the first place! I spent a little less than $2k from memory and got bags, springs and tough dog shocks. The difference was chalk and cheese! Find a local member that has changed there suspension setup and go for a ride and compare it to the stock setup in your rig, see if you like the height/ride comfort/etc

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

mainly i am going to be towing a boat which, fully loaded comes in at 2450kg... so she is getting up there, the boat is perfectly balanced and will put close to 250kg on the tow ball... i am hesitant in putting a full kit into it as i dont want to spend the 2k and think that just slightly stiffer coils and airbags should do the job? i love the ride of the rig at the moment and dont want to have it too stiff.

Cheers
Eddie

If you just put a Spring in it & leave the Shock standard, with that kind of ball weight, the standard shock will no be able to control the the Spring oscillations & it will end up wallowing about everywhere.
Ideally, you would do at a minimun, Springs & Shocks in the rear.
For a 250kg Ball Weight, a medium spring will even struggle.
Unfortunately it is a balancing act with that kind of weight & the comfort requirements.
Did you purchase a High Pressure HD Airbag kit?

Regards, Jason.

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

that is a heavy boat, do you tow with a weight distribution hitch?

I tow a caravan that come` s in at that fully loaded. The dobinson springs and Bilsteins coupled with the D697`s make for a good ride and handling package unloaded and very stable platform for towing with weight distribution hitch. I only got the light weight dobinson springs, more than enough, but its definitely noticeable when you tow without weight distribution hitch.

Personally not a huge fan of airbags to take load for towing.

[chester ver 2.0 Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester ver 2.0]

Couple of guys have gne the iron man or similar 300kg constant load it has been firm around town but not to uncomfortable. As above you will have to do the shocks as well cause the OE ones are rubbish

[Eddie Timson Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Eddie Timson]

Thanks lads for all you're help, I've decided to go with a 2inch lift king springs and billy shockies with heavy duty airbags in the rear... Should hopefully do the trick...

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

Great choice Eddie.

I have Dobinson and Billies and find it exceptional. Details can be found here;

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...bination/page3

We regularly tow our Kimberley Kamper that has a pretty hefty ball weight;we have no problems with the suspension loaded or unloaded with no air bags.

The suspension package is a world apart from OEM. We have had OME and was dissatisfied with the suspension package and post installation customer service. In fact I've had nothing but bad experiences from ARB and TJM. John at Zordos is fantastic.