Car Towing With A Lwb Hiace

[stagea_1998]

Hi guys

Im wanting to use my 2014 LWB hiace (manual turbo diesel) to tow my r33 to track days

The factory tow bar is rated at max 1200 kg and the highest rated bar i can find is only 1400kg

Any idea if there's an option for a say 1800kg+ bar or if you guys reckon it'll be safe to cart as is

Cheers in advance

[GeeDog]

Probably need to worry more about what happens if there is an accident, and you are towing considerably more than the car & towbar are rated for. I went through the same thing with a Kluger rated to tow 1500kg - it pulled a loaded car trailer just fine, and if I was 100 - 200kg overweight I probably would have continued using it. I haven't weighed the car (also an R33) & trailer but I reckon it's between 1900 - 2000 kg, so around 33% over the rated tow weight. I can just imagine what the pop & insurance company would say if I was in an accident.

[gtr jet]

I wouldn't bother trying mate. Unless it was to move the car a couple of blocks or something it's not worth the risk.

[stagea_1998]

yea thats what im thinking
im pretty weary about something going wrong its a good 3 hours for me to get to winton raceway

i did speak to a guy just then at a tow bar joint and he said a customer of his spent 7k for an engineered bar plus chassis reinforcing to be able to pull only an extra 200 kg lol

[gtr jet]

Fark that. Just buy a Falcon to tow with haha. That's what I did.

[stagea_1998]

Fark that. Just buy a Falcon to tow with haha. That's what I did.

haha ive got no room ...otherwise i would

the 33 lives at my neighbors house for lack of space .... plus all my tool and gear would fit in the van so much nicer

[r32-25t]

I'm looking at a falcon ute because you can get a tow bar rated at 3500 for them apparently

[MozzMann]

Your Hi-Ace is going to be rated at around 1400 Kg towing.

Irrespective of what the rating of the bar you fit is you are going to be limited by a number of other things as well.

1 The Braking capacity of the Towing Vehicle

2 The weight of the Towing Vehicle

3 Type of tyres fitted
4 The Engine & Transmission type.

5 Even the Chassis Type.

All have an effect on the ability to tow

All trailers with an aggregate trailer mass (including the load) over 750 kg must be fitted with brakes to comply with national road regulations. Any trailer with electric brakes needs a brake controller to activate the operation of the brakes. The brake controller sets the timing and level of power output to the trailer brakes when activated by pressing the brake pedal in the vehicle.

Total Mass or GVM is one factor and vertical load on the tow bar of the towing vehicle is another.
Honestly I wouldn't be game tow your R33 on a tandem trailer behind a Hi-Ace because it is not legally capable of doing so physically perhaps but not legally,
Your Hi-Ace is likely rated at around 1400 Kg but by the time you add the Trailer weight and any additional weight your likely to be up in the order of better than 2 tonne, WAY above the rated capacity of the Hi-Ace irrespective of what tow bar you have .

I seriously doubt you can do it LEGALLY

But according to some here I don't know shit.

PS As a guide a 2005 Ford Ute has a towing capacity of around 2300 kg so that could well be on the limit

Edited May 5, 2015 by MozzMann

[warps]

You guys DO realise this has been discussed ad infinitum

http://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/272151-good-tow-cars/

[gtr jet]

I'm looking at a falcon ute because you can get a tow bar rated at 3500 for them apparently

A Ranger maybe but not a Falcon. They're 2300kg as MozzMann said.