Jump to content
SAU Community

Tow Bars for Stageas


Sydneykid

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 316
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

What is the maximum towing capacity of the rb25 ? that is all I need to know

The R32GTST and the trailer weigh around 1.75 tonnes with at least 300 kgs of stuff (toolbox, wheels & spares etc) in the wagon. So add that to the Stagea weight, plus 1 passenger and 1 driver and you get almost 4 tonnes in total. The trailer has electric brakes, so it has sufficient braking such that the Stagea brakes don’t do any extra work.

Our Stagea (an S1) has the usual, boost up, turbo back exhaust, filter and piggy back (DFA, IEBC & SITC) tune. With the standard turbo at 10 psi it makes around 170 rwkw, with noticeable boost at 2,000 rpm. Torque is pretty flat (over 5,000 newtons) from 2,500 rpm to 6,000 rpm, so it has no problem hauling 4 tonnes around. The transmission is protected by a large cooler, plus the standard loop through the radiator bottom tank.

The only thing I would change is the fuel tank, it simply isn’t big enough at 65 litres. Moving along briskly at the speed limit it uses a bit over 20 litres per 100k’s on the highway/freeway, so every 250 to 270 k’s I start looking for a service station. The transporter does 1000k’s before it needs diesel and the other tow car (Prado) will do 500k’s on its tank of 92 ron. So we basically stop twice as often as our travelling companions and have to seek out (and pay for) 100 ron This gets rather annoying on long trips, such as Philip Island. But its OK for 95% of what we do, Oran Park, Eastern Creek, WSID, Bathurst and Wakefield Park.

Compared to the 4 litre EL Foulcan wagon we used for towing before, the Stagea is pretty much a perfect fit.

:laugh: cheers :geek:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

Austria is a long way to get a tow bar sent, are you sure you wouldn't be better off getting someone there to build it for you? I didn't know you get get Stagea's sent to Austria, don't you drive on the right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

well if its not engineer approved and legal, u better hope and pray ur never involved in an accident when towing (at fault or not). cos ur insurance company will probably just laugh at u. ive never heard of an insurance company taking someones word, that "the towbar is rated to XXXXkg" without some form of documentation. besides that, in the very unlikely event it does fail and writes off ur car, trailer and whatever ur carrying, u wont have a leg to stand on cos u have no proof it was rated to tow what ur pulling. unless he is nice enough to give a legally binding document stating its maximum safe working load (document would be an engineer certificate).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well if its not engineer approved and legal, u better hope and pray ur never involved in an accident when towing (at fault or not). cos ur insurance company will probably just laugh at u. ive never heard of an insurance company taking someones word, that "the towbar is rated to XXXXkg" without some form of documentation. besides that, in the very unlikely event it does fail and writes off ur car, trailer and whatever ur carrying, u wont have a leg to stand on cos u have no proof it was rated to tow what ur pulling. unless he is nice enough to give a legally binding document stating its maximum safe working load (document would be an engineer certificate).

who cares...

1 if your a qualified welder and/or are a shit hot welder make your own.

2 find a car that has your rated tow bar you want at the wrekers

3 steel the adr plate.

4 weld it onto yours

that sipmle as long as it has that plate the inshurance companys won't check the rest just make shure you do it right and strong and looking like a haymenn rice tow bar and your good as gold

who cares...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

who cares...

1 if your a qualified welder and/or are a shit hot welder make your own.

2 find a car that has your rated tow bar you want at the wrekers

3 steel the adr plate.

4 weld it onto yours

that sipmle as long as it has that plate the inshurance companys won't check the rest just make shure you do it right and strong and looking like a haymenn rice tow bar and your good as gold

who cares...

I can't even begin to say how stupid that is. Apart from the fact that you are suggesting that breaking the law is simple and effective, if anyone gets hurt in an accident that involves that towbar, then the amount of shit that would rain down upon you from a great height is almost incalculable.

Can you say "culpable negligence"????

everytime I am in my car with my kids, and stuck behind a car pulling a trailer, I am gonna pray its not you, I don't care how good a welder you think you are.

Oh, and LAWL @ "haymenn rice"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fair call. but i make tow bars and traillers at work (for trucks mostly) and know how the system works. it is not so much about the tow bar it's self but where and how you mount it. as long that you are sensible and have common engenering sense no one will ever pick the diffrence.

p.s if your not confident don't attempt this and breaking the law is bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my point of view is that pretty much every stagea/skyline/silvia etc on the roads has some sort of mods from factory and therefore is not legal either.

if it worries you get it engineered. I've chosen not to. and BTW my stagea only has 3rd party anyway because its only worth 10k

Link to comment
Share on other sites

who cares...

1 if your a qualified welder and/or are a shit hot welder make your own.

2 find a car that has your rated tow bar you want at the wrekers

3 steel the adr plate.

4 weld it onto yours

that sipmle as long as it has that plate the inshurance companys won't check the rest just make shure you do it right and strong and looking like a haymenn rice tow bar and your good as gold

who cares...

its not that simple the plate has the vehicle model stamped on it specifically to stop ppl like urself doing exactly that.

I can't even begin to say how stupid that is. Apart from the fact that you are suggesting that breaking the law is simple and effective, if anyone gets hurt in an accident that involves that towbar, then the amount of shit that would rain down upon you from a great height is almost incalculable.

Can you say "culpable negligence"????

everytime I am in my car with my kids, and stuck behind a car pulling a trailer, I am gonna pray its not you, I don't care how good a welder you think you are.

Oh, and LAWL @ "haymenn rice"

im with u on this 1 rooster.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i got in touch with the 2 only places in brisvegas that make towbars. both of them said u'd b crazy to tow more than 1200kg max with a stagea. apparently the thickness of the steal used to build the car isnt strong enough to handle that kind of stress. which was surprising as some of u guys said u had towed car trailers with urs. have any of u noticed any damage, stress fractures, elongation of mounting holes or anything of that nature??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i got in touch with the 2 only places in brisvegas that make towbars. both of them said u'd b crazy to tow more than 1200kg max with a stagea. apparently the thickness of the steal used to build the car isnt strong enough to handle that kind of stress. which was surprising as some of u guys said u had towed car trailers with urs. have any of u noticed any damage, stress fractures, elongation of mounting holes or anything of that nature??

i would also be interested to hear as a tow bar is on my shopping list...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ray, I regularly tow big loads, and regularly check underneath. No sign of crack in ths chasis rails or joins or movement in the bolts. Mine attaches to the chasis rails on each side and there is an additional brace in the wheel well where they welded a reinforcing plate in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah sure is. I understand their concern if they have never done them before 2000kg is a big load, and there are still people out there who think cars with independant suspension just can't tow.

I've literally towed over 2000kg with my car more than 30 times - I can't imagine most people doing that in the lifetime of their towbar (would you tow a car every weekend?) and there has been no problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i got in touch with the 2 only places in brisvegas that make towbars. both of them said u'd b crazy to tow more than 1200kg max with a stagea. apparently the thickness of the steal used to build the car isnt strong enough to handle that kind of stress. which was surprising as some of u guys said u had towed car trailers with urs. have any of u noticed any damage, stress fractures, elongation of mounting holes or anything of that nature??

My trailer is pretty much the same as Duncan's, electronic brakes, load stabilisers etc. The R32GTST is bit lighter than his GTR though, but I do carry around 300 kgs of stuff inside the waggon. I have towed well over 50 times and I started off checking the tow bar mountings, nuts and bolts after every race meeting. Never found one single thing loose, cracked or even remotely showing any sign of stress or damage at all. So lately I have resorted to only checking it when it is on the hoist to do services, so every 5,000 k's or so.

This "thin metal" stuff is pretty illogical anyway, my tow bar has 8 mounting bolts to spread the load around the rear of a 1.7 tonne waggon that is designed to carry 5 adults and big load space full of junk. So I don't think it matters how strong one single bit is, the load spread is what matters.

Cheers

Gary

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Yep, back in the day when you could pick up a Stagea RB25 NEO for $1,500 it was worth it. These days... just chuck your V8 or B58 in.
    • from my limited BMW experience: - they burn oil WTF (B48 FTW 170kW engine) - dump oil every 5,000km and you'll be ok.. until it drops a bearing and rebuild time. replace engine with B58
    • I would avoid the AWD motor in a RWD using a modified RWD sump and pickup. The way the pick up is positioned, you'll have oil pick up issues on hard acceleration on a track around bends. Even with a baffled, gated sump. I suppose if you don't race on a track and it's used for straight line activities or street use you might be ok.
    • They absolutely are, but the thing is, if you're only exposed to these circuits for a while, what I normally think is good driving suddenly isn't so much. I was a pussy at the Nurburgring (GP) entering corners at 180kph - the difference in the balance of the car suddenly becomes so much more pronounced and I'm still a bit regarded at left-foot braking - something I now practice on my commute. So the (dream) plan with the E90 is to make it a 325i Cup car. Whether I get there or not is another matter. In my mind the simplicity of having the NA variant and cost made it a bit more appealing. Plus, like mentioned above, I'm actually too much of a pussy for big power. Of course I f**ked up by not researching enough on the N53 vs N52, the latter being more robust without the DI system.  Suspension-wise on the BMW, and I've been reading the technical requirements for the 325i cup, basically everything except struts has to be standard - bushes are free. I figure you get about 5-10mm adjustment with the rear camber bolts which should translate to 0.5- 1.5 degrees of adjustment. So with coilovers, lowered at 30/40mm I expect I can dial out some of the camber from a drop and attain -1.5 to -2. If necessary, I could get the same effect as the M3 arms with some offset bushes. There is a limitation on ARB width to qualify, although I absolutely want to get either M3 ARBs (can't say sway incase I upset GTSBoy) or the H&R ones - both of these are the cheapest options. Like mentioned, M3 arms are on the way and I should have them fitted within the next week. How are the BC Racing coilovers btw? Reviews are mixed but I think for me they would be fine; a friend of mine uses them on his R34 for track driving and has nothing bad to say. I'm looking at these or the ST coilovers (German brand, new to me) as prescriped the in Cup spec sheet. They're both similarly priced and offer camber adjustment. It's fine but it really upsets my OCD. I've got a couple of options for dialing out the rear camber and keeping my ill-fitting wheels: raise the rear a little bit, say 5mm, that should permit -2.5 camber or drop the front to restore that slight bias of more negative camber up front (not optimal with the roads here). The next alignment won't be until at least next year and I really need to rebuild the rear subframe. For now, I'm not using it at all on the streets except occasional blasts through the German countryside. I was covering about 10k kms p/year in Japan, I expect this to now be about 3-4k. You could say buy better sized wheels, and yes, I should have. But the wheels came from the Z and price of good wheels is just insane now. Again, a couple of options: get a new set (I want 17" RPF1s) or buy two used 9.5J TEs, both are about the same price excluding shipping. 
    • by rotating the motor i mean to dismount the plate on the motor and mount it different 
×
×
  • Create New...