Has anyone used their Vogue as a heavy duty towing vehicle? Although it is rated to tow 3.5 tonnes in Australia the maximum tow ball weight allowed is only 250 kgs. I am purchasing a van which will weigh 3+ tonnes in August and have been advised that my vehicle may not safely tow it. Also the fact that Land Rover does not endorse the use of a weight distrubution bar does not help much either. It is a fantastic vehicle and i am loathe to buy a Toyota just to tow with.

Any suggestions or experiences would be most welcome.

Regards
Lex Franks

I towed a horse box with two sport horses...

dont know how much,but it was 3 tones for sure.

I have a SC soo,it had to work a bit harder than normal,but I does work...

and when I was at a main dealer in Zurich and looking for a range rover. I talked with the salesmen about towing horses. He tows his horses also with a RR.
over here at horse concours you often see RRS.. and I'm sure,a ffrr is better than a RRS..

Regards
Phil

Without wanting to sound TOO pedantic - using the term "Vogue" is a bit limiting as it's a trim spec. I'm sure you intended to say "Range Rover"

Anyhow - The 250KG weight is the nose weight, ie the downward force on the towball - not the pulling weight. If you push down on the tow ball with 250KG then this exerts an upward force of -250KG on the front wheels (ok not quite, but you get the picture?) So if you exceeded this to say 500KG then the front of the vehicle would have a lot less grip than god/Land Rover intended.

The 250KG weight is also designed with the vehicles air suspension in mind, it's worth noting that if you intend to use the maximum weight of 250KG then the car must remain unladen. Fully loading the car up will push you over the Gross Vehicle Weight limit.

It is due to the EAS that you should not use a weight distribution bar as the EAS will always keep the car and outfit level and stop the back end sagging.

I've not had experience towing anything over 1.5T but have always understood that one tries to keep the load evenly balanced with a minimal nose weight - is that not possible on your trailer? 

As Dan said, 250kg is the nose weight of the trailer

If you've got the appropriate license they're good for 3.5t evenly distributed (LWB panel van will weigh 2.3-2.5t or thereabouts + trailer)

If I remember correctly there's a guy on here who has used his FFRR to tow considerably more than 3.5t off the road and it coped ok 2008/58 FFRR 3.6 TDV8 Vogue

Thanks for the replies guys but i thought that it was obvious that i was referring to a Range Rover;having posted in the Range Rover forum. In Australia we only get a model called the "Vogue";either as a v8 petrol or v8 diesel which I own.
I am fully aware of what tow ball weight refers to; but as my new caravan will be 3000+kgs and the manufacturer reccommends 10% + on the tow hitch for maximum towing safety ; i was wondering only if others had found any issues when towing this type of load.

It seems strange that Land Rover gives a towing capacity of 3500 kgs and then limits the max towball weight on the flagship when the Discovery platform has the same tow rating and a 350 kg tow ball weight maximum.????

a v8 diesel vogue is a great vehicle to tow!

I dont think there shouldnt be a problem... When I was last time in the UK I saw many Range Rover with a caran attached...

Quote:

If I remember correctly there's a guy on here who has used his FFRR to tow considerably more than 3.5t off the road and it coped ok

Many thanks for the info guys. I have travelled extensively in outback Australia with the Range Rover but have never towed a substantial dual axle van. The guy who builds the vans is an American cowboy type who almost insists that his clients tow with Ford F/350-450 type vehicles which are very heavy duty.

chaps i thought it is 3.5 tonne only if the trailer is braked ???? ONE LIFE LIVE IT

this thread [found by search] should give you some idea of what the FFRR is capable of...

http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic2900.html?highlight=towed ... - .- -.




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Guys. Unless I've read this wrong, Lex is not asking whether he can tow 3.5 tonnes OK. It's a question on the nose weight being rated to 250KG.

Lex, the reason the Disco can have a heavier ball weight is due to the fact the car weighs more, so you can load the rear up more without worrying that the front wheels are going to come off the ground.

The allowed axle weights reflect this:

Disco: Maximum rear axle load 2350 kg
HSE: Maximum rear axle load 1850 kg

Disco: Maximum gross vehicle weight 4050 kg
SE: Maximum gross vehicle weight 3050 kg 

Towing weight for the L322 in the UK is 3500KG mainly because going over that weight puts it in the goods vehicle or commercial vehicle class and you need more than a car licence to drive those. But note also that Land Rover also state that over 3500KG requires a ring type hitch and close coupled brakes. (not the quick release 50mm ball)

I was looking at this relatively recently to see if I could get the FFRR up-plated to 3501KG which would then allow me to tow caravans larger than 2.3m wide and 8m long and then I could have bought one of these.
http://www.autodino.de/autonews/wp-content.../18065.jpg
More images here (German text)
http://www2.dethleffs.de/dethleffs-megaron...tion=false

However, the noseweight is only 250KG if the vehicle is not loaded to MGW. You have to remove 100KG from the MGW or the limit for noseweight is 150KG. This is to prevent the airbags being overloaded.

Although it pains me to say it, the Sport is a better tow car for really heavy stuff since it sits on the T5 chassis the same as Discovery does. The FFRR has a monocoque shell with 2 subframes for the running gear.

Yes, the FFRR is a fine tow car and for caravan stuff it's possibly the best (discuss) but if I was towing 3500KG trailers regularly, for a business as an example, then I'd have a Discovery.

Which just goes to prove, FFRR or Discovery are the choices. That makes the Sport the most pointless footballers wives chariot in the world.

Again many thanks guys for the info. I was dreading having to sell the FFRR . I have found that once you have had the best it is very difficult to be happy with somthing less. As my heavy towing will only be a minor part of my driving, i think from the info gained here that I should have minimal issues with the vehicle.Won't be carrying much in the Rangie so suspension should cope.Got a trade in valuation the other day. RR is just over three years old and they say it is worth $70000.00 after paying $170000.00 . What a joke!!

Vogue wrote:

believe me its fine, handles twin axled trailers loaded with beef or tractors a ok, I have regularly exceeded the recommended tow weight on private roads / off road. Even the RR Classics were good for 6000kg on private roads in low box and being sensible.

Being sensible is the key regarding surface material, slopes, speed and stopping distances etc

I regularly used my Td6 to tow a twin axle trailer with a defender 90 on board.

Absolutely fantastic tow car. The combination of the trailer and defender was I suspect more that 3500 kg's,and the car was always very fill as well.

Just make sure the trailer brakes are serviced and work properly. I wouldn't like to think about stopping with faulty trailer brakes!