Yabbietol

Fitted the Clearviews today that Tony arranged for me. Thanks Tony for great service, good price and quick delivery.

Just did 1800km towing the 2.5t ATM Kedron around central NSW - Gloucester (for fitting of draws and ½ Cargo barrier by Drifta), Dubbo and Goulburn. It towed very nicely behind the LC200. The air bags (Firestone with Kevlar sleeves) worked well have tried various pressures, so far 14 psi seems to work the best. Towed on some rough flood damaged bitumen roads and a few dirt roads in National Parks. Still not convinced about the OEM suspension, it may be a bit soft. However, the air bags certainly improved the ride. The height of the Toyota off road hitch with an auto McHitch seems right. If we get any suspension work we will not look at any lift, we will try to stick to standard height suspension. No WDH was used on the whole trip, and we felt it unnecessary for our setup, which towed smoothly in a variety of road conditions, including some very strong winds yesterday. We are also getting some Clearview mirrors from Tony, the passenger clip on mirror fell off 1½ times and they seem to vibrate more on the Toyota than they did on the Pajero. So we have decided to give our new LC200 ugly big ears to go with the ugly GX air intake. Drift Draws and and ½ Cargo Barrier, needs to be packed properly. Note, gear just thrown in to get home.

I think I have solved the problem. I went to the local Canberra Toyota dealer in southern Canberra, they were really helpful. We measured and on-road hitch and top of tow ball was 575mm, it seemed a bit low. I then bought an off-road hitch with the arrangement if it was too high I could exchange for on-road. Backed up to Kedron in garage at home and using trail mate jack and the old Pajero hitch for reference got the van 10mm down at front unhitched and it was level with the centre of the ball, this was ~620mm. once hooked up there will be a small drop so it looks like the off-road Toyota hitch suits, will confirm this when I removed tow ball and replace with auto McHitch coupling. I did speak to Kedron Service and the info I got is "all Kedron vans couplings are different heights". However, one bit of useful advice from Kedron was the van should be close to level as possible and slightly down at the front. I think this is how ours will sit once I get the McHitch coupling fitted (air bags to be fitted Wednesday). This was a problem I did not anticipate, but at least I have learned a lot from this experience.

Hello Tony and Neville Thanks for the responses, I already have the tow tongue from my Pajero, which unfortunately is quite long. So therefore, it sticks out the back of the LC200 a fair bit. On the Pajero it is not too bad as the spare on the back door also sticks out a fair way as well; hence the Pajero hitch tongue does not stick out so far on the Pajero. We also have a variable height Eaz lift (also fitted with a auto McHitch), which we got for the Pajero. So we do not want to buy another WDH. We have not tried the Eaz lift on the LC200 yet, but as Tony suggested above we would like to try towing without the WDH. If the van does not behave we can always go back to the Eaz lift WDH, hopefully we should not need the WDH. We have towed the 2.5 tonne ATM single axel van for a short distance behind the Pajero without the WDH both on road and off road and it felt fine, so with luck should be OK with LC200 without the WDH. The MY16 LC200 also has as standard Trailer Sway Control (TSC), my research shows the TSC helps the Dexter Sway Control (DSC), so "belts and braces". We also have a tow ball scale and are very careful with van weights. Toyota seems ambivalent about if we need a WDH, so it would be nice not to have to bother with the WDH. So hence our need for the Toyota tow tongue, they are significantly shorter than the Mitsubishi Pajero tongue. I am off to the local Toyota dealer tomorrow with tape measure and the Pajero tongue fitted with our McHitch auto coupler. Toyota do not seem to be able to tell me the height of either of their tow tongues. With luck I will be able to work it out for myself tomorrow, but if someone does know, which of the two Toyota hitches works best with Kedrons and LC200, please let me know. Thanks Terry

A question for all the very knowledgable LC200 owners with Kedrons. We are trying to find out which tow bar insert to get from Toyota for our new LC200 GX, we have an Auto McHitch. Toyota supply two different tow bar inserts one is off-road the other is on-road. I would have thought the off-road tow bar insert, but it appears it might be too high. The height measured on our Pajero to the locking pin in the McHitch on level ground was 600mm, with no van hooked up. Do Kedron owners have the on-road or off-road Toyota insert on their LC200? Thanks Terry

Picked up LC200 GX today and fitted AT2 Toyo tyres. Much more to do, but it drives nice and in about 1000km I will be able to tow the Kedron. Quick trip to Gloucester to get draws and ½ cargo barrier fitted by Drifta planed in a few weeks.

We are looking forward to delivery of our new LC200 GX on October 18th. It will be very nice to tow our 16'XC3 Kedron with a diesel V8, the previous tow, the NW Pajero worked really well, but we decided that it was time for a new 4WD and to get our planned long term tow. We sold the Pajero yesterday and now have a wait of a few weeks, including the Toyota recommend 1000km no tow period. Then we will be off to do a very short trip via the Blue Mountains some nice back roads from home (SE NSW) to Gloucester NSW to get a half cargo barrier and a set of Drifta draws fitted. Terry PS We are using the Toyota order tracking system which is really good, suggest if you buy a Toyota and have to wait for delivery get the dealer to get you a login. The system now shows the LC200 has been built and is on the ship in transit. The tracking system also gives us the VIN and engine number, and now has a build date of Sep 2106 and a Compliance plate of Oct 2016. The Pajero and Kedron at Bulga Free Camp in the Hunter Valley NSW

This article may be of interest it is a couple of years old, but still makes sense. I am sure it will get some people excited, but I think it is very interesting and makes some good points about tyres for LC200s. However, it is still just someones opinion and just about everyone has an opinion on tyres. So please treat this as information that may be of interest, it is not having a go at your tyre choice. Just about whatever tyre you choose in Australia will still go around on your wheel and work, some better than others for particular tasks. http://adventure4wd.com.au/4wd-tips/tyre-dramas-200-series-landcruiser/ Have a good read Regards Terry

Have arranged to have Toyo AT 2 fitted to LC200 after trading OEM tyres next month. They come highly recommended I have usually had BFG which are good, but have been told the AT 2 really suit the LC200. They are used by SA Gov for their fleet LC200, which is a good test for any tyre. Toyo AT2 are also cheaper than the BFG.

I am very surprised that any one would even think of hitching or unhitching any van with any hitch without handbrake on and front and back chocks in place. Natural selection in action. It is important to get the height right with the Mchitch auto, if tight to undo pin height between van and tow is almost certainly not correct. Similarly if a lot of force needed to hitch the Mchitch, the tow is usually too high and you are lifting the van. This is easily visually checked by looking at last stage of hitching up and height adjusted with jocky wheel or trail mate jack or just tilting the hitch coupling. If height ok, hitching and unhitching is very smooth, if height not ok more force is needed and it not surprising chocks and handbrake come into play. It also pays to wipe the coupling pin and inside hitch with a paper towel in dusty confitions, Mchitch also suggest PTFE lubricant if needed.

We like the Mchitch auto, it works really well. Very easy to hitch and unhitch. Joe at Lithgow is very approachable and helpful with any questions. A good Australian made product that works well.

Last September we picked up our new Kedron XC 3 single axel 16'. Which is a great van we did two weeks travelling around SE Qld and then got our first service done by Kedron after 1200km. They fixed a couple of minor problems, concerned with leaky taps, noisy fan, ice around freezer door all ok except still getting a bit of ice around freezer. We travelled as far as Chinchilla and liked Murgon and Kilcoy. Stayed at Lawton Showground (Pine Rivers) and if you ask they will accomodate you without unhitching. When we got back to Kedron we also got them to fit 2nd spare and wire up rear view caravan camera in our tow, so our free service cost us for the extra bits. Strongly suggest you spend a couple of weeks travelling around SE Qld and then go back for first service, it was very reasuring to get the minor problems fixed. We have since done our 10K service at Kedron and got some more minor fixes and a 2nd gas outlet fitted, plus another Fantasic Fan fitted, so now we only have them in the van ( a good option). Kilcoy showground has lots of space and is easy to park in hitched up, the main Kilcoy free camp can be a bit tight, the other free camp has more space as well. Toolgoolawa also has a nice showground not too far from Kedron where you can stay hitched up. To practise backing and other useful skills strongly suggest you both do a Tow-ed type course. Well worth it. Good luck Terry and Ellie

Live long and prosper. We have had a 16' single axel XC3 since Sep 2015 we have done about 10,000 Km in that time towing with our 2013 NW Pajero. We were particular when ordering to keep the ATM below 2.5 tonne and the tow ball weight below 250kg. Kedron were pleased to help us achieve these weights. Typically before a trip our tow ball weight is about 200kg to 220Kg with full water tanks and fully loaded. The expensive 200AH Lithium battery option helped a lot with keeping overall weight and tow ball weight under control. The single axel 16' tows legally and tracks well behind the Pajero. We originally wanted Prado rims and tyres as they were the closest to the Pajero tyres in profile. However, due to the need to ensure a good safety margin on load for a single axel on Kedron's advice we were obliged to have Landcrusier size rims and tyres. We also started with one spare to see how the weights and handling worked out, after two weeks at the first service we got another tyre. So we now have two caravan spares, which also fit a Landcrusier. We have had no problems towing with the Pajero, both on road and off road. We are now both retired and plan to do a lot more travelling and intend to keep our great little van for many more years. However, have decided to upgrade our tow to a GX LC200 which we hope to pick up around October, we like the Pajero a lot and it towed the 2.5t very well including up steep long hills like Cunningham's Gap and Thuderbolts way.

I feel a bit sad about the confrontational posts above, I did not join this group to put up with this type of nonsense. The above post was my first for some time and was posted in a way that I feel is the real purpose of this forum, which is to promote useful exchange of information for Kedron owners. Some months ago I posted some information about a water bladder I had fitted to my 4WD in a members only part of this forum and was disappointed in the negative comments; I did not bother replying to some of the inane negative comments. There is a bit too much of mine is bigger or better than yours above, how about limiting comments to be positive and constructive. Apologies are good, but are not necessary if you think before saying negative things about other members or their kit. We all can learn from each other so please refrain from making this forum an unpleasant place to visit.