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TOWING WITH LANDCRUISER UTE AND MCHITCH


richard sheppard

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Hi all just after some advice. we have finally picked up our new GXL ute and can't wait to go on holidays out to longreach, mt moffat, cania gorge, sunshine coast, fraser island,harvey bay and make our way back to townsville. Be away around 5 weeks starting at the end of October . The question I'm asking is about the clearances bewteen the top of the round crome locking wheel on the 6 tonne mchitch and the back of the tray .Has any one with this combination [toyota glx ute and 21 foot topender].It looks like I cannot drop the pin that is on the hammond reese tow bar any lower has anyone come across this problem with their setups. :unsure:

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Trying to visulise.... what about a different goose neck......one with a slightly 'lower drop' or a goose neck that is longer & extends further to the rear of the vehicle or maybe 'turning' the goose neck over 180 degrees & refitting the towball of course.

From what I'm thinking your possibily going to have to change the goose neck... your lucky that you have a Hayman Reese set up & that there are many different goose necks available..... check in the yellow pages or google for tow bar suppliers/fitters in your area.

Have a look at this http://www.haymanreese.com.au/products/accessories.htm

Hope this helps

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Hi Rick, we tow the 21 foot Topender with a GXL ute, when you look at the attached photo the clearance from the tray is ample. Do you have a tray that is much lower.

also can you send us a photo of the new type of towbar, ours was the old type and I would not reccomend it, regards Mark and Simone

post-1168-0-98616400-1317341605_thumb.jp

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Hi Mark and Simone,Thanks for your reply I started to play around with the tow bar today and I rolled the hayman reece goose neck 180% and relocated the bolt the for the head to adjust height. I went back to the van where it is stored and tried hooking it up all seems ok I will ring David at kedron tomorrow and check will him if this is ok to do. I will sent you some photos of the tow bar and our rig when I bring it home and bath it before we leave on our trip Have you got air bags on your toyota and if so are they a good thing. Safe travelling Richard and Celeste

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Hi again,yes we have airbags (firestone dual bellows) as well as heavy duty leaf springs the airbags are good, however you have to monitor the air pressure closely, too much air with the Mchitch and Weight Distrubution bars on is not a good combination on some roads with dips and bumps. Regards Mark and Simone

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Richard,

I also tow an ATV2 21ft with a L/c 70 series cab/chas using a McHitch 6 tonne towing hitch.

I'm not cramped for space or have any difficulty with the Hayman Reece set up or pin that was provided by Kedron.

Works very well for me.

Mark & Simone,

I have just finished a 3 week trip out and around the Corner Country mostly on bumpy road surfaces and a lot of offroad dirt work.

I followed the advice given by Kedron and Beaurepair in relation to tyre pressures, however not all worked out so evenly.

My tyres are the Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armour on both the van and vehicle. On road tyre pressures were 50 psi all round on the vehicle, and 55 psi on the van.

Offroad vehicle pressures were 46 psi and van was 50 psi.

However, my vehicle has an upgraded suspension with Nitro Sports shocks, Dacar Heavy Duty Leaf Springs, and Heavy Duty Coils Springs, add to that I have Air Bellows

The belllows were set at 26 psi. I did check them at one time after some driving and the van was still attached and they were at 30 plus (I have forgotten the exact reading).

Reading your last post and your trip report are you suggesting there is a correlation that effect tyres pressures, and smoothness of ride within all this, I suppose you could add the WDH to the formula as well.

My reason for asking is I noticed the van tyres ran well with tyre wear, however the vehicle is showing slight centre of tyre wear indicating over inflation.

My van would have been 3 tonne

My vehicle carries a load, as my fuel tank is 250 ltrs and 60 ltrs of water plus gear.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Gary & Kaye

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G`Day

Gary & Kay

We also have the Silent Armour all round and run them on 40psi except for the tug rears which I run @ 42psi.The pressures you were given are way to high and that is why you have centre wear. We have just replaced the tug tyres after 60,000 ks. Once again with G.Y. Silent Armour.When you get new ones,make sure you get the USA made tyres and not the Indo.made crap.

We are currently in Wagga.Last time we were here about 2 1/2 years ago you could step over the river,now it is flowing fast and full.

Cheers

Rick Lea

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Hi Gary & Kay,

I have a Top Ender that weighs close to 3500 kg when we are travelling. The tyres that it came with were the Wranglers. They now have just on 50,000 km and, except for one destroyed by a wheel alignment problem and another trashed on a bassalt rock (along with the rim), they look good. On the black top I have run them at 35 psi and on dirt, 28 to 30 psi depending on the road condition.

The 100 seried TD has Mickey Thompsons now but did have BFG's. 35 psi front and 50 psi back on the black top, 30 front and 35 - 40 back on dirt. The BFG's wore evenly except for one front tyre where I had an alignment problem. I changed to the MT's from BFG's because I could not buy a BFG in WA anywhere along the coast. There was a 3 month back order wait! Incidentally, I am very happy with the MT's. I'll put them on the van as the need arises.

I would check the advice from Kedron because it seems to be different from the advice they gave me a couple of years ago.

Good luck.

Colin

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Hi Guys,

Appreciate the feed back and will be making further enquiries about these Silent Armour tyres and there pressures.

Beaurepairs wrote it in my invoice as to what pressures to use.

Kedron know these tyres very well, especially the MTR.

The part I'm trying to get a 'handle on'...at the moment Is the combination of air belows, an upgraded suspension, the WDH and the McHitch 6 tonne tow point.

Is there a relationship here which is different from the normal 4x4 configuration which has an effect on comfort of ride and stability with an adverse response from

the WDH when on those country undulating roads, or slight offroad conditions or doing roundabouts and tighter turns.

My reason for asking:

When we were using secondary roads into the Armidale area these roads had a roughish bitumen surface and undulating.

I also did a couple of what I thought were not so tight turns.

When we arrived at our next free camp I noticed the chain hook brackets were loose and had been sliding up and down the vans main beams.

On further examination the brackets were slightly bent, expanded.

I left the WDH off and later had them repaired in Broken Hill.

The roads we were planning to travel out frpm Broken Hill to Camerons Corner were not suitable for WDH, so left them off for the remainder of the trip.

The ride was a bit 'see-sawry', (if you get my drift) in an up and down motion only. Side to side was not an issue.

Based on current feed back my tyres were overinflated. The bellows were at 26psi. When I was using the WDH they were hooked up on the 6th link.

So, what are the limitations here.

I determine a tight turn when the rear of the vehicle is almost making contact with the Stone Guard / Bra.

As indicated I don't use the WDH offroad. My loads both in the vehicle and the van were below my allowed capacity.

Your comments on this subject is appreciated.

Safe travels

Gary & Kaye

PS. Hope you don't mind me adding this into your original Post / Thread, Richard. We have the same vehicle and it's relevant to a set up.

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Interesting link here http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=1 with further links towards the bottom of the page.

For what its worth heres what pressures I use & I have even tyre wear, touch wood I have only lost one tyre & that was a stake in the side wall (very unlucky).

Black top towing (highway) & dirt .... tug 40 psi (F) 46 psi ® van 40 psi

Off road .... Depends on conditions & speed but as a rule will drop 4/6 psi on each axle.

Extreme & sand.... down to as low as 18 on the tug & van.

I have my own better quality tyre pressure guage for checking pressures dont rely on service station guages.

Always pump up air bags to max 30 psi BEFORE putting van on & when van is on drop pressure slowly until until tug JUST starts to drop 'in the back'.

Always try & keep the van/draw bar level when towing.

Chain brackets & tow ball (tension) I check once a week more often if doing 'it tough'.

Todays trivia 1 psi =7 kpa (30 psi = 210 kpa)

A great bit of gear for deflating tyre pressures is the ARB E-Z deflating kit http://www.arb.com.au/products/general-accessories/tyre-accessories/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Gary and Kaye,

That is very interesting. It would be good to understand why you are having problems. My experience is very different.

I have the 6 tonne McHitch and have now travelled some 35,000 km with it. It's been just great. I rarely remove the torsion bars of the WDH. If I have to do tight manouevering into a park spot for example, or the track is really rough and undulating, the I do. River and creek crossings? I asses it and if I think the torsion bars will scrape then I take them off.

I use the full WDH on all dirt roads. For example we did the length of the Gibb and Savannah Way from Katherine to Cairns with the WDH. Not a problem. Incidentally, I am using the third link. I have not had any trouble with the hangers moving.

Gary, I have attached o pdf of the Installation instructions which may be of interest even if it is not of use.

Regards

Colin

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Hi Tolley,

I will have to give this towing game a little more of a user trial.

Make a few adjustments here and there and put all of this down to being part of the learning curve.

Appreciate your reply, if I find out what I'm doing right or more to the point wrong, I will post it, so watch this space.

Safe travels

Gary & Kaye

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Hi all.

Tyre pressures are absolutely unique to each individual rig that we run.

People can only advise on a starting point for you to run at and the rest is up to you.

Outside air temperature also has a great influence on pressures.

Every rig has different weights and balances. Alignments are very different on each machine. If you run with tyre pressure monitoring gear, check the variations of pressures after a run and follow manufacturers advice.If not do it manually to evaluate the change in pressures. Two psi increase is a good ball park change (increase) after about 100kms on tar for a correctly inflated tyre. For off road again its individual and something that you need to feel comfortable with and is totally dependant on the surfaces that you are travelling on. We feel warm and fuzzy on some dirt with 30 front and 35 rear on the tug (which is heavilly loaded) and 30 on the van this is dependant on the road conditions we may find changes are needed. Beach work deep mud and bull dust is another story depending on the sand/mud/dust condition generally much lower pressures must be used on the soft stuff.

Having said all that our van is 18'6" internal and weighs in at 3540kgs loaded for bear as was shown on the Caboolture weigh bridge before a run to Perth in July.

Learn as much as you can about your tyres from those that can steer you in the right direction. Each rig is different so pressures are individual and for safety and economy you have to know your rig. No one can tell you the exact pressures to use on your rig, only you can determine that.

Experimentation and learning is a rewarding past time. :D

Good luck and happy travels too ya from us

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