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Towing a Topender with a discovery 3 and the use of sway bars or W/D system?


mitch82

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Hello All

Can anyone offer there experiences with using a Discovery 3 when towing a Topender. We have only recently joined the Kedron club having previously owned a smaller van under 2 tonnes using the Disco as the tow vehicle. I know that the WDS system is out because of the air suspension, we also never required it for the previous van as if anybody has owned or operated the Disco suspension system know's it self levels while it operates. But we seem to suffer from some sway around the 90-100 km/h mark especially while being over taken by a truck!

Apart from that great van and looking forward to the christmas hols.

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Mitch,

I definately dont have any experience with Discoveries but have you talked with Hayman Reece about the anti sway system they have. This may be compatable with the Discovery system. Worth talking to them anyway.

Have a great Christmas and enjoy your travels.

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  • 2 months later...

Mitch,

It's been a while since I dropped in and I was surprised to see that nobody had offered more advice regarding a van that appears to be susceptible to swaying.

First stop is to check your weights to make sure you have the ball weight correct and haven't added any extras onto the rear of the van. If this is OK, I'd be keeping the speed down if you cannot use a WDH; at a given speed, even the best-balanced van can go into the death throes of swaying.

If you follow forums such as caravanersforum.com you will have seen plenty of comment on the safety and stability benefits of WDHs. You will also find plenty of stuff about LR and the incompatibility of its self-levelling suspension with WDHs. It might be worthwhile going there and searching the topics.

I've taken the liberty of copying a post by Collyn Rivers, one of very few people who can speak with authority on this sort of stuff. I hope it helps.

Michael

Re: Weight distribution hitches

by Collyn Rivers » Sat Feb 26, 2011 11:06 am

RockyLizard

I appreciate your kind comments but you have misunderstood part of what I am saying.

That is that there is no way in this universe that placing a heavy mass on the towbar of that LR will not reduce the mass over the front wheels. That mass simply HAS to lever it up - and there is no possible way to overcome that but force it back down by a WDH or a heavy mass up front. If one is not prepared to accept that, I am wasting my time attempting to communicate. I am talking facts not opinions.

The LR has extremely sophisticated effectively constant height interdependant suspension that takes the information it needs to operate from its running height etc. That system cannot cope with the WDH attempting to alter that height via an external mechanisms.

Where a few people are losing the plot is that it is not that the LR does not need a WDH when there is a heavy overhung load, but rather that it cannot cope with having one.

As LR and LR owners are no more immune to the Laws of Physics as other beings it can only be assumed (from an engineering standpoint) that their recomendations relate only to pulling heavy trailers at low speeds.

It cannot be too strongly stressed that LR (as opposed to LR dealers) do not claim the product does not need a WDH. It states that a WDH may not be used. And that is a totally different statement, that people misconstrue.

For a more complete understanding of the above do please read my comprehensive explantion on the Articles section of my website

http://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com. That article (originally in Caravan World last year) has now been read and favourably commented on by suspension experts all over the world including the RV industry body in Australia. Consider this - it has even been commented on favourably by one of Australia's leading suspension engineers - his engineer Dad designed the Land Rover.

I do not propose to argue its validity on this forum.

Collyn

Author/publisher of books and articles in RV and solar areas.

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By way of explanation, Kiwi and I have recently discussed this issue separately, and I suggested it could be valuable to have the type of information he has posted, available here on our forum. Especially in light of the earlier post by Mitch.

Kiwi, thanks for taking the time and trouble to provide this valuable detail. That is what it is all about; each of us sharing information freely.

Chris

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