Prado Towing

[Guest WISHWEHADONE]

We desperately want a Kedron. We spoke to Jan about what we wanted. She suggested a 18 ft XC tandem axle with a tare of 2200 kg! She suggested the XC was designed for towing by the Prado due to the reduction in weight extra solar panels and batteries and a few other changes over the ATV or Top Ender.

Does anyone have an XC of the size I have described and tows it with a Prado? I'd appreciate any advice or feedback as we have our hearts set on a Kedron and really don't want to change tow vehicles if we can avoid it.

[dazmit]

Hi

Mmmm - only 300kg for load is a bit light on in my opinion, if you are going to Free camp then you would want at least 3 X 60 l water tanks (180kg), generator maybe (20kg), cooking equip, hoses, leads, camp oven, clothes ,food, beer / wine. I would be allowing at least 500kg load and that would be traveling light for most people.

You might possibly get away with a 15'6" internal single axle XC which would prob weigh about 2 tonne - but you would still have to careful when packing it up.

There are at least 2 of us who had Kedron's on order and had to sell our much loved Prado's (90 series) and bought 100 series TD's. I did tow our Kedron twice with the Prado with no water in the tanks (2.5 tonne) and although the Turbo diesel engine did a great job once up & running the manual needed clutch slip to get away from slight hills and once i got the Cruiser I realised how much the van was pushing the Prado around.

I'm wrapped in our current setup despite the extra costs of changing tow vehicles. :biggrin:

Sorry to tell you the bad news but better to know what you are up for upfront unlike myself at the time.

Cheers

[Guest WISHWEHADONE]

Dazmit,

thanks for being frank and honest. I questioned the figures with Jan as well. No point having a Kedron if you aren't setup to free camp.

I'd worked it out that we'd max out by the time we'd added water, the generator, couple of jerries of fuel, let alone all the other stuff we normally carry.

You're right, it's a case of compramise on the van size or the tow vehicle, one or the other.

I can't work out how they towed that XC to Birdsville with a Prado in the Free Camping the Outback? It must have been overweight. I mght have to ask the boys at the van show.

[dazmit]

Put it this way - some people are prepared to tow vans which are above the legal limit of the tow vehicle !!!

My advise is to go the van you want and resign to upgrading tow vehicles. Our original van design was a 15'6" int pop top, ended up with a 16'6" tandem full van with raised chassis, offroad coupling, twin spares, compressor fridge etc and couldn't be happier, I would have wanted to upgrade the single axle , gas fridge version within 1 year I reckon.

Our van goes 2.89 T fully loaded for 3 of us (4 water tanks) as I checked on a weigbridge for your info.

Cheers

Darryl

[Chris]

I agree wholeheartedly with Dazmit.

When we ordered our ATV 5 years ago (it is now 4 years old) we had a much loved Prado. The Galls said the vehicle wouldn't cut the mustard and suggested we trade it in on a LC. I think it was a bit stronger than 'suggested'...

They were absolutely correct. The LC has much more towing Nm power and this is not only handy when towing uphill, but safer. The fuel economy is that much greater too when you're not struggling to carry too heavy a weight. We had a diatronic chip installed which improved the power and fuel economy even more again. We are very happy with the combination of van-vehicle.

And yes, I can well understand the "I want one too!". That's how I now feel about the new Top Ender. :laugh:

Chris

[Webby]

We are the other members Darryl refers to in his post who had to upgrade the tow vehicle from a Prado to a Cruiser. Very expensive exercise at the time, but absolutely no regrets. We even had a tow of Darryl's XC when he got it because I wanted to make absolutely sure the Prado wasn't going to do the job as I loved it so much. Alas, an upgrade was definately needed. We have a 18'6 XC 4 panels, 4 batts and the TD Cruiser handles the job exceptionally well.

You have the advantage now of finding a secondhand Cruiser TD in a yard somewhere, whereas 4 years ago when we upgraded, secondhand ones were like hens teeth and the hip pocket hurt for a while with a new one. But like I said, no regrets.

Look forward to seeing you new baby at a KOG gathering down the track. Put down the plastic though, as all us KOG'ers will all be filing through for a look. We love the smell of new vans !

[JETnomads]

Hi

Our 18ft XC .... fully loaded with 4 tanks of water, two cans of fuel, generator and all our goods and chattels came to just undre 3500kg on the weighbridge.

Granted we might carry a little more than you in the van as we are travelling full time.

Hope this is of some value.

Cheers

Jody

[Zolle]

Hi

Our 17ft XC2 2007 is plated at 2210kg tare with 160 kg ball load and 2750 ATM and we towed it 10500 km back to WA with a Terracan without any towing problems except hill starts are a fine art. Average fuel consumption over that distance was 14.6lt/100km and we were able to cruise at 100km/hr easily. Hill climbs were no problem including over Atherton tablelands, New England highway and the steep climp to Maleny from Palmwoods via Monteville. If your Prado is the latest Common rail diesel then it would tow a 17ft XC such as ours easily and economically, however if you have the old low power Prado forget it. I doubt your 18ft XC will weigh 2200 kg more like 2300kg. The legal tow limits of the Prado may be the same as the Terracan 2500kg, where the 2500kg is the GTM of the caravan which is the weight on the wheels giving a legal ATM of 2750 kg with a 250kg ball load. I verified this with Queensland Transport last year before confirming our order.

Talk to Stan about weights and specs and ask him about the XC2 that went to WA at the end of October last year.

Do your home work and really think out what you would want to do with your van and where you would want to go.

All the best

[Guest WISHWEHADONE]

Thankyou for your advice as it has been invaluable in helping us to re-evaluate our plans.

After careful consideration we have decided that we should just keep our current 16ft Jayco and tow vehicle for the time being. We're still a little way from the undertaking the Big One again with a bigger better van (still need to make a quid to fund it all).

We'd rather the right van ( a Kedron of course) and suitable tow vehicle rather than comprimise becuase of limitations on tow capacity.

I guess we'll have to be satisfied with the odd sigh of dissappointment as we see a Kedron on the road. I'll have to avoid Gympie Rd for the next few years.

Cheers