Towing a 2.5t caravan with original suspension

[karlZ]

Hi every one. Does anyone tow a van with original Mitzi suspension and how do you find it. Also have dual battery set up and Mitzi bullbar. Weight in the pajero ( 2011 NT Diesel ) would be about 200 kg. Suspension upgrades are expensive and as a pensioner I have to watch the pennies. Would appreciate your thoughts on this. About to do a 3 month trip with the van. Have done short trips with a lot less weight in the car. Cheers karl

[erad]

With a ball load as you suggest, the rear will sag a bit. As the rear sags, the wheels splay in at the top (negative camber), and you will tend to wear the rear tyres on the inner edge. A weight distributing hitch will help with this but not totally eliminate the problem. Otherwise I cannot see any problems with what you propose to do. The Pajero is an excellent towing vehicle - seriously underrated by the others who think they are superior...

I have fitted air bags to my rear springs, but I have a much lighter caravan. I don't use WDH either.

[Ian H]

What are the specs on the van ? Are you saying the ball weight is 200kg ? If so, you need a good WDH like a Hayman Reese or what I have, the Eazilift mid range set (up to 272kg). Cost about $500 but you will possibly need a longer shank as well to get the ball back down to the right height.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkwovP1naJs

[karlZ]

hi erad and ian H
the van is 2.5t loaded and the ball weight is 210 kg. I do use a hayman reese wdh and the van sits level with the paj. I also have about 250 kg in the car and that includes me and the missus.

[Ian H]

Fine, then I'd say you are good to go but watch the van weight. Over 2.5tonne and the maximum ball weight drops to 180kg.

Good general article ehere: http://www.motoring.com.au/mitsubish...ow-test-43751/

[karlZ]

yes i know that but was just worried about the car handling the weight with mitsi suspension. Thanks for all your replies

[slowcoach]

Yep , we are touring around Oz with a 2.5T atm van
Standard shocks and coils will do it...but...if you load up the car as well like I do then at a minimum (imho) your rear coils will need upgrading or helper air bags.
Otherwise rear sag and severe rear tyre wear will occur

I have Firestone hd helper air bags with teflon covers and they can pumped up 60psi. I usually have 35-40psi when towing our van.
Eventually our standard shocks will wear out but so far good, we even did the Palm Valley NT track a couple of weeks ago and had great fun on this pretty rough track.
Have done 35,000 kms so far with this set up and still on the same set of Bridgestone 697 LT .
Oh, I presume you do have a wdh as with 2.5t you will need one to keep your rig safe.
Happy travelling

Ps. Polyair make a cheaper air bag but may not give the lift you need . Dont quote me but I think they only can be pumped up 25 or 30psi and they have no protective kevlar cover.

[2bad4u]

Yep, been towing a 2500kg/200kg combo for 4 years now on original suspension. I wore out the rear tyres within 40,000km so have since added airbags to help. I also use a WDH. The car is loaded with about 300kg including passengers and has a bullbar fitted.

You'll be fine but maybe add air-bags, I did them myself for $350, and found that they made a difference to the ride by reducing the bounce when crossing rail way lines and such. It was like a cyclical / resonate type bounce, now it only bounces once or twice then stops. Hope that makes sense.

I only run the low pressure air bags (30psi) and don't feel that I need the high pressure ones.

[Ian H]

Air bags don't do anything to help shifting the weight back to the front wheels and my suspension guy didn't recommend I put them on. They lift the back, that's all.

[slowcoach]

Your right Ian
That is what a wdh is for (weight distribution hitch), it distributes rear end weight to the front wheels.

Pajero stock suspension is notoriously light in the rear end.
Rear wheels can splay when the back is loaded up, scrubbing out inside edges of tyres, without a wdh steering can be too light and lead to accidents.... etc etc
Many caravaners and boat owners beef up the rear and use a wdh to counteract this.
They were recommended to me by a trailer specialist with 35 years in the trade but each to their own eh .

Coil helper air bags can actually do damage if the vehicle is overloaded as seen on a few utes which have bent chassis.
Whilst I personally believe the tow vehicle should weigh more than trailer - overloading either is a no no.
cheers and happy travels

[Dave_1]

We toured around Australia for a year we a stock suspension Pajero NT and just under 2.5T van. WDH was a must to level the car. Also used the friction sway reduced from Hayman Reece. Handled really well but did do through the standard Geolander tyres very quickly. Once we put on Dueler ATs 697 they lasted much longer.


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[Cams]

Hi Karl, I tow a 2.3 tonne caravan and the paj still has the original suspension, 2010 NT. It goes fine though I would like to upgrade the suspension but have been like this for 6 years. Like you I use a 250kg HR WDH and my ball weight would be a little over 200kg.

So yes it will be fine, but I do think a suspension upgrade could make it better.

[Rusty1]

Hi guys, we tow a 2.7t van and the Paj tows it well. We have added air bags recently and they have made a huge difference in the positive. Previously tyre wear was outrageous.

[miraclepictures]

I have been towing a tandam, 18 foot van with my Pajero for the last 3 years with no change to the standard suspension. Van tare is 1950kg, ATM is 2400kg and ball weight is 150kg. I have a H-R setup which keeps paj and van level.

The Paj standard suspension appears to have handled it well. The standard Bridgestone tyres haven't worn abnormally. Still the original tyres with 43,000km on the clock.
:-)

[karlZ]

Thanks everyone. Can't afford a suspension upgrade at the moment so will try to keep the weight down in van and tug. Got geolandar HTS tyres so we'llsee how they go ( 265x65x17 ) and thank you all for your advice. Cheers