How do you drive when towing?

[Peterng]

How do you drive when towing?

Nah, I am not one of the codgers who sit on 80kph whilst pulling a 3500kg van in a dual cab.
Why people have the pull around their own house on wheels. I'm sorry, I just don't understand..I just don't get it.
If the traffic on a dual carriage way are punting along I endeavour to stay with the flow of traffic. Nine out of ten times you are travelling along @ 90km in a section of traffic anyway. I tend to pick routes, travel times and traffic conditions away from the main highways.
I've got a camper trailer @ 800kg and it's nice to tow..I can sit on 100km all day long.
As for trailer brakes..I do not have a great deal of faith in them, I've seen too many incidents where drivers bias them too much.
Many people and dash cam videos are proving this, motorists are travelling too close together. People cocoon themselves too much in their vehicles these days and do not anticipate.
People are forgetting braking distances with respect to what they are pulling. They feel that towing a van even 2500kg can be stopped in half the distance when travelling at 100kph because the van has brakes.
In respect to the greys who poke along @ 80kph. I sit and wait for better conditions to overtake. I bide my time, patience.
It's just travel on the road these days, they have a right to be there as me and you. We better start getting use to it for there will be a lot more people on the roads pulling vans the next 10 years.
The way marketing has pushing lately..there will be bigger heavier vans with bigger vehicles/ Utes (trucks) they are calling it these days..give me strength.







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[Pwoffey]

+1 for Patience when driving. If you do 100kph over a 100km distance it'll take 1 hour. If you have to slow to 80kph for 10 km (10%) of the drive, say because of slowpokes blocking you, but you can resume at 100kph for the remaining 90km, then you'll reach your destination just 90 seconds later than before. No biggie, I reckon.

Having said that..... it's not really the small increase in journey time that irks. Rather, if you ARE going to pass the slow drivers, and mostly one will want to, then you have to step up the level of concentration and venture onto the oncoming lane. This makes for a more stressful trip, which nobody likes. Especially if you are towing too. My own rule of thumb for highway driving is that if I am within 10 km of coming into a town (where I'll have to slow to 60 anyway) and the vehicle in front is doing 80kph or above, I just hang back - the slowpoke might be stopping in the town anyway.

[Poita]

I tow a camper (about 1500kg) and a ski boat (1700-1800kg), obviously not at the same time!

I use a Wholesale Automatics lock-up kit and drive in 5th at 100-110kph shifting down to 4th or even 3rd for the hills (dropping speed as required). Transmission temps are kept between 70-80 degrees. Without the lock-up, they are 100-120 degrees. This is even on 42 degree days on the Nullarbor. There is a difference of about 200-300rpm with it locked or unlocked.

I have zero issues with the transmission but the engine heats up on the bigger hills which is an issue I am trying to solve.

[old Jack]

Nah, I am not one of the codgers who sit on 80kph whilst pulling a 3500kg van in a dual cab.
Why people have the pull around their own house on wheels. I'm sorry, I just don't understand..I just don't get it.
If the traffic on a dual carriage way are punting along I endeavour to stay with the flow of traffic. Nine out of ten times you are travelling along @ 90km in a section of traffic anyway. I tend to pick routes, travel times and traffic conditions away from the main highways.
I've got a camper trailer @ 800kg and it's nice to tow..I can sit on 100km all day long.
As for trailer brakes..I do not have a great deal of faith in them, I've seen too many incidents where drivers bias them too much.
Many people and dash cam videos are proving this, motorists are travelling too close together. People cocoon themselves too much in their vehicles these days and do not anticipate.
People are forgetting braking distances with respect to what they are pulling. They feel that towing a van even 2500kg can be stopped in half the distance when travelling at 100kph because the van has brakes.
In respect to the greys who poke along @ 80kph. I sit and wait for better conditions to overtake. I bide my time, patience.
It's just travel on the road these days, they have a right to be there as me and you. We better start getting use to it for there will be a lot more people on the roads pulling vans the next 10 years.
The way marketing has pushing lately..there will be bigger heavier vans with bigger vehicles/ Utes (trucks) they are calling it these days..give me strength.
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Agree 100% Peter, particularly with your future prediction of the roads being clogged with "houses on wheels". There needs to be a concentrated education and enforcement plan about tow ball loads, GVM, ATM & CGVM as well as drivers licence requirements. There are way too many overloaded 4wds towing over and poorly loaded big vans driven by people well past their prime in regards to eyesight and reaction times. Yes it is a free world but we all need to take responsibility for our own actions and safety, particular other road users. Vehicle and caravan manufacturers need to clean up their acts and start operating responsibly. At some stage State governments will see the revenue stream in policing the existing laws and they will make more laws to try and compensate for lack of common sense.

OJ.

[Merts]

Nah, I am not one of the codgers who sit on 80kph whilst pulling a 3500kg van in a dual cab.
Why people have the pull around their own house on wheels. I'm sorry, I just don't understand..I just don't get it.
If the traffic on a dual carriage way are punting along I endeavour to stay with the flow of traffic. Nine out of ten times you are travelling along @ 90km in a section of traffic anyway. I tend to pick routes, travel times and traffic conditions away from the main highways.
I've got a camper trailer @ 800kg and it's nice to tow..I can sit on 100km all day long.

In your previous post you said

//The best optimum SAFE SPEED is 80Kph is when you are pulling any weight..
You push to 100kph...well its your risk..
...why...???

Reaction times, braking distances and things going tits up always happen exponetionially and remember..there's other lives in the vehicle with you!

So...vehicle distances...for a vehicle pulling weight...4500kg...at 80Kph. 1 car length for every 10kph...which means about 8 car lengths forward...about 80mtrs conservative distance.

Me personally..when I get a rush to my head...85kph..then drop it even more for changes of road surface conditions, weather conditions, vehicle problems and surrounding Traffic!//

[erad]

I don't know why, but whenever we travel through a big city (Sydney, Melbourne etc), it seems to be peak hour. I generally know where I want to go, so that usually isn't a problem. However, even driving without a caravan in a city these days scares me witless - I've been in the bush too long.

I try to keep a good safe distance between me and the car in front, but every b____std jumps into my buffer space. OK - I expect that and compensate accordingly, at times by scaring hell out of the clown who just used up my buffer space, but that is only one clown - there are thousands more... I have found that a caravan scares the average city driver, so I carefully put the right hand edge of the van about 50 mm from the lane line. I travel at the same speed as the traffic, but rarely is anyone game enough to get into the space beside me. This way, if I need to veer out into the second lane (I look well ahead) I put my blinker on and move out. They don't like it but if I have to merge, I do. The caravan is normally bgger than their cars anyway. Where there are 3 lanes eg Pacific Hwy Nth of Sydney, I use the centre lane and let the clowns go around me as they wish. This is what the truckies do and I normally tuck in behind a truck and follow him. All of this requires intensive monitoring of the mirrors so I know what is going on around me at all times, but as yet I have not scratched my car of van against anything so I guess it works.

Once out on the open road, I try to travel at a moderate speed - 90 to 90 km/h. This probably annoys other motorists more than if I went slower, because it is harder for them to pass me. Again, I keep a solid eye on the mirrors so I know what is building up behind me, and when practical, move over and let the mob pass. Going down a steep incline, I use the lowest gear I can so that I don't have to use the brakes. This means that I do slow up other traffic, but when I get the chance, I pull over and let them pass. Normally they acknowledge my courtesy.

I am particularly aware of truckies. They are out there trying to earn a living. If I am in an area where they cannot pass, I accelerate up to the limit, and when it is clear to do so, I contact them, and they go past, with me slowing down to keep their time on the wrong side of the road to a minimum. They normally acknowledge me.

It is all a case of common courtesy. Drive to suit yourself, but try not to hold other up in doing so. Most people when they see a caravan, truck of other large object MUST get past them, even if they are doing the same speed as they normally would themselves. Live with it, make it easy for them and everyone is less stressed, except in the city where they are all just plain mad...

[LoraMoser]

Shouldn't be a problem provided you have the requirements of the tow dolly (hitch). The only reason you would need to drop down into 3rd gear is if you found that the transmission was constantly hunting between OD (4th gear) and 3rd gear.

Why not have the wife drive it?