Ball weight upgrade

[Warren]

Looking at doing the upgrade to 300 kg ball weight next week
Just weighed my van and ball weight came in at about 290 kg
GTM 2643
ATM 2900
Tare 2370
Wondering if I should upgrade the ball or purchase another vehicle
Power wise I think the pajero can handle it it's just the ball weight

[old Jack]

Have a look at this thread.

https://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=55313

I seem to recall reading about a 180kg ball weight once over 2500kg, have I remembered correctly?

Also can you move some of the weight which is forward of the axles back towards the axles? This will lessen the ball weight without compromising handling.
If you move weight rear of the axle then you can compromise handling seriously, you can end up with a "twitchy tow and rear end wobbles".

OJ.

[dhula]

FWIW my opinion is to look for another tow rig.
The Pajero can do it but you are getting to be right on the money for the legal limit and particularly for long term/continuous towing duties IMO.
If you are towing mostly on sealed/dirt road and don't need the off road performance/ability so much (not that I recommend anyone tow big weights off road) then maybe take a look at the new wave of F trucks, Ram, etc coming to our shores. I have no personal experience but all the reviews of the new Ram1500 look OK, even with it being a petrol V8.

Will certainly be more expensive to upgrade the tow rig compared to doing the towball weight upgrade to the Paj so something to consider.

[Warren]

Yes true about 3 grand to upgrade the suspension they are max weights on my van in reality probably only weighs about 2.7 as we travel pretty light.Looking at some of the Utes available I don't think I would be any better of

[Warren]

Yes true about 3 grand to upgrade the suspension they are max weights on my van in reality probably only weighs about 2.7 as we travel pretty light.Looking at some of the Utes available I don't think I would be any better of

[nj swb]

Yes true about 3 grand to upgrade the suspension they are max weights on my van in reality probably only weighs about 2.7 as we travel pretty light.Looking at some of the Utes available I don't think I would be any better of

I agree - I don't believe one of the current crop of twin-cab utes is a better solution for towing your van (unless you want to get into F150 class and beyond).

As OJ said, factory spec says ball weight is limited to 180 kg above 2500 kg trailer mass. Some have had engineering certification for 3t / 300kg, but this is getting to the limit of the Pajero's abilities. Just because the Pajero can do it, doesn't mean it should do it.

I wonder about the suitability of IRS for towing weights like this. I believe Grand Cherokee and Defender have higher towing ratings, and they have their fans, but I'm not sure I would class them as a big step up.

For me, if I wanted to tow a van approaching 3T, I'd be looking long and hard at Land Cruisers. If you decide to keep the Pajero, look hard at moving van mass towards the axle - don't attempt to reduce the ball weight by moving weight to the rear.

[Warren]

I did tow my van with my brother wildtrack ranger the other day it towed it with ease and the rear of the ute hardly even moved.

[Dicko1]

Didn't think you could get an upgrade on the Paj to a 300kg ball weight. That is some serious weight. I also consider 3000kg a ridiculous figure for safe towing. Advertising bullshit just keeps suckering people into buying mobile houses. Save your bickies and get a RAM or sell the van and get one that is smaller , lighter, safer and easier to tow.

[nj swb]

I just realised we're in the NS forum. Early NS only had a 2500 kg towing capacity - have you checked your owners manual to confirm yours is rated to 3 tonnes?

[nj swb]

I did tow my van with my brother wildtrack ranger the other day it towed it with ease and the rear of the ute hardly even moved.

Ranger Wildtrak has a lower GCM than Pajero - not by much, but it's lower. Although in your case, I don't think that lower GCM would be an issue.

Remember that your ball weight is counted in the towing vehicle's GVM, so that 290 kg ball weight is eating into your payload. Gen 4 Pajero has (from memory) a GVM of 3030 kg, so once you take out that 290 kg ball weight you're left with 2740 kg total in the Pajero. Have you weighed your Pajero?

This is where the Wildtrak would come out in front - a 3200 kg GVM and 6000 kg GCM leaves you more room to play with if your van is only 2700 kg ATM. Take the 290 kg ball weight off the 3200 kg GVM and the Wildtrak can still load up to 2910 kg - so you could have the Wildtrak weighing more than the van, which is generally considered a good situation.

[old Jack]

I just realised we're in the NS forum. Early NS only had a 2500 kg towing capacity - have you checked your owners manual to confirm yours is rated to 3 tonnes?

I also seem to recall a discussion about MMAL doing an upgrade from 2500kg to 3000kg.

https://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=49930

Having towed both 2500kg and 3000kg (as an experiment) with my 3000kg rated tow capacity Challenger with 131kW and 350Nm, it is not a weight I would be towing on a regular basis or over longer distances. When we were testing Auto Mate and Lockup Mate for the Challenger we used 2,000kg as the testing load, it was much easier on the car and driver especially since most of the testing was done in the height of Adelaide’s hot summer!
The NS has the same Jatco Auto Trans but with a lower slip ratio of the Torque Convertor (1.61 vs 2.04) and although the NS had the 3.2CRD engine vs the Callengers 2.5CRD engine the 3.2 produced less kW but a few more Nm. All gear and diff ratios are identical.

OJ.