this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
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Oh sick discovered a camper my car can actually tow! Got a turbo diesel with nearly 2 tonnes of towing capacity, but if I stand on the towball thats almost too much weight for it. Not exactly the best design in the world.
Ask for a test drive to the local weigh bridge before committing....just to make sure
unfortunately not that simple. Its the actual weight at the towball itself that's my limiting factor. A little baby camper trailer will almost always be under a tonn. And there isnt a great way to measure tow ball limit annoyingly.
I meant more checking that the listed ball weight for the camper is accurate. Weigh bridges can have different sections, so you detach the trailer, position the main axle on one section and the jockey wheel on the next, make sure it's level, then you'll get an accurate camper ball weight.... I say this as a PSA on account of when I was looking to buy our first camper, the one we were looking at, the guy had replaced the stats plate (? The metal plate with the gross weight, ball weight etc) with a different one, unbeknownst to us. Ball weight was well above what he was claiming as he'd had stainless steel cabinets added. Luckily we caught it before buying.
ah yeah, thats a good idea. These Marlin ones seem to be around 30kg so thats probably perfect for us. They claim the baby one can be towed by a corolla.
Repeat after me - Hayman Reese, Hayman Reese - best towing rigs in the goddamn world. Seriously, they're bolt on towing rigs that can be fitted to practically anything and will tow the Titanic up Mt Kosciusko. If you plan to go off road, or have variable loads, they're the best. I had an H frame one put on my Ford 250 for towing horses and NEVER regretted it. Made light work of towing a 3 horse trailer all over Vic and NSW back in the day. Fully loaded too. And I found I was de-bogging other people's rigs out of muddy ground on a fairly regular basis. Mind you, I did have a low torque gearbox added on too which helped.
Wow, ok. Yeah the towball weight on that is nearly double Kia! thats worth a look, thanks.
Can you get airbags installed or better suspension? Still seems pretty crazy, my MUX tows my camper fine without airbags.
MUX is a lot bigger car than a mid sized SUV though. Diesel engine cant compensate for a chassis and suspension engineered for ride comfort.