Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Looking to buy a dedicated tow car for under 12k that can tow legally my 3 tonne boat/motor/trailer. I think the landcruiser pre 96 is only 2.5t and anything after that is year is either 2.8t or 3.5t which puts my budget to the limit. Was thinking about the disco's or the rangie's but worried about running costs and reliability.

Any help much appreciated

how often are you going to tow it? once a month? or 3 times a year etc...?

Thanks for the reply

The car would be used to tow the boat on average once a week and used to tow dirt bikes maybe once a month.

Is gross Vehicle mass in any way related to towing capacity? Can't find towing capacity on redbook but GVM for some of the older F250's are 3500kg.

Bronco's are 2900kg GVM but close enough you'd think. And more common and likely to be under 12k.

Thats a heavy boat.....
You may well be better off looking at small diesel car lic trucks, and then you can carry all your extra stuff and bikes etc on the back as well...
If you have a look on Ebay in the truck section there are bargins to be had at times....

cheers

GU patrol 3.5T
Navara 3.0T

mickyd555 wrote:GU patrol 3.5T
Navara 3.0T

not for under 12k

TroopyOz wrote:Thats a heavy boat.....
You may well be better off looking at small diesel car lic trucks, and then you can carry all your extra stuff and bikes etc on the back as well...
If you have a look on Ebay in the truck section there are bargins to be had at times....

cheers

thats a good idea

j-top paj wrote:

mickyd555 wrote:GU patrol 3.5T
Navara 3.0T

not for under 12k

The earliest GU's would be getting close now wouldn't they? Redbook says 13k-16k average sale price for a 98 4.5 ST

j-top paj wrote:

mickyd555 wrote:GU patrol 3.5T
Navara 3.0T

not for under 12k

sorry missed that bit, what about a 110 defender dont they tow 3.5T, no idea what its worth though.

You should be able to pick up an early (1992-199X) 110 defender ute for about that money. Or an older 110 county for even less...

This site lists 110 (pre 1992) towing capacity as just under 4T.
http://www.difflock.com/buyersguide/pas ... ical.shtml

Australian models had an optional 3.9L ISUZU diesel (and neither of the 4cyl engines).

If you want to do it in a bit more comfort, I think rangies and discos have similar towing capacities. However - check on state legislation, as don't some states say you can't to anything heavier than the tare weight of the tow vehicle, ragardless of the manufacturer specs???

RockyF70 wrote:

j-top paj wrote:

mickyd555 wrote:GU patrol 3.5T
Navara 3.0T

not for under 12k

The earliest GU's would be getting close now wouldn't they? Redbook says 13k-16k average sale price for a 98 4.5 ST

yeh but it would be a fukt one..
if he was going to tow that often he wouldnt want to do it in a POS...
better to get a better condition vehicle but older

can get a ninetis disco for that price. they dont tow too bad

We just bought a 98 TDi Discovery for $11500 and it tows great. I think the towing capacity is 4oookgs.

thanks for all the replies guys very helpful.

I am a little worried about buying a Rangie or Disco because of reliability and cost of parts.

On the other hand i love the sound of a V8.
So if i were to go for the UK cars what should i avoid and what should i be buying? V8 which one? td? manual or auto? disco or rangie?

Thanks again

We have only had ours for 1 month but so far it has been brilliant. We have already put 3000klm on the clock. It is a 2.5 diesel automatic. I have heard that the models from 99 on have had their problems but I'm sure any car has its problems.

3t is a lot of weight. As Harbs said get a small truck. A 4wd gearbox will die from towing this amount of weight plus use a rediculous amount of fuel towing the boat.

melb44 wrote:thanks for all the replies guys very helpful.

I am a little worried about buying a Rangie or Disco because of reliability and cost of parts.

On the other hand i love the sound of a V8.
So if i were to go for the UK cars what should i avoid and what should i be buying? V8 which one? td? manual or auto? disco or rangie?

Thanks again

How far do you want to tow this thing?

The reason I ask is that there is an old International D1410 SWB 4WD truck with a Hiab sitting for sale not far from here. Looks like they have done a lot of work to it too, it has new paint & tyres.

As far as a tow rig is concerned it will tow that thing all day every day but they are not real comfortable.

Pic:



Looks a lot like this but with a tray, awesome towing vehicle.


If you dont want one of them, then try an F series Ford. Yanks build them to tow so they have strong everything. Beware of trucks that have CARRIED heavy loads though as they are not built for it, they will look bent in the middle.

Much better than anything else for towing in yout price range.

Are you going to drive this vehicle every day or just as a tow rig?

melb44 wrote:thanks for all the replies guys very helpful.

I am a little worried about buying a Rangie or Disco because of reliability and cost of parts.

On the other hand i love the sound of a V8.
So if i were to go for the UK cars what should i avoid and what should i be buying? V8 which one? td? manual or auto? disco or rangie?

Thanks again

I love rumours

Price a diff seal kit or engine mount's or glass or anything really, I'm sure you'll find 99% of bit's are cheaper than the equivelant year patrol/cruiser. which rangie should I buy get's asked pretty reguarly so look through that link.

Simon

shakes wrote:

melb44 wrote:thanks for all the replies guys very helpful.

I am a little worried about buying a Rangie or Disco because of reliability and cost of parts.

On the other hand i love the sound of a V8.
So if i were to go for the UK cars what should i avoid and what should i be buying? V8 which one? td? manual or auto? disco or rangie?

Thanks again

I love rumours

Price a diff seal kit or engine mount's or glass or anything really, I'm sure you'll find 99% of bit's are cheaper than the equivelant year patrol/cruiser. which rangie should I buy get's asked pretty reguarly so look through that link.

Simon

Yeah, but you'll have to replace everything 4 times as often if it's got a rover badge on it ...

It seems as though the F100/150 dont have the high enough tow capacity so that does leave the Land rovers.

So Its out of four cars
disco V8 late 90's
rangie 4.6 hse high kms late 90's
rangie 4.0 moderate kms late 90's
rangie 3.9 pre 95 low kms cleaner car than above.
What about LPG is it a problem on these cars? how much to install?

So to all the LR pro's out there which would be the better car to have?


Thanks again guys this is really helping my decision and i am sure there are others out there with the same problem.

There are plenty of light trucks which will do the job way easier and safer than a 4WD in your price range.

Probably be a lot better on fuel also.........

melb44 wrote:It seems as though the F100/150 dont have the high enough tow capacity so that does leave the Land rovers.

So Its out of four cars
disco V8 late 90's
rangie 4.6 hse high kms late 90's
rangie 4.0 moderate kms late 90's
rangie 3.9 pre 95 low kms cleaner car than above.
What about LPG is it a problem on these cars? how much to install?

So to all the LR pro's out there which would be the better car to have?


Thanks again guys this is really helping my decision and i am sure there are others out there with the same problem.

Steer clear of 95- 99 rangies as they are expensive to repair, late RRC 90-94 are best years and lpg works well. Disco's 95 up either 3.9 V8 or TDI are reliable, TDI auto would be best for towing especially after an injector pump tweak that increases power and maybe an intercooler upgrade.

dave_str wrote:3t is a lot of weight. As Harbs said get a small truck. A 4wd gearbox will die from towing this amount of weight plus use a rediculous amount of fuel towing the boat.

yeh the more i tink about it the more i think a small truck mught be the go..
you can carry your gear on the back and still tow the boat without any dramas

$12k will get you more than enough truck to do the job

after jackknifing a car trailer at 60k's i learnt the hard way about towing with a vehicle too light. wrote off car / trailer/ towed car/ and closed the f3 northbound for my effort

ask tom (daisy) about bad towing experiences

get something that weighs as much as your boat. eg a light truck

3 tonne pushing the arse end around on a rangie, no thanks, 2 tonne ( trailer plus car) was enough to push the ass of my hzj75 around at 80k's ( thats with ballast on the back of it too )
same trailer behind an empty 6 tonne isuzu didn't even know it was there at 110

or in the worse case make sure your insured, and they will cover it with the 'car" your going to tow 3 tonnes with

im looking for a truck atm a heads up is most will add GST to the sale price on anything bigger than a car licence, what you would want ideally is something that has been downgraded to a car licence

Probably better off getting a decent trayback and going the gooseneck fifth wheel route.

3 tonnes is a lot of boat and you dont want that comming thru the back windscreen when you try to stop in a hurry.


Have a look at some of the fishing forums. A lot of talk on them about towing weights and vehicles.

Try Ausfish.com or Fishnet.com

Rod

rangies tow heaps

parts aint dear if you ever need them pm cloughy of here

cv's are $60 not to bad

Your only wanting to tow, no 4bywheeling? if yes.........................buy a small truck, rovers have the towing capacity, unfortunately they all lack the "engine capacity" ...........although, can sort that out

You'lll need breaks on the trailer.

All the current Jap 4wds will only do 3t trailers with breaks, they arn't rated any higher than 750kg without any breaks.

look at the car websites they have this info on them, it'll be 750/3000

all the jap 4wds seem to be the same from the 90's on, if you go the US pick-up route your really looking at the $70,000 to $100,000+ price range, they will do 5 tons but you'll need dual wheels etc.

are you sure the boat+trailer is 3tons? an 8 mtr ally boat plus trailer is around 2 tons, pushing.