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Rav4 3 Door Towing


Deedoubleyoo
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Hi, I'm the new proud owner of a 54 registered Rav4, 3 Door, 2litre, petrol auto. I would like to use it to tow our fairly lightweight caravan. On paper it's a sensible 85% ish match, the caravan weighing in at 1000, the Rav4 being about 1300 with a braked max tow of 1500. However, having only previously towed with a Land Rover Discovery (which barely noticed the caravan) I'm a bit concerned. Especially with the short wheel base. Has anybody else towed a caravan with the 3 door? Am I being unecessarilly too cautious? Should i 'beef up' the springs? Any advice/experiences would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks in advance. David

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9 hours ago, Deedoubleyoo said:

Hi, I'm the new proud owner of a 54 registered Rav4, 3 Door, 2litre, petrol auto. I would like to use it to tow our fairly lightweight caravan. On paper it's a sensible 85% ish match, the caravan weighing in at 1000, the Rav4 being about 1300 with a braked max tow of 1500. However, having only previously towed with a Land Rover Discovery (which barely noticed the caravan) I'm a bit concerned. Especially with the short wheel base. Has anybody else towed a caravan with the 3 door? Am I being unecessarilly too cautious? Should i 'beef up' the springs? Any advice/experiences would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks in advance. David

You're going to know the caravan is there much more than you did in your tank, but it's within it's limits so should handle it ok.

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I agree, but ensure the van is reasonable balanced - the downforce on the towball should not be too great.  50kg seems a good number.

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Thanks very much for the very helpful comments. I think I'll invest in one of those gauges to check the weight on the towball....or the trusty bathroom scales...

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You need to be aware that on this model - usually to get the tow-ball height correct, obstructs the rear door from opening with the ball fitted.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 3:37 PM, Deedoubleyoo said:

Thanks very much for the very helpful comments. I think I'll invest in one of those gauges to check the weight on the towball....or the trusty bathroom scales...

The angle the caravan is at will affect the weight on the ball too, best to cut a piece of wood (inch square batton will do fine). Cut it so the tow hitch is at the height it should be on the car and use that on the scales (allow for the height of the scales too). Much better than the over priced tow ball weighers.

Typically 4% of the gross weight of the caravan should be on the ball or a minimum of 50kg. Whichever is applicable. Our van is massive so im at around 75/80kg on the ball. (1600kg).

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