Towing A Caravan

[koikeeper]

Wife going mad for a caravan :( we are looking at a one with 1200k max laden weight, will my

Rav4 2.0 petrol NRG VVTI tow it with ease, if infact it will tow it at all??

john

[Hoovie]

a good site to check matching cars and caravans is www.whattowcar.com

Should have no problems towing that weight

[john1944]

a good site to check matching cars and caravans is www.whattowcar.com

Should have no problems towing that weight

Your only problem could be with your rear opening door, with attached spare wheel. If you have an alko stableiser hitch, hooking up and off, will be quite difficult. It needs to be done with the car at an angle, and the rear door open, alternatively you may find it easier to remove the spare wheel.

[koikeeper]

HI ,

Thanks for the info but could not find that link,

Found this instead

http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity.asp#tab1

Looks like the max it will tow is 1500Kg

BTW havent even thought about a tow bar yet :o

john

[bothwell_buyer]

From my Toyota tow bar info, the towing weight is 1500kg so you're correct. The max towball/nose weight is 75kg

Have fun.

[valeite]

HI ,

Thanks for the info but could not find that link,

Found this instead

http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity.asp#tab1

Looks like the max it will tow is 1500Kg

BTW havent even thought about a tow bar yet :o

john

Try this http://www.whattowcar.com/

[koikeeper]

Great info,

Does anyone have pics of a detachable tow bar fitted on a Rav4,

there are so many do's& dont's about towbars its confusing to say the least

Thanks, john

[Hoovie]

if you have a browse round this RAV4 section, you will find a post I made with photos of the Brinks detachable towbar from back and side

[Frank Ashworth]

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...mp;#entry730127

[Hoovie]

Great info,

Does anyone have pics of a detachable tow bar fitted on a Rav4,

there are so many do's& dont's about towbars its confusing to say the least

Thanks, john

And here is a post with pics of a detachable towbar on the RAV4.2, which is the model of RAV4 you are looking at

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82196

[koikeeper]

Thanks for the pics,

So it looks like it is the detachable tow bar i need, makes sense when you see the pics, thanks again

john

[cliffg]

a good site to check matching cars and caravans is www.whattowcar.com

Should have no problems towing that weight

Your only problem could be with your rear opening door, with attached spare wheel. If you have an alko stableiser hitch, hooking up and off, will be quite difficult. It needs to be done with the car at an angle, and the rear door open, alternatively you may find it easier to remove the spare wheel.

No problem with rear wheel as u can get an removable handle that allows u to hitch on and off,you take the original lever off and use detachable handle no probs. Cliff

[local hero]

a good site to check matching cars and caravans is www.whattowcar.com

Should have no problems towing that weight

Your only problem could be with your rear opening door, with attached spare wheel. If you have an alko stableiser hitch, hooking up and off, will be quite difficult. It needs to be done with the car at an angle, and the rear door open, alternatively you may find it easier to remove the spare wheel.

No problem with rear wheel as u can get an removable handle that allows u to hitch on and off,you take the original lever off and use detachable handle no probs. Cliff

Ive been thinking about tow bars, and saw a 4.3 XTR today with a witter non detachable tow bar, do we only need detachable tow bars on 4.3s with a spare wheel? and if so is this because of the position of the rear number plate, or is their some other reason?

[Hoovie]

local hero,

just a thought .... when you walk around the rear of your car and bang your legs on the towbar sticking out, you WILL wish you had a removable one :censor: :censor:

It's worth spending a little extra for the removable one, IMO (and looks tidier when not in use ;) )

[Bezzer]

Ive been thinking about tow bars, and saw a 4.3 XTR today with a witter non detachable tow bar, do we only need detachable tow bars on 4.3s with a spare wheel? and if so is this because of the position of the rear number plate, or is their some other reason?

Yep that's the only official reason- a fixed bar obstructs the plate if you've got a 4.3 spare wheel model though Hoovies comments are all good.

[Hoovie]

could you guess I have the bruises to show (and that is from just occasional towbar presence )

[local hero]

could you guess I have the bruises to show (and that is from just occasional towbar presence )

I called in a Tow bar fitters to-day (INDESPENSION) they quoted £357 to fit +supply a brinks detachable tow bar, with twin electrics, does that sound reasonable? is the brinks one the one MrT fits? Cheers

[bothwell_buyer]

could you guess I have the bruises to show (and that is from just occasional towbar presence )

I called in a Tow bar fitters to-day (INDESPENSION) they quoted £357 to fit +supply a brinks detachable tow bar, with twin electrics, does that sound reasonable? is the brinks one the one MrT fits? Cheers

I've recovered a towbar off my MR2 donor which you can have free.....but I'll need to weld it on for you, or you could do it yourself? Its nothing like the RAV towbar, but with a bit of meccano (remember that?) it'll be fine on the day.

Real proud - got stopped by the polis an the pollution watchdogs in Motherwell this week and they thought they had found an old car with a pollution proble, - no catalyst thing, straight through exhaust and loud - dead cert to fail.

Nope.

Passed their test which goes to show with a highly tuned turbo engine in the RAV, it'll pass anything!!! B) :lol: :P :P

[Hoovie]

could you guess I have the bruises to show (and that is from just occasional towbar presence )

I called in a Tow bar fitters to-day (INDESPENSION) they quoted £357 to fit +supply a brinks detachable tow bar, with twin electrics, does that sound reasonable? is the brinks one the one MrT fits? Cheers

Hi LH - if that includes the proper towing loom that connects into the RAV4 wiring in the 'approved' way, that is probably a good price (think that loom is about £100 or something daft from Mr T!).

Just had a look at the TowEquipe prices on eBay for detachables bars ...

Witter - £188

Westfalia - £253

Bosal - £255

towequipe not listing the Brink, but think I read on the forum that Westfalia own brink now(?) so maybe Westfalia one IS the brink one?

Then RAV4 Specific Wiring - £65 for 7-Pin or 13 Pin

Got the figures from This eBay Search

So quaility parts from a fairly cheap supplier will be at least £250, making labour charges around £100 tops? - reckon that is not bad deal at all.

[local hero]

Cheers Hoovie, well found, not sure if it was a toyota specific wiring loom, didn't ask but i will if i decide to have one fitted Thinking of getting a caravan and heading off into the wilderness, with wife + pup, not to sure about spending a lot of time in a small environment with the wife, so might leave her behind + just take the dog..

[JonRobbo]

Just for info I had a detachable fitted about 2 years ago paid £345 but that included stabiliser bracket ( about £45 ) and twin electrics.

So the price does not sound too bad.

The detach swan neck is effectivley an upgrade on the standard towball, and the one I have is shown on the link below.

http://www.discount-towing.co.uk/product/1...Towball_Upgrade

The only comment I would make is that while it is absolutely nesseccary to have a detachable ( cant opent he rear door with it in place), it can be an absolute pig :censor: to remove after a journey and can take several minutes of grappling just so you can open the boot.

That said the RAV tows great and the van is about 1350 laden.

Happy caravanning

[local hero]

CHEERS FOR THAT JON

[Hoovie]

one other comment I have... in the UK, we have 7N and 7S connections (7N for rear lights and stuff on trailer and caravan, 7S for caravan internals) and on continent they have a 13 Pin connection system.

The 13 Pin is meant to be a lot more reliable and less prone to water ingress and you can get 13Pin to 7 Pin adapters - may be worth considering?