Thread: NZ towing laws and practices are making my head hurt, help!!??

Originally Posted by No.3

Yep, although writing the 2L off as a lemon is a little harsh - they do OK as long as they are used within their limits which is a lot more car like use than a lot of people use their utes for. Think Auckland poncing ute dressed up in 50Kg of plastic trim and $6K of crappy aftermarket wheels and tyres rather than a hunting ute...

The 3L V6 does have some areas of concern for me in heavy use - particularly the longevity of the crank and the electronic engine management side (crank failure is a spicy and exciting event when the engine is under full load on the road). We just got to a point where the Bosch gear on the previous 3.2L engine was just about to give up all of it's secrets and flaws and the buggers go and slap Siemens gear on it's replacement just to spice life up. Thanks Ford, I bet your engineers are laughing their tits off over that one.

Yeah you'd definitely want to sell it before the 5 year warranty expired.

Originally Posted by tac a1

We would be better off in this country for people to learn how to tow a trailer properly. Or even better, how to drive a car properly, wouldnt that be something

Mate I reckon only about 10% or less actually drive a vehicle in this country, the rest just sit there and steer......

Someone I know describes them as aimers not drivers...

Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg

Mate I reckon only about 10% or less actually drive a vehicle in this country, the rest just sit there and steer......

Well all those driver aids are really only there to make dumb drivers out of us all.

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Well all those driver aids are really only there to make dumb drivers out of us all.

Having said that, the trailer anti-sway is a useful feature at times. Speed limiter would be nicer if it worked at 30Km/H - bloody useful in road works then so you could spend your time looking out the window and not staring intently at the speedo trying not to get a ticket! I reckon that would be much safer (unless you happen to be driving a Tesla).

Cruise control will do that nicely....see how long the string of traffic is behind you when exiting 30 km zone and how many ####heads overtake you inside the 30km zone.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Cruise control will do that nicely....see how long the string of traffic is behind you when exiting 30 km zone and how many ####heads overtake you inside the 30km zone.

Most makers limit their cruise control to 40Km/H minimum, the Mitsi will do 38 at the lowest and the Ranger is about that as well. It's a deliberate thing I suspect, so in roadworks and the like the manufacturer can't be blamed for any driver induced cockups.

My old Ford Courier ute was great for heavy traffic or roadworks, just leave it in an suitable gear and idle. It would happily chug along in any gear without input, you could always use the choke as a throttle advance as well if you wanted.

Ye gods. 3t? Our swb is stock standard and weighs 2150kg. Our lwb is 150kg heavier. But judging from the roof, some of that guarding should have been done to protect your roof😆😆😆👍

Originally Posted by XR500

Ye gods. 3t? Our swb is stock standard and weighs 2150kg. Our lwb is 150kg heavier. But judging from the roof, some of that guarding should have been done to protect your roof😆😆😆👍

Yep, I ballsed up the photos and will repost, that roof ding has been there for donkeys. It's got full bar work all round plus recovery gear on board as well. I've put GU diffs under it and it's on 35's but it doesn't take much to put the weight up.

Attempt #2.
Used this
to tow this back from the West Coast yesterday.
.

The whole shebang weighed in at 4490kg today, I know the Safari is near on 3t, that puts the trailer and load at approx 1490kg (braked). I knew it was there definitely going up the viaduct and through Arthurs Pass but it's not the heaviest load I've towed. I had the same trailer with black pine firewood plus pungas on recently.
.

As I was trying to say there's definitely a fine line of what can be towed and what shouldn't be towed depending on weight limits, maybe I've crossed that line previously and maybe I haven't....Blackwells at the time of fitting my rear bar in 2007 and hitching point for the towbar did rate it at 2500kg braked iirc.

That tandem incidentally is 2700 x 1700 with the cage being 1600 high.

Its interesting to see most all years of nissan patrols were rated at 2500kg tow capacity, parked up alongside hiluxes with pathetic drum rear brakes and puny front discs rated at 3500kgs.
Still, it doesnt matter a whit if you get the trailer loading all wrong. Couple of years ago i picked up 12 x 6m pine posts for a shed we were building. Un bloody fortunately they were fresh from the tanalising plant🙄
Got the 'oh fuck fuck fuck' sway on going home several times, despite having the poles so close to the trucks back end i could not turn sharply.
Swore off overloads ever since. Should have just done two loads instead of possibly writing the Patrol off😑😑😑

Originally Posted by XR500

Its interesting to see most all years of nissan patrols were rated at 2500kg tow capacity, parked up alongside hiluxes with pathetic drum rear brakes and puny front discs rated at 3500kgs.
Still, it doesnt matter a whit if you get the trailer loading all wrong. Couple of years ago i picked up 12 x 6m pine posts for a shed we were building. Un bloody fortunately they were fresh from the tanalising plant��
Got the 'oh fuck fuck fuck' sway on going home several times, despite having the poles so close to the trucks back end i could not turn sharply.
Swore off overloads ever since. Should have just done two loads instead of possibly writing the Patrol off������

If the weight is too far forward it's just as bad as too far back. There's a sweet spot, the recommendation of 10% trailer mass as tow ball downforce is about right. A lot of boats are bad for this, heavy outboard right at the back along with fuel at the back and a full load of dive gear and toys on board...

It's not so much the towing vehicle brakes as well, as a lot of towing vehicles have much better brakes than the trailers they are towing. After all, look at heavy trucks - 90% of their braking is off the trailers not the tow vehicle.

Shit mates…maybe I’ll just stick with the jetski
On another note the only raptor I’ve ever driven was the US 6.2L supercharged version…wasn’t so much the power but the suspension on that thing!! It pays to be a rich farmer…in any country.

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

See the things I hate thread as our caravan did just that today, big safety chain kept everything under control and we were definitely Not overloaded as we had a lot less in it than when we got it weighed before Christmas and found we had been over by 40Kg then.

That’s is some BULLSHIT there buddy!! I’m glad you’re ok. Lucky she was on a straight stretch!!