Club 80-90 Forums

So my bus has a tow bar.
I'm considering a trailer for next summer, but I'm unsure it's wise with my tired old engine.
Anyone else tow with a 1.9?

Cheers

Engine's are metaphorically two a penny. It's what towing does to the gearbox that causes concern to me.

Regards, Max.

Depends what you put in the trailer. Mine has no problem with a small camping trailer with an awning , chairs & similar equipment.

I've regularly towed small caravans (up to 700kg), Eriba Pucks that sort of thing. The issue to watch is the combined all up weight - it is very easy to end up with a few hundred extra kg in camping stuff in both vehicles and so on!

I did once tow a trailer with a Bay on said trailer but only for a VERY short distance and not up any hills!

My 1.9DG tows very well. It is probably totally unnecessary but if i'm up at the higher end of the allowable weight (see the wiki) I tend to switch to petrol (my usual fuel is LPG) as I figure the small increase in power and cooling effect does no harm. But Andy from Campershack will no doubt tell me I'm being overly paranoid! And to be fair, I suspect the main reason my van does tow well is precisely because the majority of the maintenance / upgrades it has had have been done by Campershack!

The only issue I've ever had is towing a small camping trailer you can't see it in the mirrors or through the rear window which is a bit nerve-wracking! A rear parking camera with a 'permanently on' override switch solved that!

I used my dg to tow a car trailer and my kit car from the SE to Scotland (over Carter Bar) with no problems, also I towed a horse trailer with a largish horse a few times, struggled up hill with that but no other issues. Probably exceeded the weight limits though, especially as the overrun brakes didn't seem to work.

I towed the buggy (740kg) on an A frame to Le Mans and back a couple of years with no problem and once in a past life towed a karman Ghia on a trailer back from Manchester to south London with a 1600 bay van. The allowable towing weights are probably on the Wiki, these vans were built as commercial vehicles to work and if you have doubts about their reliability that is probably more to do with years of neglect by previous owners. A properly maintained camper should be ready to go anywhere you want at any time as it was built to do.

What about a single wheel trailer, for less drag? Seen a few prototypes drag these along.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Sorry I've been so long getting back on.
Been a weird few weeks.