I have a 27 foot camper weighing in at a little over 4,000 lbs. Just wondering if I could get some feedback from some people who use their Disco's to pull trailers as to how well they do. I have pulled many many trailers but usually with big F250's or 350's and they will pull 4,000 lbs and you can barely even tell that it's behind you at all so I guess that's more to the point, how badly does it affect the driving and will I end up in 1st gear going up a little hill or not. Thanks for any feedback at all, every bit helps.

 

You should be able to haul it but it won't be like pulling it with a F-250. Towing capacity is 5500lbs. I have pulled a few cars on tow dollies and I tow a 20' pontoon and I dont think any of them weigh 4k. I have yet to tow anything on my 33s and I know its gonna be awful because it is weak up hills just with the tires. A lower set of gears and D90 brakes would help a lot. I'm guessing the camper has brakes on it though.

 

 

Yes the camper definitely has brakes on it, for some reason I thought the towing capacity was way more than 5500, I thought it was over 8,000, must have read that wrong somewhere.

 

I have seen newer lr3 types tow 2 axle dump trailers loaded down but no idea how well they do it

 

3500kg is 7700 lbs with an overrun brake, 1650 with no trailer brakes. I saw 5500 somewhere before i found the towing specs. That being said. Hills will suck, especially with any tires larger than stock. I pull more than 1650 without trailer brakes but I allow PLENTY of room for stopping and go slow.

 

7700 pounds is in LOW range, not HIGH, so speed would be modest, and mpg would be exceptionally low. Not a great idea for a cross country vacation.

 

I tow a 23' travel trailer that weighs in at 4,000-4,200 lbs. loaded. It does OK, but you will definitely down shift up grades and be maxed out on your speed just trying to maintain 50-55 up the steeper grades. You will want to make sure your trailer brakes are working, and you have sway control. D2 brakes need to be in good shape as well. Fresh/clean tranny fluid, and cooling system in good order. Upgraded rear springs may be useful too. I went with upgraded OME MD springs all around and a wt distributing hitch, although LR says you are not to use wt distributing hitches. I have asked some LR people and no one seems to know why. It may be some difference in the towing setup from US vs Europe, not sure. I have been towing for 4 yrs now, and it works well. Anybody here know why or have a theory, I would be glad to hear what your thoughts are.

The length & height of the longer travel trailer compared to the short wheelbase of the D2 can make you feel like you are being pulled around sometimes, so take it easy with a 27' trailer. I would say it is a little too long, as I feel like I would not want mine to be any longer, but another 4" may or may not be that different. My 18' pontoon tows fine. I thought the pontoon would not feel like much behind the D2, but the 4.0 just needs a little more horsepower before that is going to happen, even with the pontoon. I borrowed a friends Jeep Grand Cherokee when my D2 was down one time, and did not even feel the pontoon back there with the 5.3L V8 engine under the hood of the Jeep.

Also, if you have not done much towing of more than utility trailers like me when I bought my travel trailer, the vehicle towing capacity specs are very misleading. What I have learned is that before you do anything you should leave a 10% safety margin. That takes you down to 5000# towing capacity. Then you have to subtract the weight of all occupants and gear/heavy upgrades in the vehicle, which was a surprise to me, but makes sense. The vehicle has to pull all that stuff along as well as the trailer, even if it is in the tow vehicle. I would of thought the specs would of at least figured in a 200# driver or something, (like the vehicle is going to tow without a driver). The weight the trailer places on the hitch ball has to be added in as well, and then the loaded trailer weight. So that 5,500 capacity is really much less when it comes figuring the weight of the trailer and contents that you can tow. My rough calculation towing my travel trailer with my D2 towing go something like this: 400-500# occupants + 500-600# steel rear bumper|sliders|roof rack|vehicle tools|gear + 3,500# empty trailer + 400# tools|gear in trailer + 350# trailer tongue weight resting on the tow hitch ball which puts me right at the 5,300-5,500# range. You need to review the other spec about Gross Combined Vehicle Weight (GCVW) which is the D2 factory curb weight, plus all the weight added in/on it, plus the trailer's tongue weight resting on the hitch ball which gives you the total of weight resting on the D2's axles. I cannot recall what that limit is.

Gas mileage is bad as well, not sure exactly but around 10 mpg or less.

 

hello

 

I find it is a short wheel base thing pulling with a D1 and the 4.0 is very low power and pulling on grade is not fun