I have an 03 Disco 2 HSE, 4.6L. Engine has been redone and working on restoration. I LOVE my Disco!! I plan to travel the US and had started last year by buying a travel trailer. Scale showed 4600 lbs loaded up. Spent 3 months on the road.
I'm looking to get a larger trailer and have so many mixed data points on tow capacity. One is 5500lb on high and 7000 on low (who the hell is towing on low) Another is 7700 lbs.
Options have a 2k difference and this is very important. The trailer is braked and I've installed a controller.
Does anyone KNOW what the true capacity is????
Anyone towed 5500-6K on long road trips.

 

I have towed multiple Discos with a Disco at least 2 hours. Truck and trailer probably 6500-7000 lbs with no problem. That said, it gets a little squirrely over 65 mph. It will run hot if you pull a long grade but a little up and down is no problem or flat ground no problem. You can run the air too. If I was going to tow consistently like you are planning to I would install a factory trans cooler for an oil cooler, inline thermostat mod, and rear air bags for helper springs so it doesn't unload the front wheels so badly. Try to get the trailer set up with only about 200lbs tongue weight. I looked at getting a RR for the longer wheelbase to help with the sway, but did not want to give up the cargo area.




My boat was 3600 lbs

 

Short wheelbase, low power and torque, I would try to keep it under 3,000 pounds.

 

I don't think there is anything that can be towed with 200lb tongue wt It's usually 10% of trailer wt and I've found that to be consistent. I have a tranny cooler, factory and ACE and air suspension on all 4 tires which does an amazing job of balancing wt over the length of the Disco. Used a sway bar for sway control.
That said... I'm looking to move to a double axle trailer and have been told that more trailer wt will actually stabilize towing.
Ergo the question
Nice boat Thanks for your info!

 

How did you get air suspension on the front?

 

Correction... Air on rear which levels front for towing. No air on front.

 

I've towed as much as 7800# behind a Disco on 32s, mountain road, no trailer brakes. Sketchy but it can be done. Transmission is getting hot at this weight.

Comfortably towing with a D2 with 4.6l is probably around 4500#. If you have 32 or 33" tires or a 4.0l you're probably more comfortable around 3900#. If you have both big tires AND a 4.0l then you're probably comfortable around 3500#.

That said, this all depends on your own towing capability from a driving perspective. I would town 7000# behind a D2 again, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

That is technically what they are rated for in non-US markets where trucks are less common, so that is the rating I go by, but over 5000# you are going to want upgraded engine cooling and a second transmission cooler, both of which I had done to my D2 when I was towing with it.

 

I find this thread interesting. I don't have any immediate plans to tow and know the truck is rated at like 7000#. But dang, it just seems like it would cook the oil right out of it towing the way these things generate engine heat. Good to know it can be done successfully. Tow on man.

 

I haven’t towed anything of any significant weight behind my D2, but in general I think that the rated towing capacity of any vehicle is based on some hypothetical numbers that probably don’t relate to a lot of our real worlds. In the mountainous area of British Columbia where I live I wouldn’t tow anything that was close to the rated weight very far at all.

 

My boat was less than 200lbs of tongue weight, I could lift it on to the hitch. It was a double axle though so that helped. Both the boat and the U-haul car trailers have surge brakes which work just fine. Slightly increased stopping distances not unreasonable.