Towing 28’ lightweight camper with 2013 LR4
 

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Some I’ve met have told me I should buy a pickup truck to tow my 4800 lb Retro 265RB travel trailer . I could never see myself in a pickup truck so I bought what I wanted, a Land Rover. I installed a weight distribution hitch with sway bar, and electric trailer brakes. i towed it at 60mph or so from Ohio to Michigan and then to Georgia without any problems. I plan on driving it to California and back to Georgia in a couple years. Anyone have advice, or wanna tell me I’m crazy, or will everything be fine? Basically, if I keep my load weight and speed low, can this be done safely, or am I dumb for even thinking about towing this camper with this tow vehicle? Go.

Change your tranny fluid early and regularly should be fine. Plus if you break down you have accommodations on hand.

Is 4800lbs what it actually weighs when fully loaded (water, fuel, kit etc) or is that ‘empty’?

The LR4 is rated to about 7700lbs tow weight so if you’re really at 4800 you’re well below the max weight. There is a debate about whether you should use a weight distributing hitch on the LR4 - I thought LR advised against it (something to do with the air suspension setup). But many people seem to use them successfully

LR4 is well powered and a pretty capable tow vehicle so if you’re well within the weight parameters then you should be fine

A weight distribution hitch is a smart move, as it transfers a little load to the front, instead of unloading the front. Horrible advice by anyone suggesting that using a weight distribution setup is a bad idea.

I would be curious if I were the OP of the actual weight, once it's loaded with all of the stuff a family stuffs into it. I think your estimate is very low. Easy to test, load it up and find a scale used by truck drivers nearby.

Also, add a sway control device.

Apparently you’re referring to me with your comment on ‘horrible advice’ for suggesting that the OP might not want to use a weight distribution hitch? Or are you saying Land Rover gives horrible advice? I quote below directly pasted from the LR4 owners manual

“The use of weight distribution hitches is not recommended. Using weight distribution hitches can potentially cause serious damage to the vehicle.�

So. Your call. But Land Rover says they should not be used

Weight distribution hitches are much more safe, if Land Rover is suggesting otherwise, they have their head up there ass.

Well - the fact is that LR advises strongly not to use them. And unclear why they would deliberately try and make towing a vehicle more dangerous.

I don’t know more than that. But I wouldn’t discount a very clear statement from the manufacturer without really understanding the mechanics of this specific vehicle, air suspension, mounts etc

Unrelated to the current discussion BritCars but what is up with your keyboard?

Under no circumstances should you use a weight distribution hitch with your LR4. We tow a 5000 pound trailer with my wife’s 2012 and it took junking the weight distribution hitch to get everything to work properly. (Well that plus plugging in a 12 dollar harbor freight incandescent tow light set to activate the towing settings on her truck but that’s another story)

Symptoms with the WDR were a significant amount of “porpoising”. With the normal hitch, the air compressor isn’t working nonstop and it’s a very stable ride. I do miss the sway control provided by the WDR though.

So far we have about 15k towing miles in 2 years on our LR4. Handles it like a champ.

if you haven’t towed a significant amount of weight for distance with an LR4, i’d suggest refraining from dispensing conventional towing wisdom advice. A WDR works well with a traditional suspension setup but is pretty horrendous on the active suspension of the air sprung LR4.

Sounds like good advice to me

ArmyRover - not sure I follow the keyboard question? What did you see?