Towing speed with 300tdi or TD5 90 ?

[Furyous]

Anyone give me an idea what sort of cruising speed I could expect with a 90 with either of the above motors pulling my Brian James Minno /Fury combo ?

And what differnce I could expect if I fitted either an Overdrive or Disco Transfer box ?

TIA

F

[church]

Both are very good towing engines and will happily tow at the legal limit all day long. If you look at other threads you'll see great debate about Tdi or Td5 but fact is both are superb towing engines so try both and make your own mind up. If you did want to get higher speeds (i.e. over the 60 limit) then the Td5 I've always found best for higher road speeds at 70+MPH, also the 110 is more stable for high speed towing so you might want to consider that as well.

With regards to overdrive or high ratio transfer box then I'd go for the overdrive as you can select to use it or not whereas with the high ratio your stuck with it and may be changing gears more often as a result.

[Furyous]

Ah, should have also said, currently using a PUG 406 which happily tows the lot up to about 80 if required.Usually sit around 70 tho.

F

[rickslack]

is the minno twin axle? These are loads more stable on a short vehicle like a 90. My td5 will drive at pretty much the same speed on the motorway with or without trailer.

[Psimpson7]

My 90 td5 will tow my BJT tri axle all day at 85 if I want to. Fuel consumption suffers tho!! try 15mpg! Most stable tow car I have ever used. including disco 1/2 and 110's.

[phib]

"Most stable tow car I have ever used"

Wow thats really interesting I have had a 90 td5 for the last two years and to be honest I think its the worst car I have ever towed with to the extent I am seeling it to buy another volvo estate !!!

I wonder if there is someting wrong with mine ?

Do you have standard wheels and tyres ?

[Psimpson7]

Phil,

I have done a huge amount of towing with mine, including some really heavy stuff. Commonly from 2-3t including the wight of the trailer.

Have used it on both standard 235/85 r16 grabbers and 255 85 r16 BFG Mud Terrains.

Both are fine really, although wet braking is possibly a bit poor on both types.

Have never ever had a snake or anything untoward happen with it. nose weight is critical though as far as I have found.

Cheers
Pete

[zumbruk]

FWIW, I tow my Chimaera on a Wessex Trailers flat-bed, all-up weight 1.7 tonnes, behind my Discovery Td5 (which I guess is mechanically very similar to a Defender) and I think it's a cracking tow car. It'll sit at (an illegal) 70mph on the motorway all day and I've had the occasional 80 out of the combo, and there's some left. And I get about 20mpg on a run. Frankly, it's better than the V8 Discovery that preceded it.

I must try and remember, though, that although the Disco has active suspension (ACE), the trailer doesn't....