pre-buying help for a newbie please

JivingDaddy wrote: I thought the best thing for towing a caravan is a breakers claw. :ohmy:

Turns out both Jeremy and James are about as effective as a breakers claw! I was genuinely surprised that the Tiguan managed to get out of that mud though.

ZookFastback wrote: Hi Pickle. In Australia, towing is subject to the conditions of ADR 1989 (Towing) which states the weights are as described in the Owners handbook or, where not specified, 1.5 times the vehicles mass. The Jimny Manual here says 350kgs unbraked, 550 braked.

www.campertrailers.org/towing_regulations.htm

My Swordfish with 25 hp Suzuki 2stroke outboard and trailer weigh 265 kgs with 16 hours fuel on board. I always use a "Levelrider/anti-sway bar" and have never experienced any problems.

Thanks again Zook. It is amazing how light your Swordfish is! The jetski alone is about 350kg so with the weight of the trailer and fuel it is well over the limit. Does have a few more horsepower though In fact, it has considerably more power than the Jimny! As an aside, I haven't seen an anti-sway device like yours before but have used the flat bar type ones which were ok but had limited turning and flex.

"Turns out both Jeremy and James are about as effective as a breakers claw! I was genuinely surprised that the Tiguan managed to get out of that mud though."

Didn't see it, still stuck in the Middle East.

Argh!

That's a shame. No doubt it'll be on the internet somewhere if you are hankering for a fix of light entertainment.

Good idea. Will have a search when I've finished shoveling camel dung.

facade wrote: If you watched Top Gear this week,

I watched it and as always it was a hoot. I love the way they are so derisory to caravans. Does it (the Mazda) have a torque system for the 4WD? I have a Rav I am selling and I don't like that system much, that's why I am selling it. Mind you for 600 notes it is a cracker.

Which Rav have you got? The 4.1 and 4.2 are permanent 4wd.

The 4.1 manual gearbox has a manual centre diff lock vacuum operated via a dash switch, the auto has a hydraulically operated mutiplate clutch inside the differential that is worked by the ecu detecting difference in speed between front & rear axles.

The 4.2 AFAIK has a viscous limited slip unit in the transfer box as well as a proper centre diff.

I think the 4.3 introduced the part time system that couples the back axle on when it can't move.

I'm guessing if you want £600 that you have an early 4.1 with a distributor on the engine.

(there was a 1.8 I think that was only 2wd but they are quite rare in the UK)