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BigJimnyMeet (North) 2024 (12 Jan 2024)


BigJimnyMeet 2024

14th July 2024
Parkwood Nr. Leeds

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Towing a caravan?

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26 Oct 2017 11:46 #185538 by weecorey
Towing a caravan? was created by weecorey
I'm in a bit of a dilemma, I bought my jimny a year ago 2008 Vvt jlx+, a really nice one and I really like the wee car. We recently bought a caravan and although on paper the jimny will tow it (1100KG caravan) I wasn't sure if it would be right so the plan was mot the jimny and sell to buy a bigger jeep. Well I've just spent the past 6 weeks of my spare time on the jimny, it started as a pre mot clean and inspection but turned in to a mini restoration project, not because the car needed it but because I'm a really fussy kinda person and don't believe in doing half a job. I reckon the car would have passed the test as it sat but I ended up spending £600 and I'd say 60+ hours labour, I sand blasted any surface rust from the chassis and floor pan, primed with coroless rust stabilizing primer, painted with black coroless before giving a coat if black wax, I stripped the front axle and replaced oil seals, king pin bearings and swivel seals, cleaned out and re packed cv joints, blasted axles, radius arms, removed and blasted vacuum pipes, stripped, blasted, painted and rebuilt calipers, fitted new disc's and pads, new exhaust from cat to bumper. Every bolt that was removed was either replaced with stainless or blasted in my cabinet blaster and treated with coroless accordingly. I'm waiting on a new crankshaft pulley as I get belt squeal occasionally.

Now that the car is sitting immaculately clean and I know that from bumper to bumper there isn't an issue I'm not sure I want to part with it!

So..... back to the title, does anyone tow a caravan with thier Jimny? It would be me, my wife and 2 kids traveling.
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26 Oct 2017 13:11 #185541 by Lambert
Replied by Lambert on topic Towing a caravan?
Not a caravan but regularly I tow 1300kgs behind mine either a single axle gp trailer or the more stable twin axle sheep trailer. I live on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales and consequently have some serious hills here abouts and honestly if you accept that you are crawling up them not flying then it isn't a problem. I also have a cherokee for the big trailer and in proportion the Jimny is just as happy with it's full train weight as ever the Jeep is with its. Also bear in mind that once up on tye flat it doesn't matter how fast you could go you are limited to 50 mph regardless of what you are driving (60mph on a dual carriageway ) with 1100 kg of static loaded caravan you will be fine. Just drifting along enjoying the drive.

Temeraire (2018 quasar grey automatic)
One of the last 200ish of the gen3s, probably.
ADOS Attention Deficit Ooooh Shiny!

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26 Oct 2017 13:49 #185542 by weecorey
Replied by weecorey on topic Towing a caravan?
That's made me feel better, I'm thinking I can put a roof box on the jimny so I'm not over loading the caravan, my kids are 7 & 12 so I'm never going to over load the jimny with the addition of a roof box.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Lambert

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26 Oct 2017 19:25 #185554 by Foxtrot
Replied by Foxtrot on topic Towing a caravan?
I use to have a small Eriba Puck at 500kg MTPLM and this combination was great, after a few years I upgraded to a larger caravan of the same make an Eriba Familia 320 @ 900 MTPLM, Whattow car website suggested that my Suzuki Jimny with a 83 bhp /110Nm torque engine towing the Familia should be ok with a car to van ratio at 79% but it would be sluggish up hills.
In the real world when towing it became obvious that I had to sit behind slow moving traffic on the motorway and constantly change gears,  I also had to wait for very big gaps before pulling out of junctions and roundabouts. I was in no rush to get to my destination however I found that the journeys became tedious and very fraught. The deciding factor to trade in my Jimny was on the M62 going up the large hill from Manchester to Huddersfield in the crawler lane in 2nd gear.
The car I have now is a diesel 2015 Vitara AllGrip @ 118 bhp 320Nm torque (its the Nm torque figure that caravaners look for to give low down grunt) with a car to van ratio of 59% and it makes a massive difference. I now have the confidence to overtake and pull out of junctions, which means that I am reaching my destination less stress free. It's a fine balance of having a car that is up to the job for towing and not over the top for everyday usage...

Try this outfit matcher to give you a rough idea.
towcar.info/GB/index.php

I really miss my Jimny, I had 4 over a 12 year period, I am hoping that the new Generation 4 model will have a more powerful engine.





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26 Oct 2017 20:39 #185555 by Lambert
Replied by Lambert on topic Towing a caravan?
Much of the towing ability of a Jimny is down to the expectations of the driver. From reading caravan mags and sites as part of my research into getting one the vast majority of the contributors of such things seem to be of the opinion that towing a caravan should have no perceptible impact on the performance of the car doing the towing and that having eleventytwelve million torques is the absolute baseline minimum power requirement as is the sort af braking capacity that would shame a gt racing car it's again the barest little one should accept. It's like the 85pc gvm proportion hocum that the caravan club insist on peddling, horse apples. I have been all over the country in this Jimny with it variously at either the full tow limit or often very near full train weight with the back loaded up too and it has never missed a beat. Fine it can run out of momentum on longer or steeper hills, that's why it has first gear and yes it's pottering along with the wagons on the motorway but that's because of the law not the car, not that that seems to bother some of the other drivers one gets passed by doing 80mph with the trailer weaving about behind. The other thing is i tow Jimny size loads quite a lot of the time and heavier loads a few times a year ok i have the means to also have a heavy tow car but it gets very little other work because it is essentially a one trick pony and having to use it for the rest of the year would be too expensive a compromise when the Jimny is so well suited to what I do most of most of the time.

Temeraire (2018 quasar grey automatic)
One of the last 200ish of the gen3s, probably.
ADOS Attention Deficit Ooooh Shiny!

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27 Oct 2017 05:37 #185558 by yakuza
Replied by yakuza on topic Towing a caravan?
I would not.

Been towing 1000liter water tank behind my jimny around locally, towing our Ifor Williams horse trailer, my boat and other things that all weigh in around 1000kg. No problems of course, but only locally. Maybe i live in a country with more steep hills and mountain passes, more strong winds that can move a large caravan around, less possibility for the others to overtake me on our narrow roads.
Had a couple of long drives with 600kg of horse gear as well but i would not do more weight for long trips.

I had a 1700 kg caravan wich was sold last year i pulled with a 400Nm 174hp VW T5. used to pull the caravan with an older 102hp T4 as well. Large car in front makes for stable driving.

in my opinion the car in front should be preferably heavier or at least the same weight as the thing you pull. I like to drive fast and not bother the other people on the road, but here in Norway the places to overtake are few and far between.

Norway 2005 Jimny M16A VVT, 235 BFG MT, 2" Trailmaster, ARB rear lck, 17%/87% high/low gears.

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27 Oct 2017 09:53 #185563 by weecorey
Replied by weecorey on topic Towing a caravan?
I'm in Ireland where motorways are few and far between, I suppose I would encounter a few hills when I think about where I would like to go but in fairness the Donegal roads are 45-55 mph on a good day in the car. The other option I have is to tow the caravan with my Nissan Interstar van, that's what I towed it home with after purchase but it's a big van, lwb, I use the van as a car, it's not a work van and never has been so it's clean. Decisions to be made....

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29 Oct 2017 09:59 #185611 by Busta
Replied by Busta on topic Towing a caravan?
The Jimny will get the job done no problems, but it depends what you expect and how you drive. If you are happy sitting in 3rd at 50mph on long motorway inclines then fine. But for some people that is an unfathomable proposition, and they will find the Jimny a frustrating tow vehicle.

The van, however, sounds ideal. It will tow it more easily, use less fuel, carry more stuff and generally be a much better tool for the job! Sounds a no-brainer.

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