hey guys,

I will potentially be towing a car carrier trailer up to Sydney from Melbourne. And on the way back i'd have 1500 kg in total being towed (including the trailer). So my question is do i need to do anything to my car for this one off trip. Do i need to install anything? I have recently changed my oil, got good tyres on and have recently changed trans fluid. BTW i drive a tw wagon

cheers

Is your towbar rated to that much?

Transmission oil cooler?

Trailer needs to be braked.
Towbar needs to be rated for such a load.

Driving style needs to be adjusted - less acceleration (maybe manually hold lower gears to reduce stress on the torque converter), hugely increased braking distance if the trailer brakes are poor, keep speed down, watch out for swaying, pump up rear tyres more and check trailer tyres, check trailer lights, tie load down properly, etc.
Take lots of fuel, you will need it.
Keep an eye on the neutral light, if it starts to flash it is overheating, pull over and let it cool. Keep speed down, stray out of the way of other traffic.

Finally - enjoy the drive!

Is your towbar rated to that much?

It says 1500 braked and 150 towball limit. What does it mean, and how do you calculate it.



Transmission oil cooler?

This would be a one time thing, would it be needed? I guess it is a long trip haha




Trailer needs to be braked.
Towbar needs to be rated for such a load.

Driving style needs to be adjusted - less acceleration (maybe manually hold lower gears to reduce stress on the torque converter), hugely increased braking distance if the trailer brakes are poor, keep speed down, watch out for swaying, pump up rear tyres more and check trailer tyres, check trailer lights, tie load down properly, etc.
Take lots of fuel, you will need it.
Keep an eye on the neutral light, if it starts to flash it is overheating, pull over and let it cool. Keep speed down, stray out of the way of other traffic.

Finally - enjoy the drive!

Thanks for the tips max :)

Towball load is as important as total load. You need to put the car on the trailer so that you have a downward load at the towbar of 150 Kg maximum, less is better.
A bit hard to judge, I know, but position the car on the trailer so that you can still lift the hitch at the ball by yourself. I imagine you will run the car you are picking up onto the hitched trailer using ramps. Once it is on, try lifting the hitch by hand a little bit without it coming off the ball. Another way is to see how much the rear suspension drops with the load on the trailer, aim for 3 to 5 cm drop.

I don't know the road between Syd and Melb at all, if it is all flat and you are doing only the one trip, a transmission cooler shouldn't be needed. Then again, I hope you don't need to do too much stop/start driving on the trip.

Oh ok, that makes sense. I've done the road before (without towing) its not too hilly.. From memory. Max, I have king lows in the rear, should I put the stock springs back in? Wouldthat help?

Make sure your load and trailer is not over weight as if you get picked up by the plod you will be made to leave the trailer and the load on the side of the road as well as the fines etc etc. IF you have an accident then you are in deeper poo as well

The car itself is able to tow over 1500kg but not legally. I ahve towed over 2 tonne with a Magna Wagon for a very short distance (couple of K's) and it did as well as the Pajero does but then again I certainly would never do a long trip even with 1500KG to be honest

What would be worried about breaking? Anything I could do to minimise the risk?

If you have any doubts at all about doing the whole thing without drama, perhaps you should contact a company that transports vehicles? Don't know what they would charge though.

That's what i initially did, got a quote for 1.3K. was extremely surprised it was so expensive tbh. Compared to fuel and trailer hire = roughly $700. If anyone has had experience transporting vehicles interstate, i would love to hear how they went about it too :)

also had a look at one way hire, but you get charged a premium, which i can understand.

Personally I'd wear the extra $600 just to avoid the potential traumas inherent in this - let someone else do the dangerous bit. lol

Depends on the car you are wanting to transport though. I guess you can't do a fly up/drive back?

The road isn't that hilly until you start towing then you realise how hilly the terrain is. The advice given so far has been spot on. My only other thing would be to suggest some good brake pads. If you bought cheap ones last time you had your brakes done buy some new quality ones before you go. Cheapies fade when put under towing loads like you wouldn't believe.

You will find with your car lowered that there is less distance before you will be scraping the road with your mudflaps. Plus the trailer will be leaning forward thus placing more load on the tow ball.
Your car will handle it as long as you have patience and take your time. Cruising at 90km/h will save you a hell of a lot of fuel. (I've towed a camper trailer about 40,000ks over the past 2 years.)
If you have kids don't take them. Safer for them if something goes wrong,...

Will the trailer owner actually rent the trailer to you if he knows that it is going to take that load?
Is it insured?
Can you reverse the trailer?
Does your car have an electric brake controller?

The Magna will have enough power to tow the load and legally it can tow it as well, but it will be working hard, especially in hilly country or if there is a headwind. 1500 km is a long way to tow a heavy load, although I have towed our caravan over 130000 km now, so a short 1500 km trip wouldn't worry me too much.

Another thing to consider - does the proposed route have any gravel roads? If you try to take off uphill with a front wheel drive, things can get interesting. Same thing with a wet road.

Sydney to Melbourne ain't 1500km, more like half that. I regularly tow approx 750kg unbraked (big, posh tinny + camping gear) from Melbourne to Mildura and back with my TJII 3.5 wagon and while I'd never forget the trailer is there it does it easily. Going double that weight would be quite a scary proposition. Aside from the good advice already offered, make sure the trailer is in good shape re tyres, suspension & brakes and while too much towball weight is no good, too little is potentially worse, so weight distribution is kinda critical. Other considerations are all kinda obvious: keep luggage and passengers to a minimum, give yourself heaps of time for breaks, increase braking distance, check tie-downs regularly, etc. To be honest, I think I would be investigating other options myself but if you're careful about it you should be ok.

That's what i initially did, got a quote for 1.3K. was extremely surprised it was so expensive tbh. Compared to fuel and trailer hire = roughly $700. If anyone has had experience transporting vehicles interstate, i would love to hear how they went about it too :)

Get a few more quotes as IMO $1500 seems excessive.

For the possible headaches I'd spend the extra if that quote is standard across the board and get someone else to handle it.

Thanks heaps for the input guys! This could be easier (and safer if I get the pros to do it). I'll look around a few more quotes. Any recommendations haha :)

Call me Monday will give you the name of the guy we use

Do you have a friend/relative/someone-who-owes-you who has a 4wd or something heavier? It may be cheaper if you were to approach them & offer to pay fuel/accomodation etc for a trip to/from whoop whoop.

Call me Monday will give you the name of the guy we use

cheers Mal, the auction is this morning. I'll be giving you a call if I win haha