CaravanAnd4WD.com

If I get another van want to get a 18ft tandom do ya reckon the Paj is up to the task of pulling it, without pulling the guts out of the engine?

My Paj was a V6 3000 1994 ... it pulled an 18ft van 'ok' ... and then I bought a V8 Cruiser ...

Oh! On ALLtow vehicle it's the gearbox you need to worry about not the engine so much ... and the clutch ... my gear box was made for a Mitsu Truck so no worries there (all NJ's have this gearbox) ... I'm not familiar with the make of your Paj so will end all comments about here ...

All comes down to the weight doesn;t it Sharky. Depends what it weighs and how much you take with you. Maximum weight of towing for my Paj is 2500kg and I really think it would be working too hard doing that. Hence when we ordered or tandom axle van I shopped ofr and bought the Cruiser. Better to have more power than not enough. Again though, you can get some light weight tandems these days.

Thanks Scol & Matt are the paj boxes & clutches weak are they? If I do get one it will be my trademark old dunga van so they are probably going to be around the 12-1400kg mark. Scol the v6's have more go than the deisels for towing dont they?

Sharky wrote:Thanks Scol & Matt are the paj boxes & clutches weak are they? If I do get one it will be my trademark old dunga van so they are probably going to be around the 12-1400kg mark. Scol the v6's have more go than the deisels for towing dont they?

I can only tell you my own experience with my NJ Paj ... the gear box was EXCELLENT in THIS model (I still don't know what model/ year your Paj is). Very reliable and trustworthy. I had a clutch specialist check it out and his words were the same; infact he gave the NJ Paj a glowing report re. the gear box and clutch. However, once you hook something over 1200kg's on the back of the Paj she will struggle on most hills. There was the odd occasion when I'd put my foot down and the Paj had nothing to give ...

An 18ft van is approx. 1500kg's .. not far short of the weight you are talking about and I found after the Paj was hooked to the van I ahd very little power for anything else ie. overtaking. My initial reason for getting the Cruiser was as a SAFE tow vehicle. With the V8 power I can overtake not only safely but also with ease. Oddly enough I don't seem to be using much more fuel than what the Paj was using ... another plus!

Re the V6 ... I haven't driven a deisel Paj but the older style deisel's really lacked power ... so towing would be even more of a strain.

I should also add that when I go away now I arrive at the van park feeling good. When I was towing a van with the Paj I was a complete stressball. It really was that bad and I didn't realise it at the time until I swapped it for the Cruiser.

HTH.



Scol.

1400kg with say 400kg max of load I reckon would be fine with the paj. My van is meant to be somewhere around 2200kg dry weight and there are five of us to pack things in for when we go away plus 180 litres of water storage so I would be up over 2500kg well and truely.

The weight your talking about IMO would be fine with the Pajero, definitely with the diesel and in any case manual or auto would handle it fine.

Matt ... do you know Sharkey's Paj model (cause I dont)?

And what model is yours?

Only reason I'm asking is because earlier model Paj's (mid 90's) suffer from lack of power when towing. Later models (2000 plus) had bigger and better engines in them.



Cheers

Scol.

That could be it mate, mines a 2002 auto turbo diesel exceed, planty of power for anything around the weight he is talking. I still reckon even the earlier models would pull that weight with no real dramas, ideally that's one of the purposes they are made for isn;t it?

Thanks for ya input guys Scol mine is a NK 97 2.8 I know it wont be a power house towing just concerned that maybe I'm asking too much of a 2.8 but yet the gu is only a 3 litre so I dont know

I wouldn't like to comment with the deisel motors and although Matt has correctly given the stats for towing the thing is your motor could be getting old. The older a motor becomes the less efficient it is and thus the less reliable a tow vehicle it is and the more stress you will encounter as the driver.

Like I said, my 1994 NJ, although it was likely a reliable tow vehicle in it's day, struggled with a TARE of 1500kg's (plus gear ... say 1900kg's all up and that was without water).

I'm aware of other NJ owners who've either swapped the van for a CT or bought a new vehicle alltogether. The engines are just too old. Mine had 230000k's on it and was getting tired. I tried eveything to make it tow better but to know avail. Our speed would regularly drop below 90kph on a slight incline or heavy headwind.

You could always hire a van for a weekend and see how you go with that. Better to do a test run and if all goes well then look at purchasing the elusive 18 footer ...

Good luck!

Scol.

Scolers wrote:I wouldn't like to comment with the deisel motors and although Matt has correctly given the stats for towing the thing is your motor could be getting old. The older a motor becomes the less efficient it is and thus the less reliable a tow vehicle it is and the more stress you will encounter as the driver.

Like I said, my 1994 NJ, although it was likely a reliable tow vehicle in it's day, struggled with a TARE of 1500kg's (plus gear ... say 1900kg's all up and that was without water).

I'm aware of other NJ owners who've either swapped the van for a CT or bought a new vehicle alltogether. The engines are just too old. Mine had 230000k's on it and was getting tired. I tried eveything to make it tow better but to know avail. Our speed would regularly drop below 90kph on a slight incline or heavy headwind.

You could always hire a van for a weekend and see how you go with that. Better to do a test run and if all goes well then look at purchasing the elusive 18 footer ...

Good luck!


Scol.

Thanks Scol, mine has just clocked 70,000km up so I would hope it should still have years of grunt left in it. Looked at a 20 footer and actually hooked it up and took it for a run, mind you it was a very flat area, and although it was unladen you knew it was there but still seemed to pull it quite well. Layout inside was everything we wanted but I'm a bit worried that the size might be a bit of overkill.

20 footers seem to be the go now ... I'm guessing it had an ensuite? We ahve an 18ft'er simply becuase we don't find the need for an ensuite (ensuties take up approx. 2ft of space) and sow e tend to get ensuite sites in van parks ... usually only $5/night more and VERY handy.

It's also easier handling in National Parks ... anything bigger and you can have 'issues' negotiating gnarly tracks. We also have an outside shower which I've used a few times ... scared some native wild life tho' ...

Can't wait to see what you get!



Scol.

Mate to be honest I really shouldnt be getting anything at the moment but I'll wait and see (cant help myself)

lolol

I'm hoping to ttrade up to my third van sometime this year ... it's an addiction!



Scol.