Will Rav4 Tow Caravan Ok

[cliffg]

Having recently purchased an 03 Rav4 D-4D, I'm considering having a towbar fitted to tow

my caravan so that I can sell off my old tow car.

Loaded weight of caravan is 1150kg. Which I think should be within the Rav's towing capability

and legal.

I would like to hear from anyone with experience of towing a caravan with a similar vehicle, as

to its overall suitability, and how it behaves, or any other comments before I make the change.

Meldrew

Hi

My caravan has unladen weight of 950 kg Last year we towed up to Scotland from Essex, 4 up, awning, inflatable boat and outboard in the boot. Towing on the motorways was easy at 60 mph in 5th gear. Hill starts no problem. 1100 miles towing! and another 900 miles touring around. Still averaged 31 mpg towing with air-con on! No problems with cross winds or lorries. Super tow-car!!!!!

One point to watch, make sure you get the correct tow bar for your model. Toyota fitted different springs which change the ride height. If you get the wrong one the hitch is to low. I fitted a genuine Toyota detachable bar. When fitted the door will not open, but it is the correct height. I have spoken to other people with fixed bars and they problems towing over humps in the road.

xt4

I am on my second Rav. I tow a Bailey 460/4 with no problems as the weight is well within the 85%.Last year i towed it with my d4d 3 door and still had no problem with it in France.On both cars i had a detachable tow ball fitted and both allowed me to open rear door(missed by mm)but there was no lowering of pitch(caravan runs level,suggest where its not level the caravan isnt loaded properly).I think the Rav is a great towing car and i get good diesel consuption.I notice in the caravan mags etc there isnt a great mention of Rav 4 s towing, i cant make this out and would suggest they look at it.

[anchorman]

I agree with Kingo.

Take the DMF out of your mind and go and enjoy your holiday. There are 1000's of these things around Europe lugging ruddy great trailers and mauling their way through muddy fields.

My mate Wollaston sets off to France in his 4.2 D4D with a caravan and enough gear to go 3 times around the world with 40 men to feed and shelter. It looks like Chipperfields circus heading out of town and it lifts a the bow of the cross channel ferry out of the water when he pulls onto the stern.

He loves it and so does the RAV.

[Frank Ashworth]

a couple of photo's to show the clearance between tow ball / hitch and rear door on RAV 4.3

the tow bar fitted to my vehicle is a Witter detachable.

[anchorman]

Nice spot frank.

Does your neighbour have the dreaded LR?

[Frank Ashworth]

Nice spot frank.

Does your neighbour have the dreaded LR?

Hi Anchorman,

If you mean the vehicle in the reflection it was a Toyota land cruiser,

here is a photo of the same vehicle pulling out a stuck motor home. I was going to volunteer but the gentleman in the land cruiser beat me to it, ;)

[chatman]

Anchorman...Believe we've been down the road of reflections and miss interpretation before :rolleyes: :lol:

Must have a lot of dust and water in yea eyes from driving those trains with the windows open again :P :P :P :P

[anchorman]

That reflection that shcm showd was very accurate if you don't mind - to a blind man on a galloping horse but I've got to admit the only honorable samuri thing I can do is kill myself with a sword............

How can I have mistaken a Land Cruiser for a LR????

Its these earlies, they're doing me in!

[Grahaml]

Hi Everyone

Sorry to jump on this thread. I have got a RAV4 XT4 2005 model. I have just had the same problem with my caravan and the towbar being low. The Jockey wheel was catching the floor over speed bumps and uneven ground. I had the witter TY123A bar fixed with an alko ball on. The door opened ok, but only just cleared the ball. I measured the floor to ball centre and it was approx 340-345mm which is really low. I spoke to witter technical about this and the guy said it shouldn't be that low and maybe the fitter had fitted it incorrectly. Luckily I live less than 20 minutes away from the witter factory so he suggested that I bring the the car down for him to have a look at. He said the tow bar was fitted fine and his only explanation was that the XT4 must be a lowered being a top of the range model (at the time of purchase). He then offered up the stowbar which would give an extra 40mm lift, with the extra 30mm on the main bar and 10mm in the swan neck. He then suggested trying different swan necks to raise the height again (something you obviously will not get from a stockist). The one we settled for was the swan neck from the new Rav4 06-. This gives an extra lift of approx 70mm taking it to approx 420mm from the floor which is ideal and still should let me get the alko hitch over the top. He also put me on to cheshire towbars who did me a deal on the upgrade kit for £80 instead of £115 which was the cheapest I found on the web. Its fitted on monday, so I will keep everyone posted to how it works.

Thanks

Graham

[millerw2k2010]

Anchorman...Believe we've been down the road of reflections and miss interpretation before :rolleyes: :lol:

Must have a lot of dust and water in yea eyes from driving those trains with the windows open again :P :P :P :P

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