Impressed with Towing (6600lbs)

We loaded up in Lincoln with our three kids, picked up my parents and drove to Omaha to catch a plane overseas. It is only about 60 miles to the Omaha airport which seems to have better flights and prices.

I figured you might get the conflicting answers from LRNA and the dealer. It seems to be the same thing others have experienced.

Rob

Interesting wording in manual

Hi. I am new to this site as I am looking to buy a tow vehicle and considering the LR4. The issue I have is the same everyone does...what is the tongue weight maximum. The manual says 550lbs, but the hitch says 770. The interesting thing is the wording in the manual:

"If the vehicle is loaded to maximum Gross
Vehicle Weight (GVW) the tongue weight is
limited to 550 lbs (250 kg). See 180,
WEIGHTS."

I would gather from this that the 550lbs is a limit of the GVW as they assume it is loaded to max weight. Can we infer from this that if the GVW have not been met, then we can safely increase the tongue weight to 770lbs?

It is ridiculous that an easy answer is not given by Land Rover. The buyer shouldn't have to figure things out on their own.

Please let me know what others think. Thanks for your help.

I don't think so. In my version of the manual (looking at the 2012 online version for USA) under the "towing" section it requires including tongue weight when calculating GVW.

In reality, I don't think there is a clear answer. They will not specify the weight at failure (where things actually break), so it is always a judgement call on how much margin is needed and what is safe. You have to figure in many variables...wind conditions, road conditions, speed, distance traveling, experience of the driver, lifetime usage, vehicle loading, and probably a dozen others. What you can pull across town and what you can pull up a rough mountain 4x4 trail are very different. My conclusion is that a maximum of about 3000 pounds empty for a travel trailer is as high as I want to go, but a lot of people get by with much heavier trailers with much worse tow vehicles.

I just heard back from my local dealer. As has been stated here, the tongue weight is indeed 550lbs, and you can't use a weight distribution hitch.

So much for buying a LR4 to tow a relatively small trailer. The tongue weight is 500lbs empty, and that will rise to at least 600lbs when loaded. I live need mountains so I am not going to take any chances and overload the vehicle.

The 7700 towing capacity is just not true, and is a ridiculous marketing ploy. If you follow the realistic rule that the tongue weight should be 10% of your towing capacity, then all an LR4 will pull is 5500lbs.

Sigh. I really liked the LR4.

The capacity is somewhat missleading, especially here in the US. We try to stick hard to the rule of at least 10% on the tounge. There are a few exceptions, boats and some horse trailers, but cargo, Car and travel trailers should stick to the 10% rule.

In other parts of the world, this rule isn't followed. I could be wrong but in Europe, most caravans have a lot less tounge weight than we have here; normally 5-8%. Of course, as with most things over there automotive, the travel trailers (caravans) are smaller and lighter too.

I would feel comfortable taking the tounge weight right up to the 550lbs and maybe even a smidge higher. But that is me and it is not a recomendation in any way. After owning a LR4 for a while and knowing what the brakes, drive train and suspension performances are, I would actually entertain a slightly higher number for my personal use.

I do wish it was more cut and dry and that the number was much larger. Either that or the use of a distribution hitch was allowed.

Rob

I have towed two trailers with my LR4 so far. I originally had an offroad type Fleetwood popup that weighed about 4,000# when loaded and since it had a deck to load a quad or toys up front, which i never carried, it had tongue weight of 500 - 650 lbs. I only used a friction sway bar and it towed great as others have indicated. I now have a Keystone Passport 8 feet x 25 feet, loaded weight of 4,500# and tongue weight of ~550# when loaded. I have a tongue scale that I use almost every time I load and I make frequent stops at the scales when i change things up to test the weights. I also use a friction sway bar on this setup and it works. I get a little more movement than the popup but the sway bar seems to be doing what it is supposed to.

I believe the LR3/LR4 is a great towing combination when you stay within reasonable limits. I would not tow a trailer that weighs 7k# with this rig but it can easily handle something in the 5k# range nicely.

I believe a lot of the confusion comes from the Previous (second) generation hitch having a 550lb tongue capacity. This is likely what the manual is based on.

The third generation receiver has an imprinted 770lb tongue capacity as listed as far as I know. Why would they go through the trouble of redesigning it and then printing the wrong specs on it???

dipan said:

I believe a lot of the confusion comes from the Previous (second) generation hitch having a 550lb tongue capacity. This is likely what the manual is based on.

The third generation receiver has an imprinted 770lb tongue capacity as listed as far as I know. Why would they go through the trouble of redesigning it and then printing the wrong specs on it???

Click to expand...

I totally agree with you in questioning why. It just doesn't seem to make any sense.

I'm sure the last thing any of us want to do is put anyone at risk, ourselves included. I truly believe that the LR4 witht eh 3rd gen hitch would be fine up to that weight. But I would hate for anything to happen and then have to reconcile why I over loaded the hitch when it clearly states 550lbs in the owners manual. I'm sure it would be a litigation nightmare too.

Rob

We just got a 2010 LR4 HSE LUX and will be towing a 2006 Mastercraft X1 with it. My 04 Disco SE did it just fine, so im sure my LR4 will be even better.

The boat weights 3200lbs dry, so add about 1000lbs more of amps / spakers / subs / gear / lead. and about 1200lbs for the trailer with brakes.

Here is the disco loaded up... she did sag a bit, but im sure i could have resolved that with a different hitch.



Ill be posting a pic of the new LR4 with the boat ASAP...

What holds the OEM hitch receiver in place? The shape is a wedge and all that I can see from photos is a VERY small little metal pin on the top of the wedge and a small latch on the front side (facing frong of vehicle, I think). Is this tiny latch what holds 550 lbs?