KLUGER FOR TOWING

[CROCO]

HI EVERYONE, I JUST WANT PEOPLE THOUGHTS OF THE KLUGER AS TOW RIG AS IM THINKING OF BUYING A CAMPER TRAILER.

I ALSO MIGHT ON ODD OCCASION TOW A TRAILER . SO IF YOU COULD PLEASE TELL WHAT YOU TOW AND HOW WELL THE KLUGER

HANDLED THE LOAD ALSO WHAT SORT OF ECONOMY I SHOULD EXPECT . YOUR THOUGHTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

D

[feral1]

I tow quite a bit with my Kluger, Late 2009 KXR AWD, I have towed 1.5 tons, it does not take too much notice of the weight, I have not done too far with that sort of weight.

I do tow a 6x4 trailer for camping, usually have quite a bit of weight, but handles that quite well, A lot of my camping is off road, in rough areas and has quite good fuel usage. mind you I can do any thing up to 30 ks at 5 - 10 khr, due to my bird photography.

I do not think you will have much trouble at all, as they do have a 2 ton tow rating.

Peter

[CROCO]

THANKS PETER,

I towed a mates 8x5 bogie trailer loaded with bricks and it surprised me how well the kluger towed it,i used a extra couple of litres of fuel per hundred at the most so im pretty happy with that.

I normally tow a 6x4 trailer with stuff to the tip on the odd ocassion.

The camper trailer im thinking of buying weighs about 700kg, so the kluger will tow it with ease.

[feral1]

Not a problem with the 700kg trailer, I have found the Kluger does well in that way.

Peter

[CROCO]

Sorry peter for taking so long to reply.

have you got electric brakes fitted or has your trailer got inertia brakes or do you tow with just the car brakes.

the kluger has unbraked towing capacity of 700kg so I will be right on the limit.

[RICE RACING]

HI EVERYONE, I JUST WANT PEOPLE THOUGHTS OF THE KLUGER AS TOW RIG AS IM THINKING OF BUYING A CAMPER TRAILER.

I ALSO MIGHT ON ODD OCCASION TOW A TRAILER . SO IF YOU COULD PLEASE TELL WHAT YOU TOW AND HOW WELL THE KLUGER

HANDLED THE LOAD ALSO WHAT SORT OF ECONOMY I SHOULD EXPECT . YOUR THOUGHTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

D

Hey CROCO, another Peter here!

Have a read of my mamoth thread on my old Kluger, on about page 12 or 13 I have a picture of the Kluger towing my Mazda RX7, I got a round trip average of 12.9lt per 100km (I think it was like a 1400km trip) the economy was excellent.

I am not sure on the long term durability of the Kluger platform though, part of the reason why I sold mine and bought something much more heavy duty. But if you are towing a box trailer and not near the towing limit I say it should be good. Economy is excellent on these engines as you know :)

Best Regards

Peter

[CROCO]

Cheers peter

thats excellent fuel economy 12.9 l100 towing the best part of 2 ton, thats roughly what I was getting towing mates trailer to newcastle and back to dubbo the weight of the trailer conbined weighed around 1.5 ton, the kluger did a good job towing it,. I probaly should of had electric brakes, but kluger did a good job pulling up with out them, but probaly shouldnt tow a heavy trailer without electric brakes, but it was a one of thing , I no longer tow big heavy loads any more. so kluger the will probaly do the job fine, I agree the kluger hasnt got a strong a platform as the fj or my old prado. I not sure I should get electric brakes fitted to tow my camper trailer or not, or the trailers inertia brakes will do the job.

[ruggedron]

Hi Croco,

I purchased a second hand 2008 Kluger KXS AWD at the of January this year, and used it tow my Jayco 14ft. pop-top caravan to Port Fairy and back to Melbourne on the Labour Day weekend. It did the job magnificentlly, didn't know the van was there at all. I had an electric brake contoller fitted as the van has electric brakes. I also had a transmission cooler fitted as I have previously done to all my auto tow vehicles. Hope this info is of some use to you.

Ron

[CROCO]

Thanks ron, thats the information i was after.

We must of bought our klugers about the same time, I picked my up in january to.

Do you think I will need the transmission cooler towing my camper trailer that weighs about 700kgs or should I get the transmission cooler as precaution measure.

ps I hope your enjoying the kluger. :D

[ruggedron]

Hi David,

I really love my Kluger. I have only done the one trip as I mentioned yesterday, other driving has just been around the suburbs. It was fantastic driving to Port Fairy.

I would recommend the transmission as precaution because transmissions work a lot harder under load, if you trans fluid reches 93 deg C. you are in big trouble.

The guy that installed my transmission cooler that the standard cooler on the Kluger is small and that I am better off with full size cooler.

I previously towed a Jayco Swan camper trailer with 4 litre auto falcons and always had a cooler fitted. The tare weight of the Swan was 750 Kgs. On a weigh bridge, fully laden [ATM] with water tank full, gas cyl. full, gear and personal luggage it was 1050 Kg's. As you know the Klugers unbraked towing capacity is 750 Kgs. I would be careful with my weights. You may need an electric controller fitted if your camper has electric brakes.

[CROCO]

Thanks ron

Thats a lot great information mate much apreciated mate.

A lot of people wouldnt take into consideration how much all your luggage and food and all of those other small items actually all weigh, before you know it your over your 700kgs, so I will definitely be getting electric brake controller it also will be a insurance problem with out it.

Thats exellent point you made about the transmission cooler, I was reading a article in 4wd magarzine a little while ago and they said that biggest cause of automatic transmission failure was caused by over heating,a lot of the time you dont know your automatic transmission getting to hot until its to late, theres no warning your automatic transmission fluid getting to hot, in my old prado it had a light to let you know when the automatic transmission was over heating , but then theres damage probably allready done.

So I think the transmission cooler is a great Idea.

Thanks once again ron your a champion.

ps welcome to the forum mate look forward chatting to you in the future.