95 xj towing a car??

[HamishW96]

Hey all, my cousin is potentially buying a ba Falcon to part out. Now the issue is the car isn't rego'd and unsure if it'll go, but we were gonna trailer it. Now would my XJ be able to tow an 1800kg Falcon + trailer comfortably on the freeway or will it overheat, blow a diff and lose brakes? Cheers all. Btw it's a 4.0l, non ABS car.

[Mace1]

From memory XJ towing capacity is just under 2300kg. So with trailer you would be around or over legal towing capacity, depending on trailer weight.

How far, how many hill climbs?

You would want to know your cooling systems (both engine and transmission) are spot on, because if theyre not its endeavours like this that are likely to cause heart ache...

[Richard buttocks]

Research the right weight of the falcon and find iut the trailer weight.

Go slow and brake early, very early

Saying all this, i towed an 80's v8 420sel merc behind mine with 31s and it was fine. Even on the highway at 100.

Ive also towed my current xj with my old xj with zero issues.

Slow and steady...

[Classic Boy]

I once did a lot of car on trailer towing with my old hemi6 powered valiant. This was in the pre-SUV days and banana back trucks were not even heard of, if you needed a truck tow it was done with a hoist chains winch and a front or rear lift.
I Never had any serious issues and I towed plenty of parts donors home. Now these were the days when the nanny state was in its infancy and we didn't even think to much about gross weight or GVM or tow weight or even tow-ball down force, the general rule of thumb with Mr Plod was as long as you had a full size car tow car (holden Valiant or falcon) in front they didn't intervene.

Over the years I did have a couple of brown undies moments, like aqua-planning through the 4 lane north rd the nepean hwy intersection in melbourne, sliding on the polished tarmac in torrential rain when the traffic lights changed and I was in no man's land to far to make it through on the yellow but too close to stop in time.

The advice already given is the accurate, but I will add the following ;
make sure you are correctly loaded, that is the engine end of the dead car is at the front of the trailer so the tow load is stable, put them dead cars on backwards makes for a brown undie day. Make sure the towed vehicle is strapped down don't rely on the handbrake and winch cable to prevent the load shifting.
make sure the trailer brakes work, many hire trailers are in a poor state of repair,
try and pick a non busy day and time on the roads, and with our burgeoning east coast capital cities now busting at their seams that is getting very hard to do,
as already stated take it steady don't accelerate hard and avoid sudden hard braking, try to anticipate the traffic lights and other idiots behind their wheels,
Check you insurance for any conditions affecting towing.

On freeways and on the open highways consider 80-90kmh as the maximum safe speed range and approach that slowly, be courteous if you notice a line of cars building up behind you on single lane highways occasionally pull off to allow them to pass. It only cost you a few moments in slow trip but it lowers everyones frustration.
Lastly if you feel the load behind getting the 'sways' lift off the throttle and avoid braking allow the load to come to you and settle by reducing speed, if you can apply the trailer brakes independently then do, that will help with pulling the load straight. Then stop and move the load on the trailer further forward to stop the problem reoccurring .

Lastly I have a car trailer but I now never use it as it is just too much agro at my age towing cars particularly on our crowded roads, flatbed trucks are cheap to hire and get the job done quickly and efficiently but ring around to get a good price.

[awg]

Originally Posted by HamishW96

Hey all, my cousin is potentially buying a ba Falcon to part out. Now the issue is the car isn't rego'd and unsure if it'll go, but we were gonna trailer it. Now would my XJ be able to tow an 1800kg Falcon + trailer comfortably on the freeway or will it overheat, blow a diff and lose brakes? Cheers all. Btw it's a 4.0l, non ABS car.

you will almost certainly be over the legal limit, max is ~2225kg with an XJ, you cannot legally tow a 1645kg XJ, so if the Ford is 1800kg, you will probably be over unless the trailer is very lightweight

You did not say how far you had to go?

if it was less than say 30km, maybe you could risk it.

The XJ will tow that weight ok

you can also get a "approval to move" for ~$28 (in NSW), lets you drive an unreg car..must be roadworthy

a Cop told me he would always pull over anyone towing the same vehicle as the tow vehicle as he knew they would be over (in the days b4 the 3.5 ton vehicles, (which is dangerous BS anyway imo)

A flatbead for <50km should be about $100

[HamishW96]

Guys, appreciate the input a million. So the baseline of info is...

1: make sure the car is in good health (I have 2 trans coolers, new engine cooling system, and new brakes)

2: brake early...

3 load it properly...

4: the drive would be long otherwise an unregistered vehicle permit would be the go. A trailer will be cheaper than a tow but a broken car will cost SO MUCH more than a tow... (100km drive)

5:the trip would be all freeway so very flat.

6: the Falcon does weigh around 1750kg wet. They're fat pricks.

7: do rent trailers have those brakes which actuate odd the tow hitch? Not electronic?

Appreciate the advice everyone. Much appreciated as I have no clue. And classicboy thanks for the in depth analysis and report for me of what to do!

[Mace1]

Any trailer over 750 kg loaded should have at least mechanical override brakes by regulation. If over 1600 kg electric or hydraulic brakes must be fitted and operational. You will need an electric brake controller fitted to your tow vehicle.

Cheers.