New ST-X - and good for towing 2800kg?

Hi All, Hoping for some advice. We need to upgrade our Diesel Triton to a vehicle with 3000kg towing.

We are upgrading to a new bigger horse float - with a few horses top end weight is around 2800kg, fully loaded. Triton can only tow 2700kg legally.

On paper the new Navara St-x 2.5l Diesel has 450Nm of Torque versus the Patrol 3.0ltr Diesel which has a humble 354nm. To me that's a big difference. Salesman reckon the Navara will be the better tow vehicle.

Navara has better fuel economy as well. Can anyone provide some input as which would be better?

How capable are they when it comes to towing at the top end of thier capability

Both equate to the same price (ie: Patrol 3.0D manual versus the Navara ST-x in an Auto) They tell me manual gearbox have weak clutches and to avoid.)

Not keen on the v8 Petrol Patrol...and the Toyota cruisers are to many $$$$

Cheers Zane

yep il be getting the nav if ur going to tow that much...

Welcome, Zebu.

The Toyota Cruisers also drink about 22LPHK without towing, I understand, so they're disastrous in the economy department.

We bought our Navara because of its 3T towing capacity too. We had intended to buy a Travelhome, to replace our 1.8T caravan, but we've decided against that, favouring the Kedron caravan as it will happily go places we won't be able to take the highway-bound Travelhome. Hauling our current van is fine - it's a little underpowered below 2,000rpm and slow to move, but it is still quite comfortable.

And hauling horses, I guess you don't want to be tumbling them out the back when you take off!

Jeff may come along and tell you how good his D40 was hauling his van around - if I recall correctly (and maybe I am mistaken) his was upwards of 2.7T and he hauled it for something like 14,000km without too much drama.

I haven't driven a Patrol, so can't say how good or bad it will be, but I can say the Navara is very comfortable on long journeys and if I had to choose again, I'd choose the Navara.

zebu said:

We are upgrading to a new bigger horse float - with a few horses top end weight is around 2800kg, fully loaded.

Click to expand...

Gooseneck?

how many horses will you have onboard? 2800kg is a lot of horses.
do you require a truck licence with all that weight?

over here they often just go straight to a horse truck.

I thought riding horses were about 500-odd kg each.

A 3-horse angle float weighs somewhere around the 1400kg mark (click to see example). Add 1500kg of horse to that and you're at 2900kg.

Heavy buggers aren't they?

a family member builds horse floats and horse truck conversions.
i can't remember exactly but most horses will be lighter than that. also that seams to be a very heavy float tho it is very long.
usually the debate here is a 4 horse float is sitting around the 3-3.5 ton mark fully loaded. the problem is all the other gear. 4 horses may mean 4 riders, then theirs sadles etc, water, feed etc. that can really up the weight.
so you might as well just get a truck then you don't have to worry about weight limits etc. however that costs more in rego's etc. tradeoff is they are often easier to drive on wet paddocks, easier to manourver than trailers and have room to sleep in!

There are a lot of these smaller horse floats around the Hunter Valley area. I think the smaller floats are cheaper to buy, register and easier to find a park with.

I Googled horse weight and found them between 900-1200lb, so I figured since there are so many McDonalds outlets in the Hunter area, I'd estimate the average at 1100lb which was 488kg and I rounded it up for the saddle etc. I really have no idea about horses, I just know how to search for stuff so I don't come across as a completely unedumicated git, although I sometimes still manage to!

Actually, Zebu, if you're in the Hunter area, let me know and we'll hook your float up to our STX (it's set up with a Hayman Reese 3T hitch) and give it a try.

Float Weight

That's right the float is 1450Kg + 2 horses@ 475kg each and allow 300kg for saddles, water and camping accessories etc = 2700kg.

Float isnt overly big, but does have extra weight with tackboxes, awnings, fold down beds etc.

Floats GVM is 3500kg and in Qld you don't need a truck license until you exceed a trailer over 4.5tonne.

Goosenecks - laws (in qld anyway) changed about 12months ago and its now near impossible to haul a gooseneck on anything other than an F series ute or a truck. Unfortunately there are lots still hauling them around on Navara's - all good until they have an accident and no insurance.

A truck is a good idea, but not really practical unless you want to start taking 3 or more horses around, then I would still need a 4WD (as family car) and float - so it doesn't really achieve many any saving. (+ a old truck starts in the 40-60K bracket.....

Hence why I need to insure from other experiences the new powerfull st-x is up to the task and the 3000kg towing isn't pie in the sky

2xhorse float 1450kg empty ???
what did they make it out of ......lead ??
it really shouldn't be more than 1000kg. i would be double checking the weight.

a lot of people just tow the double horse float with the commodore/falcon. a lot don't even have brakes!
over here its 4.5 ton COMBINED weight (tow vehicle plus trailer) before you need a truck licence.

Float Weight

Budget straight load floats are around 900kg. Once you move into angle load floats (much safer for horses and more stable to tow they jump up to around 1100kg. ) Add an extension, water tank, tackboxes, awnings and fully enclosed and you hit 1400kg easily.)

In Qld you only need a truck license if Tare of tow vehicle exceeds 4.5tonne, it doesn't include combined weight of tow vehicle and trailer. If it did - a lot of caravanners would be in serious trouble