d22 towing

[rabbit-chop]

Hi All,
Took my family and van away for the first time over the weekend. 21 foot weighing about 2.2 t or so, electric brakes and stablising bars behind a 2006 3ltr D22. I must admit that I was a liitle concerned/annoyed with the towing ability. It really struggled as soon as we hit any kind of incline and took ages to get up to any kind of decent speed. I know I am pulling a big weight, but my D40 didn't have the same issue when towing my excavator of about 1.8t (the D40 went when I got rid of the business) Anyone got the same issue, can I do anything about it, or do I just need to get used to it?
Thanks

Dude, the ZD30 is a great engine, but its the detuned version of the patrol engine at the time.
Nissan couldnt have the cheap navara having more grunt than the expensive patrol now, could they?
Notoriously underfueled, i suspect, especially down low. My '04 was the same from new, pretty pathetic down low, and struggled to maintain hyw cruising speeds uphill.
It loosened up gradually over the first 80-100k on the odo and got a bit better, fitted an exaust, got a tiny bit better again, did the EGR delete and swirl mod (and catch can) - this mod gave much better low down performance at part throttle, and keeps the oil MUCH cleaner.
Just fitted a chip, and all i can say is i cant believe iv been driving without one for so long. The thing just wants to go virtually off idle, has heaps more go all round but down low the difference is MASSIVE, the way a decent size diesel engine with a tiny turbo SHOULD be.
I already had egt and boost guages fitted, and boost has stayed the same, and egts have hardly increased, I think the exhaust and breathing mods (snorkle, pre-filter delete pipe) have really come into play since fitting the chip in terms of performance, and keeping the egt's down - iv wound the chip up a couple more notches - the thing is a TORQUE MONSTER - and egts are STILL barely any higher than stock - havnt done any towing with the chip yet tho - egt's would probably go through the roof towing up a long hill - who knows- thats why you need an egt guage.

 

[4x4 ST-R]

IMO...I'd like to be running a custom six speed box in my D22 so I could get a lower first gear for take offs with heavy loads on hills, and have the 6th gear to cruise on the hwy at 110 without seeing the revs at 2750++.

But at the end of the day that's probably never gonna happen.

 

[bods]

IMO...I'd like to be running a custom six speed box in my D22 so I could get a lower first gear for take offs with heavy loads on hills, and have the 6th gear to cruise on the hwy at 110 without seeing the revs at 2750++.

But at the end of the day that's probably never gonna happen.

The easiest way for something like that would be a splitter box like trucks use. The only problem then is deciding whether to make a reduction gear and straight through gear (to help reduce ratios for taking off on hills) or an overdrive and straight through gear (to give lower revs on the highway). You couldn't really do both or that would affect 4wd operation when in 4wd because the rear wheels would be a different speed to the front. Unless you could make something small enough to have 3 gear sets in it, so you could have reduction, standard and overdrive all at the flick of a switch.

This could then be mounted between the rear extension housing and rear driveshaft. You could then either have it manually shifted, like the d22 transfer case, electrically, similar to the d40 transfer case or air like in trucks, obviously this would be the hardest as you would need a compressor and tank, etc to supply air while using it.

Electrically may be OK, it just depends on the speed of the actuators to make sure it shifts at a decent speed.

 

[Mairs]

I found the steinbauer chip & beauie exhaust improvements minor at this point (installed a month ago) & tends to make the biggest difference with take off & the 1st-2nd gear changes only. It gives a lot more power here, but climbing hills for any towing vehicle other than a v8 will always be an issue with over 2t behind it, they're just not built for speed with weight behind them. Our CT is around 1500kg & our heavily modded Nav is about 2840kg with us, the 2 dogs & 1/4 tank of diesel. The biggest issue has been reversing into a drive which has a moderate incline, which we now do in 4 low for better clutch control.
One thing I would stress you do is check your MAF sensor to make sure it's clean, using a CO2 spray to do so.

 

[tweak'e]

The easiest way for something like that would be a splitter box like trucks use. The only problem then is deciding whether to make a reduction gear and straight through gear (to help reduce ratios for taking off on hills) or an overdrive and straight through gear (to give lower revs on the highway). You couldn't really do both or that would affect 4wd operation when in 4wd because the rear wheels would be a different speed to the front. Unless you could make something small enough to have 3 gear sets in it, so you could have reduction, standard and overdrive all at the flick of a switch.

electric overdrive. could fit one to replace the first section of the tail shaft. being electric it would be easy enough to wire it so selecting 4x4 would turn it off.
only problem is finding one strong enough that that doesn't cost mega $$.

 

[bods]

electric overdrive. could fit one to replace the first section of the tail shaft. being electric it would be easy enough to wire it so selecting 4x4 would turn it off.
only problem is finding one strong enough that that doesn't cost mega $$.

Yeah, except it would be good to have a gear reduction also to help on inclines without having to use low range or ride the hell out of the clutch... if it was strong enough you could use it to slip gears, so you have 2 or even 3 gears for every single gearbox gear

 

[tweak'e]

can't see why you couldn't make a reduction box and be split shift. i don't think 2-3 gears per single normal gear is much point. 100 rpm between gears is a bit pointless.
certainly dropping 500 rpm off each normal gear would be good.

 

[bods]

I don't mean you really need to use the splitter on every shift, more for steep hills where it would be handy to not have to shift the transfer case to low range, then stop again at the top of the hill to go back to high range.

With a splitter you could stay in first gear in 2h on the gearbox and use the splitter on low for starting off, then back to 1:1, then into overdrive ratios to help get up the hill without burning out the clutch...

That is supposing it was 3 ranges. Even 2 would help, a reduction and standard, like trucks have...

 

[happy john]

End of the day you have a tiny motor pulling a huge load'Yes you can make it much better if you know how but it has no cubes all the chips and exhaust ect won't help with 2-3tonne how nissan can claim 2.8t towing for a 2.5 d22 is silly it cannot do it stock it's unable to take off on a big hill without slipping the f**k out of the clutch unladen.

 

[180degrees]

a 2.5 has troubles on big hills, a 3.0L just sort of shrugs it off and gets on with the job.

One thing I would stress you do is check your MAF sensor to make sure it's clean, using a CO2 spray to do so.

D22 doesn't have a maf sensor to **** up

 

[bods]

a 2.5 has troubles on big hills, a 3.0L just sort of shrugs it off and gets on with the job.



D22 doesn't have a maf sensor to **** up

Zd30s don't, but all yd25s d22 and d40 do. Yd25 d22s don't have any boost sensors on them so they have to use the maf sensor to measure how much air is going into the motor...

 

[180degrees]

OP has a ZD30 though I assumed thats what we were still talking about?

 

[bods]

Yeah I know that, I was more commenting on your quote about the maf sensor. Considering the op was from last year I don't think much of this advise is going to be of use to him anyway...

 

[Mairs]

damn lucky. They're shits of things