collinandkerry
Member
looking dor some feed back regarding towing a 1.8t van with a 2008 d40
regarding power and economy
regarding power and economy
towing with a 2008 d40
- Thread starter collinandkerry
- Start date
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Your 2008 D40 is physically identical to my 2009 D40. The caravan in my sig is a 1.8T ensuite van, the picture was taken on Ernest Giles Rd about 400km south-west of Alice Springs.
The car does feel the weight, fuel economy does suffer and you should think twice about dragging Toyotas at the traffic lights unless they're encumbered by something heavy like a bag of cement.
You'll need an electric brake controller - the pick of the bunch is the Tekonsha Prodigy P3, don't let salesmen convince you otherwise. Use a minimum 6sqmm wire for the brakes - preferably heavier but NEVER lighter, the cable will get hot enough to melt insulation. A 40A thermal breaker at the start of the circuit is sufficient (and mandatory).
With this controller, it will auto-adjust for different gradients. That's vital - with the "manual adjustment" ones (Tekonsha Voyager) or the non-adjustable ones (Redarc) you'll find that the brake controller won't work as expected on hills - and that's where you want it to work the most!
The trick to getting the best economy is to take your time. City traffic absolutely slaughters economy figures, so try avoiding city areas during local peaks. Limiting your revs to around 2500 while accelerating and not exceeding 2,000rpm at cruise will provide you with the best economy. That's the point where your engine is producing the most torque for the least amount of fuel. Beyond 2,000rpm you'll produce a little more torque for a lot more fuel, but that's also where your greater horsepower (for acceleration) is. Plus if you have an auto, the stall speed of the TC is somewhere in the 2700-3100rpm range, so keeping the revs above 2500 while accelerating means fewer RPM lost to TC slippage.
Which brings another point that's auto-specific: to use overdrive or not. I do - almost all the time. I only manually change gears when climbing or descending hills. When climbing, I try to keep the engine load on short hills below 80% but on long climbs (Cunninghams Gap, Mt Ousley, Alpine Rd, Mt Victoria etc) I try to keep the engine load under 60%. This generally stops the engine from overheating, even in summer.
Talk to Joe as well. He's done a lot of towing too.
The car does feel the weight, fuel economy does suffer and you should think twice about dragging Toyotas at the traffic lights unless they're encumbered by something heavy like a bag of cement.
You'll need an electric brake controller - the pick of the bunch is the Tekonsha Prodigy P3, don't let salesmen convince you otherwise. Use a minimum 6sqmm wire for the brakes - preferably heavier but NEVER lighter, the cable will get hot enough to melt insulation. A 40A thermal breaker at the start of the circuit is sufficient (and mandatory).
With this controller, it will auto-adjust for different gradients. That's vital - with the "manual adjustment" ones (Tekonsha Voyager) or the non-adjustable ones (Redarc) you'll find that the brake controller won't work as expected on hills - and that's where you want it to work the most!
The trick to getting the best economy is to take your time. City traffic absolutely slaughters economy figures, so try avoiding city areas during local peaks. Limiting your revs to around 2500 while accelerating and not exceeding 2,000rpm at cruise will provide you with the best economy. That's the point where your engine is producing the most torque for the least amount of fuel. Beyond 2,000rpm you'll produce a little more torque for a lot more fuel, but that's also where your greater horsepower (for acceleration) is. Plus if you have an auto, the stall speed of the TC is somewhere in the 2700-3100rpm range, so keeping the revs above 2500 while accelerating means fewer RPM lost to TC slippage.
Which brings another point that's auto-specific: to use overdrive or not. I do - almost all the time. I only manually change gears when climbing or descending hills. When climbing, I try to keep the engine load on short hills below 80% but on long climbs (Cunninghams Gap, Mt Ousley, Alpine Rd, Mt Victoria etc) I try to keep the engine load under 60%. This generally stops the engine from overheating, even in summer.
Talk to Joe as well. He's done a lot of towing too.
