Towing a caravan with an SS

[Mad-Biker]

Gday all.

I own a old millard 15 foot pop top, elecy brakes etc, load leveler bars etc, its only 820kg 1020kg loaded up.

we have been towing it with my 05 magna wagon currently (1500kg rated towing),

due to injury we are after a 2nd car, and a fun car, ive always wanted an SS commodore, been looking at vn-vt ss v8s automatic. most seem to be rated for 2100kg towing

id be putting a brake controler on, and the heavy duty tow bar, but somebody said you also need some boot brace as well. does anybody know anythign about that bit, never seen or heard of them before.

id figure the v8 would pull it well, and probably use less fuel than the magna when towing too..

but im also intersted in, what would the suspention and all be like towing a caravan, it wouldnt stuff it would it, or would i need to modify the suspention to suit, which would stuff the handling..

[UFO]

never heard of the bracing you speak of, but a really good investment is a Weight Distributing Hitch or Load Leveling Kit.

if the old camper isnt balanced that well (most are too front heavy causing too much weight on back on car), get one of these attachments to better balance the load and improve suspension geometry when towing.

google search them.

standard suspension in a v8 would be fine (if it hasnt been modified that is). just make sure towing load isnt pushing down on tow bar too much. 1000kg isnt a big load, but its more important that it's level- not lifting or lowering the back end of the car.

[Mad-Biker]

yeah i saw them for the vn on some website, and on some caravaning forum they were talking about them, although half have never heard of them either. sounds like the brace you put on the front suspention towersin the engine bay but in the boot, apparently stops heavy loads twisting the chassie and buckling the roof when towing.

yeah we have load lever bars already, and its actually well ballanced little caravan..

[Drewie]

The 2100kg towbars come with extra bracing in the kit, my son had the genuine Holden 2100kg bar on his VN SS and it had extra braces inside the boot, where the 1200kg bar I had on my VN SS just bolted up to some existing holes behind the rear bumper.

[Mad-Biker]

ah, that sounds reasonable.

what limits do they have for when they need them, and is it something thats been carried out from the later models?