VF Wagon towing

[Terry57]

 

[Terry57]

Oh yes, the stats.

12.5 ltre - 100 klm average fuel comsumption over the 32 K . Very good i would say.

All to easy, the VF is a superb vehicle for an extended road trip.

Some punters say to use 98 premium fuel, i did that for maybe 15000 klm then switched back to 91 standard. What happenned ?

Noticed fook all difference,
Actually the further i drove the better the motor felt, it just sucked up those K's no probs whatso ever.

The car had no issue whatso ever except for sub standard work done by the plebs back in Perth, took me 9 months and a very switched on Holden mechanic in Innisfail to sort them.

Changed the oil every 10000 klm, serviced it up early and all good. This VF now has 210000 on it and runs like new.

 

[Skylarking]

... I have just returned to Perth after 12 months on the road and 32000Klm driven.
My ride was a bog standard VF Evoke 3 ltre Wagon towing a 1200 kilo unbraked van and all i added before heading off was fit a transmission cooler and used old school anti sway bars...

Ah, back home.... you’ll want to head off again, soon

I must confess I’ve forgotten the content of some of your earlier thread posts but is your van really un-braked or is that a typo?

The reason I ask is that I’ve always understood the nationally approved upper limit for an un-braked trailers is a GTM rating of 750kg. Trailers >750kgs and < 2000kg GTM must have brakes that operate on at least one axle. Trailers >2000kg GTM must have brakes on all wheels (usually double axles at this weight). Trailers >2000kg GTM must also have brakes that apply if the trailer becomes detached from the towing vehicle.

Oh, and the above are GTM figures, that is a fully loaded van.

A 1200kg (GTM?) un-braked trailer wouldn’t be compliant with national rules (valid since 1989?) So I’m confused, or is it that your trailer was made pre 1989 so exemptions exist for such

Also, I thought all commodore variants had sway bars as standard, so do you mean trailer load leveling bars (that go between car and trailer hitch) or an upgraded sway bars installed on the vehicle?

Gotta drop the following videos for OP as I think trailer ABS is the ducks nuts

And a bit about trailer sway

 

[Terry57]

I've edited my original post so lets see if i can sort things out. Firstly my Vans tare weight is 1050 KG and i kept the load in the van to the bare minimum. Lucky if i had 100 KG in there i recon. Never carried water in the tank unless I was free camping but carried two 10 liter water carriers on the back only. Other water carried in the car, the idea being to keep the van as light as possible and because i travelled solo this was easy.

My Van was made in the year 2000 so i suppose the 750 Kg weight limit applies and i was outside the law on that front. " Dont tell anybody will ya. " I only once had to do hard breaking and found that the rig pulled up no probs whatso ever, all good.

The Anti-sway bars i refer to are the ones that connect between the car and the van and as i said, never leave home without these. I had two instances where i was forced off the road by trucks and ended up in the dirt , this is a very scary situation when packing a van on the arse end of your ride.

I have no doubt what so ever that if it was not for these Anti- Sway bars i would of rolled the rig and it would of been game over. First instance was on day 2 outside Perth and the next instance was on a single lane road on the way to Kurumba in FNQ.

The issue is to keep the van as light as possible, keep the load balanced and always drive to the conditions. I used to drive Fire trucks for 34 years so am well aware of these issues.

One can never control other drivers and one must be ready at all times for other road users to do retarded dangerous shite. Some of the truck drivers where quite insane. Suprising really ?

Hope that helps, Cheers.

 

[Big Red VF-SII Go-kart]

ne can never control other drivers and one must be ready at all times for other road users to do retarded dangerous shite. Some of the truck drivers where quite insane. Suprising really ?

True dinks, Terry. And no, truck drivers (often drugged up and sleep-deprived on long haul routes) and their road trains are frequently in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The Sturt Highway from Adelaide to Alice will give you your first terrifying insight as to how they behave, both behind you and coming for you. When I see their lights in the shimmering haze, I stop by the roadside and let them pass.

LOL! A month's rest, then you're hitting the blacktop again. Good-o.
I'm heading north in May too, after I (finally!) retire next week. Dunno about Kakadu; I never enjoyed the teeming, seething mass of humanity in 2011 and 2013, but places like Litchfield National Park (Walker Creek especially) and Mataranka made definite, long-lasting impressions.

 

[Terry57]

The white crosses on the Bruce Hwy in FNQ is insane. I was sitting on 95 Kph but that was not good enough for the Truckies, so many Double B's would make dangerous passes just to get to their 100 Kph limit.

The Cops doing road patrol were minimal compared to WA and that fact right there was why these clowns drived so dangerously.

Complete and utter gong show it was. My experience driving fire trucks saved my life i recon.

The grey nomads pulling their large rigs would of needed a heart transplant after dealing with the recalcitrant truck drivers.

All good, the show goes on.

 

[Forg]

The grey nomads pulling their large rigs would of needed a heart transplant after dealing with the recalcitrant truck drivers

... if they had noticed.

 

[Big Red VF-SII Go-kart]

... if they had noticed.

Grey nomads very often have their own disasters to manage e.g. falling sleep at the wheel, drifting, speeding and losing control of van and car (far too common) , medical episodes and just plain apathy.

 

[Terry57]

Oh yer, aint that the truth.

I used to larf like fook when some old punter would pull in with his brand new 4 wheel drive and brand new 3 ton house hitched on the back and near on stroke out trying to reverse it.

Of course it was always his poor old wifes fault that he could not reverse it and he was 3 seconds away from a trip to the Hospital.

Made my day that did. Ha ha.

 

[Big Red VF-SII Go-kart]

View attachment 219869

Let me guess, Terry. Could be the Snowies, but looks kind of ...Mount Loch parking bay en route Hotham? What looks like the profile of Mount Feathertop is to the near-far left top of the pic, with Mount Howitt just west of the rooftop trunk. Great pic any which way.

Are the front parking sensors affected by the bullbar you have had fitted?