Towing with MY06 SS Auto (VZ 6.0l sedan)

[Strick]

Gday all,

thinking i need a smoother daily, currently have a 60 series landcruiser. I also use it for towing my skyline around. When im loaded ill be up around the 2100kg legal tow limit for a MY06 SS. My trailer has electric brakes on all 4 wheels. The MY06 has the 6.0l L76 and the 4L65 gearbox.

Few questions, i know the differences between the 5.7 and 6.0l engine, however is the gearbox better than the 4L60? What will be the differences ill feel? Then again, is there that much difference in the 5.7 and 6.0 from the factory?

I plan on towing with it, so does anyone else out there tow with one?

Upgrades i would do before I start towing include

transmission cooler
2500kg tow bar
electric brake controller

Dont want a wagon or a crewman!

Appreciate your thoughts, cheers

[IJ.]

Towed heaps with my Tonner when it was a 6.0L, I know you said you didn't want a Crewie but keep in mind my Tonner is IRS so tows like a Sedan would, never had an issue using it as a tow car and would easily have exceeded your total weight, have some mechanical sympathy and drive it on the shifter don't load it up hard in 4th as the clutches are tiny and don't let it kick down to 2nd with the shifter in Drive and it'll do fine.

As a comparison I towed quite a bit with the 5.7 Adventra and you had to push it a bit more to maintain the same speed and acceleration of the 6.0L.

[dnos]

Towed heaps with my Tonner when it was a 6.0L, I know you said you didn't want a Crewie but keep in mind my Tonner is IRS so tows like a Sedan would, never had an issue using it as a tow car and would easily have exceeded your total weight, have some mechanical sympathy and drive it on the shifter don't load it up hard in 4th as the clutches are tiny and don't let it kick down to 2nd with the shifter in Drive and it'll do fine.

As a comparison I towed quite a bit with the 5.7 Adventra and you had to push it a bit more to maintain the same speed and acceleration of the 6.0L.

Great advice IJ. When you move the shifter into 3, when towing, does it stay in 3 like 2 does or will it kick down to 2nd if you put the gas pedal down hard enough? You said to avoid this so how do you go when going up hills etc and it wants to kick down?

[IJ.]

Great advice IJ. When you move the shifter into 3, when towing, does it stay in 3 like 2 does or will it kick down to 2nd if you put the gas pedal down hard enough? You said to avoid this so how do you go when going up hills etc and it wants to kick down?

It'll still kick down to 2nd if needed, BUT it won't destroy the 3/4 clutch pack when it does it like it will if the shifter is in Drive...

There's something in the valve body that prevents it releasing the 3/4 pack so you get 2 gears at once and it kills the pack in seconds... :(

[Xjas]

I used to tow a car trailer with my VY SS auto sedan, it had the factory 2100kg tow pack including the pump up shocks in the rear. As IJ said, drive it with the shifter, I would drive most of the time with the shifter in 3rd, no faster than 80-90kph, never had a problem with the car but I will admit you could definitely feel the weight on the back.
If you are going to do a fair bit of towing I would suggest looking at a tow vehicle with a bit more mass, I really wouldn't have liked to get into an emergency situation in mine, especially in the rain, the car just didn't feel like it had enough weight to be in full control of the trailer all the time IMHO.

[redvxr8clubby]

It'll still kick down to 2nd if needed, BUT it won't destroy the 3/4 clutch pack when it does it like it will if the shifter is in Drive...

There's something in the valve body that prevents it releasing the 3/4 pack so you get 2 gears at once and it kills the pack in seconds... :(

Any particular advice if it was a VE SS (auto), I tow a 19'6" dual axle caravan with my SS (only one trip with it so far) the van itself weighs 1530Kg. Prior to the SS I had a SIDI SV6 auto and did a few trips with that but no more than about 300Km trip. When you look around caravan parks it's unusual to see Commodores and Falcons towing, the turbo diesel 4WD rules.

[IJ.]

Any particular advice if it was a VE SS (auto), I tow a 19'6" dual axle caravan with my SS (only one trip with it so far) the van itself weighs 1530Kg. Prior to the SS I had a SIDI SV6 auto and did a few trips with that but no more than about 300Km trip. When you look around caravan parks it's unusual to see Commodores and Falcons towing, the turbo diesel 4WD rules.

Sorry don't have any experience with the Trans in those.

[Devil CV8]

Any particular advice if it was a VE SS (auto), I tow a 19'6" dual axle caravan with my SS (only one trip with it so far) the van itself weighs 1530Kg. Prior to the SS I had a SIDI SV6 auto and did a few trips with that but no more than about 300Km trip. When you look around caravan parks it's unusual to see Commodores and Falcons towing, the turbo diesel 4WD rules.

Apart from fitting a big trans cooler, I'd suggest either drive it manually keeping it out of 6th gear or if you must use auto, then sports mode.

I towed an 8x5 tandem trailer short distances to the tip with a VE SS ute auto with both loaded, well overloaded with concrete and steel and drove it manually

[Strick]

Thanks for all the knowledge in this thread gents some fantastic info. On the whole, as long as i drive like I usually do (mechanical sympathy, no always on the limit) looks like I will be ok.

On the other hand, you comment about Crewmans has had me thinking IJ. Then a nice Cosmo, lowered a touch drove past me today... Have now been looking on carsales and what do i find..

http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Holden-Special-Vehicles-Avalanche-2004/SSE-AD-2708603/?Cr=8

Even though its a HSV it still has 2100 towing capacity (unlike 1600 for most of the rest), plus a bit of weight behind it. Even though my trailer is pritty good in the brake department, Im worried about swaying when driving a the trailer pushing the car

[dnos]

I thought about starting a new thread for this question but I figure all the interested parties are already in this one :)

Twin tran coolers: series or parallel?

Fire away team!

[IJ.]

I thought about starting a new thread for this question but I figure all the interested parties are already in this one :)

Twin tran coolers: series or parallel?

Fire away team!
Run mine on the Tonner in series

[redvxr8clubby]

Thanks for all the knowledge in this thread gents some fantastic info. On the whole, as long as i drive like I usually do (mechanical sympathy, no always on the limit) looks like I will be ok.

On the other hand, you comment about Crewmans has had me thinking IJ. Then a nice Cosmo, lowered a touch drove past me today... Have now been looking on carsales and what do i find..

http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Holden-Special-Vehicles-Avalanche-2004/SSE-AD-2708603/?Cr=8

Even though its a HSV it still has 2100 towing capacity (unlike 1600 for most of the rest), plus a bit of weight behind it. Even though my trailer is pritty good in the brake department, Im worried about swaying when driving a the trailer pushing the car

From towing capacity, I thought Crewmans were 2500Kg rated, but using Carsales specs a reference, they say 2100Kg, but I did see a Cross8 where the specs say 2500kg towing.
Edit - from Carsales the V6 Crewman is 2100kg and V8 is 2500kg rated.

[Strick]

Yeah the crewmans are 2500 ( only looking at V8s) however the HSV XUV is 2100 which brings it in line with the VZ SS that im also looking at.

[IJ.]

Yeah the crewmans are 2500 ( only looking at V8s) however the HSV XUV is 2100 which brings it in line with the VZ SS that im also looking at.

XUV is the exact same chassis, wonder why the difference?

[Strick]

From memory its wheel size, wheel material and suspension type that lowers HSVs towing capacity

[IJ.]

From memory its wheel size, wheel material and suspension type that lowers HSVs towing capacity

Makes perfect sense now thanks :)

[XUV]

Yeah the crewmans are 2500 ( only looking at V8s) however the HSV XUV is 2100 which brings it in line with the VZ SS that im also looking at.


XUV is the exact same chassis, wonder why the difference?


From memory its wheel size, wheel material and suspension type that lowers HSVs towing capacity
Yeah, 96 load rate on XUV vs 97 on Cross8 and SS,

so I bumped my tyres up to 100 load rating and put on a 2500kg tow bar.

but a mate has a SS Thunder 6.0 Crewie which is manual , which are only rated to tow 1600kg , due to only 93 load rate tyres ,

plus manuals are only 1600kg tow , due to the shunt when taking off in a manual,

so he got them to factory fit a 2500kg tow bar, which included different tyres, no probs and he tows a 12ft tandem tool trailer

Crewie's are the best tow vehicle, it's got the brake distribution on the rear in case you get a tank slapper.

[Strick]

The crewman is sounding better and bettet. But i think i would need an XUV!!!

Did those upgrades make it legally 2500? Thinking insurance claim here. And if it is what did you have to do to offically change the towing capacity in the eyes of the law?

[XUV]

The crewman is sounding better and bettet. But i think i would need an XUV!!!

Did those upgrades make it legally 2500? Thinking insurance claim here. And if it is what did you have to do to offically change the towing capacity in the eyes of the law?

You can get it certified , the bar says 2500kg , if I were to tow very regularly, i'll get around to it.

With which to buy Cross 8 vs XUV, if you buy an XUV you tend to be a bit precious with it, not only the highway as these things are stable at speed and love the ton.

More offroad thru the bush.

If going offtrack camping etc then get the Cross 8 and get it tuned and you'll have more peace of mind, and your legal 2500kg towing.

I think the Cross 8's are great value at 10-13k mark , there's an XUV like mine for 28k in carsales ;)

[Strick]

Thats a good point actually, i would only tow on the road but dont mind a bit of camping, didnt think of that side of the 4wd holden. The thing is, i dont like the look of the crewman but like the XUV. First world problems!

[Micks]

Mate Crewmans are great! Don't believe the rubbish the media portray of them.