Tow Capacity Questions

Stunt Steve

Stunt Steve

New Member
Does anyone know of the tow capacity on the Diesel engines? I saw a thread for L300 tow capacity but I believe it's different for L400.

I have a'94 Super Exceed Turbo Diesel and can't seem to find any info.
 
I have the same vehicle and searched high and low for that information. I think the closest I was able to find said a max of 2000kg or about 4400lbs.

That being said I had to tow a closed trailer (GVW 2800lbs) to get some pavers and rock for a project (~2000) pounds.
Trailer axle was rated for 3800lbs so in that alone at I was overweight by 1000lbs.

The L400 engine towed like a champ. I started out with the AT in High to keep the revs up and in the end I just turned off the OD as the AT kind of hunts at the start and would sometimes drop to a low RPM and keep it there going up some of the hills. I think the engine itself is fine for the towing (It never even peeped above normal operating temps) but Im not sure that the transmission would hold up over time. I babied it all the way home at about 50mph @ 3000+ RPMs.

The other concern that I have is the tow bar and how it mounts to the frame. Currently the FTS hitch I have on there is direct mounted to the frame and I can tell you just by looking at the frame and the way this hitch mounts to it that it is not designed for towing more than maybe 2500 lbs max. I have been looking at making some modifications to this hitch and need to weld tabs onto it to give it a little more support and a better dispersion of the weight across the entire bumper while pulling a trailer.

With the amount of weight I was towing I also had to be mindful of starts and stops to keep the kinetic weight from pushing and pulling on the frame. And as with any towing regardless of the vehicle used it is important to balance the weight over the axles and get your tongue weight correct to keep your trailer from swaying or your rear wheels on the truck from bottoming or blowing out.

While you can certainly tow with the L400 I don't think that it was ever designed with towing in mind.
 
Thanks for the insight. I'm guessing you had trailer brakes?

I agree with the consideration of how the hitch is mounted to the frame. I'm going to be shopping for hitches and hopefully will find some practical solutions. I don't plan on doing much towing with the vehicle, I have a Ram 1500 for that and my trailer is too big for the Delica. I do plan on getting a smaller trailer at some point so this information is very helpful.

I'd love to hear if anyone has any recommendations for hitch and mounting for best structural support. I'm not a welder by any means so won't be fabricating anything myself.
 
From what I can tell, there was never a spec for the L400. Some localities may have a generic limit in that case (i.e. 2000lb, 150% GVWR, etc). But the L400 is basically a Montero with a van body on it; and the Montero of the same generation is rated for 1500lb un-braked, and 5000lb max. However, IDT you will ever get a tow bar mounted sufficiently to pull 5000lb (at least anything near easily); most are class II at best.
 
In Australia the petrol commercial variant (2wd, 4g64) had the following limits (below). I'd assume a diesel would have higher limit.

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