Land Rover Series 3 Towing Capacity

[105SprintGT]

I would like to find out what would be the maximum towing capacity in a private yard of a Series 3 Land Rover fitted with a Toyota 2.4 turbo diesel engine. I would like to clarify that this is required for towing boats on trailers in an enclosed yard and therefore not intended for legal road use.

[105SprintGT]

Watchman said:

A number of factors will determine this including how solid the chassis and axles are, the nose weight of the trailer, the power of the engine and whether your low range box is in good condition.

Legally (which you're not interested in), I believe they are good for 3.5 tonnes.

How heavy are you thinking, how many axles, what weight is the nose/tongue?

I'm calculating that the gross weight of the two axle draw bar trailer and boat would be in the region of 9000kg. Nose weight of trailer would be negligible as the load would be balanced on the trailer. How solid the chassis, transmission and axles are, as correctly stated, would have to be looked at.

[105SprintGT]

CAPP0 said:

To turn the question back at you - what's the heaviest boat/trailer combo you're likely to want to move, and how far? Is the yard flat?

I'm looking at a gross combo weight of around 9000kg for very short distances and in a flat concrete area.

[105SprintGT]

InitialDave said:

Based on experiments conducted by generations of British farmers, the towing capacity of an old Landie is "however well you welded the replacement rear crossmember on".

Good point!

[105SprintGT]

Super Slo Mo said:

If it’s otherwise standard apart from the Toyota engine, then I suspect your half shafts and/or diffs will be the limiting factor as they were never that strong to begin with.
It used to be common to upgrade the rear axle to a ‘Salisbury’ unit which was much stronger.

You could engage 4wd (or low range) of course, which is fine in a straight line, just don’t try and turn on a dry surface with a heavy load on.

To be fair, once you have the trailer moving the load is easy, it’s getting it going from a standstill that will be the hard part.

Would you not be better off with a small tractor?

Points noted. A tractor of course would be the way to go if the Land Rover can't manage.

[105SprintGT]

OverSteery said:

Is this a "private" endeavour (how many boats do you have?). If it's a business this sounds like one for the HSE!

We can say it's a private endeavor to move my boat when absolutely needed.

[105SprintGT]

CAPP0 said:

As above - that's quite a lump. Whilst the Landie might move it, in low range, you've got the nose weight questions as above, the chassis condition issue, and I imagine even in low range it's going to hit the clutch quite hard.

Do you already own the Landie? (apols if I missed that above?)

As I've already stated I envisage to have negligible nose weight as the load would be balanced on the double axle draw bar trailer.
Yes I already own the Landie which would be more convenient to use, in view of space restrictions, as against an AMG M35A2 multifuel military truck which I have.

[105SprintGT]

TooMany2cvs said:

If it's absolutely flat, and the surface is good, there's not going to be much issue...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xpuub2DBB8

But won't moving a boat about a yard often tend to include dragging it out of the water up the slope of a slipway?

The trailer would actually be a drawbar turntable two axle trailer and will only be used the keep the boat on it and occasional move in the yard when absolutely necessary. Hauling out of the water and launching will be done by crane.
So I guess if that guy can pull a plane my old Landie should be able to cope.