[tonytee]

hello to all, this is my first visit. I had a 1999 discovery 4 LT V8i until a week ago. My wife was pulling our twin axe 1.9 ton caravan for the first time when we had a blow out on the caravan at 50 MPH on the motorway. The car and caravan hit the central barriers and both the caravan and car are now right offs. Question 1 is does is anyone know of any problems with towing with a discovery. Question 2. I am looking at replacement being a TD5, how will it compare.
thank you, Tony

 

[Tasmanian Devil]

Hi Tony, the TD5 will compare in that you'll be able to buy 2 caravans with the money you save on fuel. One for crashing, and one for best. Or better still leave one at home and leave one at your destination. This method saves towing anything at all.
Seriously I have towed with a Disco and a Defender for years, and it's almost like there is nothing behind me. I am suprised this happened to you. Most accidents happen with towing when there is a problem, the driver instinctively hits the brakes, this causes the out of control caravan to attempt to overtake the towing vehicle. I leave the rest up to physics and your imagination. Though there can be many reasons for your accident, in my experience I have found this to be the most common one.
I was taught "pull the problem straight"...i.e accelerate if you can.

 

[Disco]

A 1.9 ton caravan should be fitted with electric brakes, in which case, there is little chance it will overtake the towing vehicle, unless there was a problem with the elec brakes.

 

[tonytee]

Thanks to Tasmanian Devil & Disco for replies.

To explain fully the caravan did not come past us, there was not even side to side movement. The blow out took the car & caravan from the 1st lane across all lanes into the barriers, the caravan turned over first, then we lost control of the car.

I had a gas conversion on my disco, power of a 4LT petrol but economical.

 

[Tasmanian Devil]

I think if I still lived in the UK and fuel prices were the same, I'd have had that conversion too. It does sound mighty strange. I had the unfortunate experience of being behind an outfit on the A66 that had a similar thing happen. It appeared that as the tyre blew that wheel "dug in" causing a braking effect and thus pulling the whole outfit in that direction. But there could be many many reasons. I guess it would be wrong for us to try and work it out here purely on speculation. Suffice to say, I have the utmost faith in all my LR's as towing vehicles. I prefer to tow with my Deisel, as the power is much smoother, and far greater in grunt. We have an off road trailer tent that wieghs about 1200 kilos, and we tow that in "all sorts" of situations, so far so good. I hope that you and your wife are OK, and all that is hurt is her pride, and your vehicles.

 

[k12]

I just got a 98 Disco LSE 4.0, I want to tow my 89 jeep for off-road camping adventures. Does the Disco come with a 4 pin trailer wiring connection, or do I need to put one in myself?


Sorry to hear about your crash. Sounds tramatic. Best of luck.

Thanks,

Kieran