Towing and insurance Defender 90 with 2 inch suspension lift

Well, for b) I would suggest National Farmer's Union, they're used to odd defenders, not to mention bazillions of fat-tyred toyota hiluxes.

Try Adrian Flux who specialise in 4x4s.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Funny how they manage to "specialise" in every category really innit? ;)

They're always advertising in the boy racer rags too, as "specialists" in insuring fast/modded cars for young drivers. When I had a 2.0 Sierra they wouldn't touch me, yet the non specialist big names quite happily gave me decent quotes.

I find it exceedingly hard to see how a 2" lift wouldn't compromise the stability of a tow vehicle. It might not be a huge issue, but if it is mainly for towing and you want your towing to be as safe and relaxing as possible then keep the suspension at its standard height IMHO.

In message , " snipped-for-privacy@googlemail.com" writes

If you want a Defender for mainly towing a horse trailer then don't get one with a 2" lift.

The lift will do nothing to enhance the vehicles towing ability.

I have 3 Defenders 2 have been lifted by 2" for offroading and have towed with them both but have now removed the tow gear (plough) all together and replaced with pure recovery points. If I want to tow then I will use the other one.

If you want to offroad the defender then that is a different matter and you will just have to put up with the towing side of things.

Thanks everyone - Adrian Flux and NFU seem to be the ones!

Sam

Landrover & horse box is a good idea and can enable you to make a bit of money/popularity when you tow out the others from a muddy field. Alan>

They're not insurers they're brokers, so they just ring round their contacts to get a quote.

I found them to be useless when I wanted a quote for a 109 owned by a charity.

Hugh

In message , Matt Brown writes

Critical issue IMHO is the height of the tow hitch. If that is at the correct level then I wouldn't expect the 2" suspension lift to have too great an effect.

If the hitch has been raised by 2" then watch out.

What is the "correct level"? I guess it really depends on your trailer but for no particular reason I think it's with the draw bar just a little bit above horizontal rising to the hitch rather than dead level or falling. Is that right?

Says him having just bought a trailer (handy for the dump and the bikes) and not really having a clue about trailers. B-)

On or around Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:18:57 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

hitch height is only critical on >1 axle trailers. on single axle trailers it's the balance of the load that's critical to get the noseweight right. I'd normally reckon between 25 and 50Kg noseweight. on a >1 axle trailer, noseweight is MUCH more if the hitch is too high and non-existent if it's too low.

Mine is a single axle trailer a shade under 3m overall. The dump won't allow trailers with more than 1 axle or longer the 3m without a permit. Guess I'm going to have learn to judge 25 to 50 kg by arm.

I can see how that comes about.

On or around Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:59:30 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

less than 25Kg is easy to lift, more then 50Kg is really hard to lift.

If you can hold the hitch at ball-height easily with one hand it's a bit light, and if you damn'near herniate yerself it's a bit heavy.

same technique applies to the twin-axle kind - you should have to put a bit of effort in to get it level with the ball, but not a lot.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Austin Shackles wibbled :

If you're brave or as in my case foolish, you could try putting a set of bathroom scales under the jockey wheel, it'll give you an approximate value. Remember to put a bit of wood on the scales too as a load spreader else the scales are apt to come out bent!

In message , Austin Shackles writes

The following may be of interest

In theory, all tow bars should set the ball at the correct height. The present relevant standard (BS AU 113c), and for newer vehicles, EC Directive 94/20, requires the centre of the ball, when the towing vehicle is fully LADEN to its gross vehicle weight (but without the caravan attached) to be between 350 and 420mm from the ground. This should be compatible with any reasonably modern caravan, given one or two provisos:- ? If the car manufacturer chooses to set the tow ball height towards the upper end of the height range, and especially if the vehicle has a relatively high load carrying capacity, it may be that under normal operating load conditions the tow ball is significantly higher than this range. This is permissible according to the letter of the standard or directive requirements, but may result in difficulties achieving a well set-up outfit. ? Off road vehicles are exempt from the height requirements in the EC Directive, in order to permit them to achieve the necessary ground clearance for off road use. This may make a fixed-height tow bar inappropriately high for safe, stable on-road towing. When choosing a tow bar for an off road vehicle, therefore, ensure that it is either: (a) a fixed height bar which is similar in height to those made for conventional cars, or (b) a height-adjustable bar which can be set to an appropriate level for on-road towing or off-road driving.

In message , Austin Shackles writes

Set of bathroom scales is useful to et the feel of it.

LR max hitch weight is about 110kg IIRC.

The laden/unladen part is not an issue with a 7 seat DII, it has SLS to maintain ride height (when it works...) B-) The recomended ball centre height is usefull info though.

When I got the hitch fitted I made sure it was a height adjustable one, I was hoping to get the easily adjustable type that you see on the back of Defenders but I got a large plate with four sets of holes and a pin and ball hitch.