[Wizz954]

The boat looks a lot bigger against the Touareg than my old Prado 😂 me thinks my fuel consumption will suffer from the wind resistance 😥

 

[Wolfy]

The boat looks a lot bigger against the Touareg than my old Prado 😂 me thinks my fuel consumption will suffer from the wind resistance 😥

maybe, but isn't it all just a means to an end? I expect it would pale into insignificance against a) getting out on the water and b) litres/hour for the boat

ps I had been thinking Prado to get the 2000-2500kg tow capacity I need, but once I drove the CR, never even gave the Prado a second thought, despite near double the price. Still never driven one, probably should have I suppose.

 

[Wizz954]

maybe, but isn't it all just a means to an end? I expect it would pale into insignificance against a) getting out on the water and b) litres/hour for the boat

ps I had been thinking Prado to get the 2000-2500kg tow capacity I need, but once I drove the CR, never even gave the Prado a second thought, despite near double the price. Still never driven one, probably should have I suppose.

I was joking… the Prado was petrol v6 and drank like a sailor 20 litres per 100 whether I was towing the caravan or the boat 🤪 The Touareg uses half that and I’m not complaining

You did the right thing. Prado is an old design and slow down in diesel form. Touareg wins hands down and I’m glad I made the switch.😍

 

[Wizz954]

I bought a Mr Hitches tow tongue with 25mm rise and this now brings the towball closer to the car and a little higher and cuts 10 kgs of weight. It is still slightly nose down but the boat is no longer trying to lift the rear of the car and tows much smoother. Next I’ll hitch up the caravan and hope it’s not too high. The adjustable hitch was set to 0 lift but I couldn’t find a 0 lift tongue anywhere.

 

[seafarer28]

I know pictures can at times can deceive but it looks to me you need to drop the hitch height rather than raise it as you have.
Have you measured the actual hitch height and height of the trailer at the extreme rear?
I really don't understand what you mean by "It is still slightly nose down but the boat is no longer trying to lift the rear of the car", are you talking about boat or trailer as neither look nose down by your pic.

For reference, here is a pic of my glass 21' on my previous steel spung Touareg with OEM tongue inversely mounted.

TonyB

 

[Wizz954]

I know pictures can at times can deceive but it looks to me you need to drop the hitch height rather than raise it as you have.
Have you measured the actual hitch height and height of the trailer at the extreme rear?
I really don't understand what you mean by "It is still slightly nose down but the boat is no longer trying to lift the rear of the car", are you talking about boat or trailer as neither look nose down by your pic.

For reference, here is a pic of my glass 21' on my previous steel spung Touareg with OEM tongue inversely mounted.

TonyB


View attachment 251854

Yes appearances are deceiving as I originally thought I needed to drop the towball 100mm due to the way the trailer drawbar looks like it’s pointing up. I measured the height of the rails between the towball to winch area and levelling the drawbar suggested I needed 430mm towball height which is 100mm lower than my caravan ball height.
I didn’t like the way it felt and so I checked the height of the chassis rails in front and behind the axles and found the rail was actually lower at the front axle than the rear axle. Now that I have lifted the towball by 125mm, the chassis is still lower at the front axle by 30mm, that’s why I say it’s nose down. So the drawbar gives the illusion it’s nose up but the axles are front heavy. The trailer is basically built like a banana!

 

[Drewza]

Just adding my 2c here but perhaps it's not the car that's the problem, but rather the obsession with buying a van big enough to take all the comforts of home with you on a caravanning holiday? Most people I've observed carry far more crap along with them in the 'loads of storage' provided by big van's than they need or use.

Anyway, rant over. I've removed the rear seat from my car on this voyage. You'd be amazed how heavy that arrangement is, got to be around 40kgs at least. Not hard to do and easy enough to spoof the airbag warning. Might be a solution for some to get that rear wheel weight down a bit?

 

[Wizz954]

Lol you’re absolutely right about the kitchen sink and all but that rear axle load limit is a killer if you have family members coming on even a weekend away. Junking the rear seat is feasible for a couples only lap around Australia though 😁

 

[Wizz954]

For anyone who follows this path with Titan Suspension, my final settings are

“Street balanced” specification
Spring preload 10mm front and back
Ride height set as high as it will go at the rear and front set to 10mm lower
Front rebound set to 24 clicks in from softest setting
Rear rebound set to 20 clicks in from softest setting

With the above settings I have a firm but compliant ride at all road speeds except at walking pace over speed bumps and leaving petrol stations where there are steeply angled kerbs.

Towing is a breeze and now that I have established correct towball height at 53cm, the twin axle boat trailer feels balanced and doesn’t pull the rear of the car so much.

Next I will get everything weighed by a mobile weighing service and hopefully confirm I am legal with both caravan and boat with 4 people on board.

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

So you've got me thinking now.

How does this suspension upgrade Make the Touareg handle without a load? Does it actually improve the ride compliance or improve the sporty handling?

Did the suspension upgrade alleviate any sagging from tongue weight?

Did the suspension upgrade overall improve the ride when towing?

 

[Wizz954]

So you've got me thinking now.

How does this suspension upgrade Make the Touareg handle without a load? Does it actually improve the ride compliance or improve the sporty handling?

Did the suspension upgrade alleviate any sagging from tongue weight?

Did the suspension upgrade overall improve the ride when towing?

All of the above 😁

Firmer springs make it more sporty handling and body roll is almost eliminated. This is not at the expense of a decent ride. Yes it is firmer but the damping is compliant and well controlled, if you’ve driven BMWs you’d know what I mean. The suspension works well and absorbs bumps without the teeth rattling effect you’d get by simply updating springs without uprating dampers.

Before and after pics show how well it holds up with same tongue weight. Before there was so much sag that the springs were bottoming out over even small bumps and the ride on the rear was really bumpy when towing but super supple when not. It now has the travel to absorb bumps properly.

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

All of the above 😁

Excellent, thank you!

 

[Wizz954]

Excellent, thank you!

I’ve just added more explanation to my original reply

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

I’ve just added more explanation to my original reply

Huge difference, visually. Great to hear it was an all-around improvement in every way. These have been elevated higher on my list. Thank you

 

[Wizz954]

Huge difference, visually. Great to hear it was an all-around improvement in every way. These have been elevated higher on my list. Thank you

Forgot to add, the ride height adjusters on the coilovers give the equivalent of 50mm lift without preloading the springs which is what spacers would do. This is how it maintains a compliant ride. You can also lower the ride height if you want to do track or street racing….

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

Forgot to add, the ride height adjusters on the coilovers give the equivalent of 50mm lift without preloading the springs which is what spacers would do. This is how it maintains a compliant ride. You can also lower the ride height if you want to do track or street racing….

That is also fantastic. Easy to adjust? Just use a wrench on the top?

 

[Wizz954]

That is also fantastic. Easy to adjust? Just use a wrench on the top?

Ride height has to be adjusted with the bottom of the shock detached from the suspension linkage. There’s a locking ring you loosen with the supplied C spanner and you simply wind the bottom of the shock mount up or down the thread to get the height you want. Remember that every mm of shock length changes the actual ride height at a ratio of 1:x, some others on this forum might know what the exact ratio is.

 

[Wizz954]

For anyone who follows this path with Titan Suspension, my final settings are

“Street balanced” specification
Spring preload 10mm front and back
Ride height set as high as it will go at the rear and front set to 10mm lower
Front rebound set to 24 clicks in from softest setting
Rear rebound set to 20 clicks in from softest setting

With the above settings I have a firm but compliant ride at all road speeds except at walking pace over speed bumps and leaving petrol stations where there are steeply angled kerbs.

Towing is a breeze and now that I have established correct towball height at 53cm, the twin axle boat trailer feels balanced and doesn’t pull the rear of the car so much.

Next I will get everything weighed by a mobile weighing service and hopefully confirm I am legal with both caravan and boat with 4 people on board.

I have now had everything weighed and can confirm that my GCM is well under for both caravan and boat but my rear axle load is close to the limit with the caravan due to the tow ball weight of 280kgs.

Basically I can’t take any passengers or luggage in the rear of the car with the caravan but I can with the boat. If I use a wdh. I can carry passengers with the caravan.

 

[seafarer28]

How difficult is removing the strut from the suspension linkage, is it able to be done DIY, take it no alignment is required afterwards?
Hope that Titan gear is up to the task ahead....
Good work, perseverence and patience got you over the line!
TonyB

 

[Wizz954]

How difficult is removing the strut from the suspension linkage, is it able to be done DIY, take it no alignment is required afterwards?
Hope that Titan gear is up to the task ahead....
Good work, perseverence and patience got you over the line!
TonyB

It should be simple as there is a bolt that slides through horizontally as opposed to a nut on the end of a thread into a bush which you’d need a ball joint separator and a hammer for.