Ute to tow 3000Kg van

[Geepeem]

Hi,

I have just joined this great forum. I do not own a Nissan yet (except for G60 on hobby farm) but am considering buying one for towing our van.
I have been looking at second hand ads and note some have a 2500kg braked towing capacity and some have 3500kg braked capacity. I obviously need the latter.
What is the first year (model) that the 3500kg became available.?
I want the 4.2TD model...how would it go towing a 3000kg van?
What would be expected fuel consumption towing that size van?
Any other comments/suggestions appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Cheers
Geepeem

[threedogs]

In manual form they'll have the higher tow rating. Fuel consumption depends on lots of things. Should be a towing section if you haven't looked already.
One of the POD guys would be able to help more

[nissannewby]

I have an 04 TD42Ti ute. It's rated to the 3500. I have towed close to 3t with it and consumption is around 17-18l/100km. Like I have done with mine you will be wanted to get more out of it I towing this much weight. When I started you would end up getting back to third on some inclines on the highway and as she stands now can hold 5th and 100 without to much drama and I still have more mods coming.

[Geepeem]

What mods did you do Nissannewby to get the extra performance?
Cheers

[nissannewby]

Started by removing all the unnecessary egr crap, butterfly from intercooler, rerouted crank case breather to atmosphere and a 3" exhaust with aftermarket dump pipe. I grabbed some gauges (boost,pyro and oil pressure) and as I am familiar with this sort of stuff tuned here up a little which thoroughly improved how she went and towed. I then followed this with a tune on a dyno to see how I had gone by myself and I was pretty close, the dyno operator tweaked it a little which improved the overall driveability.

For myself ;) the next mod was a turbo upgrade. I swapped out the factory unit in favour of a TD05 18G from united fuel injection. This made a major improvement on its own, I still have boost response comparable to the stock unit but the extra volume has allowed much better pulling power and better fuel efficiency when towing and what not. I have just fitted a staright through 3" stainless exhaust (sounds awesome) and the mods to come are a 600x300x76 front mount intercooler ( the stock unit is useless), modified intake manifold and possibly a tweaked injector pump.

[GrumpyOldFart]

Nissannewby
I have a 2004 4.2TDI ute but the sticker on the drivers door pillar says 2500kg. Why the difference? Mine is a DX, could that be it?

Dru

[nissannewby]

Hi Dru

Cheers for bringing this up. I unfortunately spoke to soon and have since done a lot more researching. I had based my original statement on the fact that a 4.2 manual wagon can tow 3,5T. After all my research and reading I have discovered what you have mentioned that in fact it is only 2.5T.

I find it strange that something like this is still only rated to tow the same as the GQ utes. The GU brakes are drastically better plus the engine has better output. I haven't weighed it loaded but would imagine I still go over the 2.5t mark with the above said trailer.

[Cuppa]

Doesn't make sense to me, but my understanding is that the 3 litre cab chassis has a tow capacity of 3200kg, whilst the 4.2 litre is only 2500kg.

Cuppa

[nissannewby]

Yes it is very strange.

[gaddy]

I thought it was to do with auto vs manual , and leaf vs coil rear end , and combination the vehicle is configured in , probably wrong , but just a thought , as usual with towing regs nothing is straight forward .

Steve