Just Browsing Amarok strong enough?

[Rachie]

Hi towing community!

Wanting a little advice or real life experiences (as opposed to weighted reviews) on Amaroks towing capability. I have a 2018 TDI550 Ult with 3.5 ball/bar upgrade, looking at buying a 23ft expanda Basestation secondhand. Weights are a close call but maybe doable - depending on how much weight I can loose We would be loading with 1 race bike and 1 spare bike plus gear on most trips. We're certainly not reckless off the track so would happily hang out a couple of gears down on the highway but just wondering how that gearbox might hold up! Any experiences you may have had, both good or otherwise, I'd love to hear them.
Thanks so much!...in advance.

 

[Drover]

While I have only taken one for a test drive I found it to be very nice vehicle to drive but doing the maths for a 23ft Basestation I think you might be wishfull thinking if the figures I saw are correct, a supposed tare of 2800kg so that would give an ATM of somewhere like 3200kgs so that only leaves you with 2800kgs before you blow your GCM (6000kg) , supposed Amarok tare when new is 2200kg, so if the tug is naked of extras that would leave you with 600kg of load, less 300kg TBW as the basestation would certainly be up there, so not much left for fuel and bums............ of course if you have added things like bull bar, tow bar, canopy etc that amount is a lot less if not into the negative same goes for the van in question be easy to blow the GCM before even adding fuel................................ thats if you want to run legal anyway.

 

[Rachie]

Hi Drover, thanks for the reply They are a great vehicle for sure. I love it, for many reasons! Drives better with a heavy boat on the back (loves it) but a loaded Basestation, has a bit on that!
You're right on the money with the figures - they are hairline. There is a couple of things I could do to increase my payload but I'm just deciding on whether its worth it. I'm thinking perhaps smaller van = less stress
Legal is definitely sensible, but safety is non negotiable. I don't ever want to be a passenger with a van in control, I want to be certain the Amarok has what it takes, if ever needed.....nor do I want to blow a gearbox....

 

[Drover]

It how you drive the gearbox, most autos when towing require a bit of manual selection to keep revs/temps in the right spot, towing just in D all the time usually means higher temps thusly gearbox failure as the oil gets cooked in time, especially with these dumb 100,000km service schedules.....I'm a great believer in auto service around the 40K mark, no gearbox is sealed for life.
I think the biggest problem is while they increased the tow cap they didn't increase the ball weight and I think you would be struggling to keep that down, I have also discovered the van probably has up to 650kg loading which would bring its ATM up to somewhere like 3400kg and both tug and van would be starting out heavier than the specs say for an empty vehicle.

My rule of thumb for any 3.5t dual cab is a van of 2.8t ATM, then you shouldn't be working the guts out of your tug, it should leave a few Kgs spare and you can travel with a few bums on seat and a full tank of fuel, people worry about van weights but often forget that the tug will pop the scales just as easy as its carrying capacity is eaten up by fuel,tow bars, bull bars, fridges, batteries and drawers etc......