How to tow in different terrains

Your next adventure may be across various terrains that you'll need to tow across. Here are our tips on how to navigate that.

Towing on various terrain

May 8, 2023

Towing on various terrain

That place you want to get to, assuming that it’s a bit more out of the way than a nice caravan park just off the highway… will likely see you needing to prepare your vehicle and trailer to travel across, over and through a variety of terrains. Let’s explore just a handful of the possibilities and identify a few key factors to help you prepare.

Good dirt

Smooth, wide and away from the highway. Your primary focus here should be all about taking good care of your tyres. And making sure that you’re in the clear, and out of the dust. 

Even a good dirt road is going to see undulations, dips and irregularities. All of this lumping and bumping will be transferred through your tyres (4, 6, 8 or more) and into your suspension and cabin. A moderate drop in your tyre pressures (all 4, 6, 8 or more of them) will help to flatten out some of these lumps by allowing your tyres to flex a little more. 

It’s a happy day indeed on a dirt road when you find a stiff breeze always blowing across the road to efficiently and quickly clear the dust. Sadly, few days see you driving in one direction all day, and we all know that the wind just does not care what you think. Dust hanging in the air isn’t great for your filters – that’s inconvenient. Thick dust hanging on the track goes beyond inconvenience and becomes just plain dangerous to traffic travelling with you, or to traffic coming towards you.

There are days when you just need to slow down. If you can’t see far enough to be comfortable about negotiating terrain, avoiding potholes, or seeing oncoming cars, then that’s just one of those days that you’re going to take a little longer to get there.

Towing on dirt

Bad dirt

You know what I’m talking about, corrugated, bulldust, loose rocks, the perfect storm. It’s funny how often the solution is to slow down… but it is just common sense. Slow down to give yourself more time to see what’s coming, more time to plan your path around the biggest holes, and more time to avoid those folks who clearly have somewhere that they desperately need to be.

You’ll still be dropping your tyre pressure – you’ll still be ensuring that you have some kind of plan to prevent rocks bouncing off your van and into your car and you’ll be paying extra special attention to not just the obstacles in front of your vehicle’s tyres but also adding the extra width necessary to ensure that you aren’t steering your van right into the worst of it all.

Towing on sand

Sand

Your favourite campsite turns out to also be your favourite beach fishing spot. Assuming that you’ve gotten your head around the tides, and that there are no unusual weather conditions (offshore low anyone?) which might see the tides behave a little unpredictably. Then you’re really back to the same maths of setting yourself up for success with tyre pressures. Obviously, there’s a pretty significant advantage by towing a trailer which perfectly follows your wheel tracks… This will certainly make your life easier, but your appropriate choice of tyre pressures will be the key to your success.

Towing on rough terrain

Rutted terrain

Let us exclude the 3.5t van here. We are heading into the sort of terrain suited to well prepared vehicles with compact and lightweight vans and campers. Here’s the place where you are glad that you up-specced the trailer tyres. A quality Rugged Terrain or Mud Terrain, something with a bit of ‘bite’ in the shoulder and some quality reinforcement in the sidewalls. 

This rutted terrain, even on relatively flat ground, will see you glancing at your towing mirrors more often than normal. Ensuring that you expertly steer every set of tyres around the worst holes and the sharpest rocks. This may involve some reversing, turning and twisting, and will definitely see your convoy moving at the speed of the folks with the trailers. Don’t be afraid to ask the other members of your group to offer you some guidance over UHF to assist you in steering your camper around and avoiding hangups and damage.

Tow over rocks

Wherever you are headed, take the time to make the sometimes subtle changes to your setup as terrain or conditions change. You may also need to be prepared to change your timeline. No one wants to spend their holidays rushing around the countryside, nor do they want to spend part of it organising repairs. 

Take your time, enjoy the scenery, and make the most of your valuable time on the road.

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Dave Darmody
Dave Darmody

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