Hi All
I recently brought a FR2 manual - looks like I may have got the wrong transmission.

Anyway - the car had a new clutch and DMF recently - anyone know if the replacement clutch and DMF are made stronger than the original - as I understand a manual can chew through the clutch fast if towing.

Many Thanks

It will only wear the clutch when pulling away if you spend a lot of time slipping it or rev like a nut case.

Having totally wrecked the auto box on the Granada I used to tow a race car trailer (you can tell how long ago that was as the Granada was less than 3 years old) I would prefer a manual myself. The Granada box died due to an extreme (entirely normal) bout of stop/start/crawl on the M25. My understanding is all autos really hate going slow under load.

I could be completely wrong though as I know nothing about the auto box in the FL2 and even less about caravans.

It wasn't all bad though as killing the auto (and a bout of fish tailing on the M2) prompted me to buy a V8 Disco and I have never looked back.

Last edited by T4 on 6th Apr 2018 12:00 pm. Edited 1 time in total

Just get on and enjoy your car!

I have a manual and regularly tow a trailer full of all sorts heavy stuff without problems - these cars were built to work - pay no attention to a few negative experiences and drive carefully you will be surprised what the car can do. No Longer the owner of a 2013MY Fuji White GS

"Fiat Lux" a philosophy not a car

Any tips? will be towing 1400kg.

Apart from get a hotel!!!

IE - is using 6th gear a no no - as I know my beloved LR has loads of torque, should I use it all? - or will that blow the transmission.

when I towed with my VW touran it would do it in 6th but I would get better efficiency in 5th.

Not meaning to sound like an amateur as I have towed a van for the past 2 years - once went down a 25% hill in Devon and cooked the brakes on the VW - lets hope the FRL2 has bigger brakes.

Use all the gears that the car has! I have found the Freelander 2 to be one of the best tow cars that I have owned. (manual)As for going down a steep hill with a load on the back brake use should be kept to a minimum to avoid overheating the brakes. (goes for any car) Use the lower gears to help keep the speed down and let the engine do most of the braking. if you are hazard aware you will have adjusted your speed in advance of the downhill and be in the correct gear so you should not have to use the brakes much to keep everything under control on the descent.If your engine is revving its nuts off on the way down then you are going too fast and need to use the brakes only enough to get speed down to a suitable level for the engine to do most of the braking.

Thanks - glad to hear that the manual is a good tow car.

On another note - off to Lytton Lawn campsite just outside Lymington next week.

I had a manual SE before my present auto HSE. It towed really well. Just take care reversing as the ratio is quite high and can lead to those familiar cooking smells, especially if backing up hill. Be gentle on pull away in first to save the DMF. We did over 3,000 miles in Denmark/Sweden/Norway pulling 1500kg no problem. Sold the car at 103,000m on original clutch & DMF.

Bob 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)

My own experiences of towing a twin axle caravan for years with a manual discovery td5 , before changing to an Sd4 Freelander are that I will not consider a manual tow car again . Not that the disco was bad, far from it and very capable. It's just that the auto is so much better in virtually every way IMHO . Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

My own experiences of towing a twin axle caravan for years with a manual discovery td5 , before changing to an Sd4 Freelander are that I will not consider a manual tow car again . Not that the disco was bad, far from it and very capable. It's just that the auto is so much better in virtually every way IMHO . Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

quote

My own experiences of towing a twin axle caravan for years , before changing to an Manual td4 Freelander are that I will not consider a manual tow car again . Not that the manual was bad, far from it and very capable. It's just that the auto is so much better in virtually every way for towing.

My Auto was thirsty, 20-21 towing but effortless and 26 average solo .
Manual averages 26 towing nearly 1800KG twin axle and 37-42 mpg solo.
The bonus is road tax is so much cheaper as well. .
Never had a clutch or DMF issue in 5 years towing all over Europe.
i'm always considerate to the clutch and am not aggressive with it and never hold on a hill with it and dont use rev's to pull away.
That's what destroys a diesel clutch is using revs to pull away ! & leaving a vehicle in too higher gear and too lower engine speed beats the 7 bells out of a dual mass.
just enjoy  Jaguar x-type sport gone
Jaguar x-type 2.2d sport one of my best cars ever sadly gone
Freelander 2 GS auto 2008 most unreliable ever ! gladly gone
Freelander 2 GS manual 2013 only time will tell !

I tow with a manual and haven't had any problems. Mind you my 'van only has a MTPLM of 1275 kg so I don't notice that it's behind me most of the time.

It's happy towing at 60 in 6th, but have to drop to 5th if I go below 55 on the flat. Obviously I have to drop to 5th on some of the hills on the A34, but can still do some of them in 6th if I get a good run at them. It's easy to get carried away and go over 60. Can't say here how carried away I get sometimes

I must admit that reversing the 'van uphill does make a bit of a smell.

My Coachman has a MTPLM of 1560Kg and I have been towing that for the last 3 years with a manual box with no problem. the clutch did fail with our last van coming back from Belgium but that was the crankshaft oil seal giving up and covering the whole clutch assembly is slippery stuff. It will tow at 60 in 6th on a flat but like a previous post anything lower in speed and you need 5th gear.