Towing with your Jimny

First, a little bit of background:
Specifications for towing capacity of a brand new Jimny read 350kg for no brakes and a massive 1300kg for a trailer with brakes fitted, with a towball download of 75kg.
For a pre 2007 model, specifications read a much lower 450kg braked. So why the massive difference?
Anti-Skid Braking System (ABS), is the sole reason for this increased towing ability.
Each trailer should have its own identification plate, and there you will find the figures for TARE and GVM or Aggregate Trailer Mass.
TARE represents the mass of the trailer empty.
GVM represents the maximum mass that can legally be carried in or on your trailer, including the trailer weight.

It is suprisingly easy to exceed the GVM of a trailer, and once the load is in, it rarely comes out again until the end of the journey. If you make it that far.

Forums are full of questions and heart breaking stories on how and why towing has gone horribly wrong, and we all want to avoid having one of those stories.
States vary on trailer registration details but mostly a printout of TARE mass is required from an authorised weighbridge before rego can be issued.
Weighbridges provide a cost effective way of finding out exactly how much camping equipment and consumables you can stuff in to your Jimny and trailer for any journey you may be embarking on.

Weigh your camping gear and trailer

Our Journey

Our little Suzuki started towing a camper trailer North from Mt Isa, finding its first gravel road in under 100km.
In a Jimny its pretty obvious that a trailer is connected to your car, it takes quite a while to get up to a comfortable cruising speed.
It was always going to be a long trip across to Broome, and immediately we found the ride comfort to be a lot better with the trailer, as the harsh ride was dampened with the mass trailing us.

Our camper trailer is 400kg empty.
We added electric brakes, a 135Ah battery (about 40kg and runs the fridge for 4 days when full), 4kg gas bottle, 2 x 20L jerry cans, 60L Engel fridge, recovery equipment, minimal camping gear and it weighed in at 620kg.

Our Jimny's fuel economy usually returns between 8 - 9 L/100km (about 400km per tank), and with the camper connected between 11.5L and 14L/100km (about 320km per tank).

Carrying fuel in jerry cans gave a range of 650km - 700km depending on road conditions.
We initially installed poly air bags to keep the vehicle level and for visibility out the back window and they did a great job, but we now have new springs and shocks and have no rear end sag.

Speed of 100km/hour is achievable, but it gets hammered up hills, 3rd gear and heaps of revs for really steep hills.

But hey, no problem, family camping isn't about pushing the limits, and our Jimny does a good job pulling the weight!
Since that trip across the top, we've used the same set up on short trips out of Broome up to Cape Levique, a round trip from Broome along the Warlu Way through Hammersley Gorge, a trip from Broome down to Perth along the coast road, a number of trips out of Perth to the south coast and out to Wave Rock and then from Perth across to Melbourne via the Nullabor Plain, finally giving the camper trailer a rest after hauling it from Melbourne to Newcastle, through the NSW alpine region.
So that little 4WD was capable of dragging that trailer around 3/4 of Australia. Whatever you might think about the Jimny, you have to give it some respect.

How Do You Camp With Your Jimny?

What's your set-up? Tell us about it here.

It takes a day for your submission to go live, 20 minutes for comments.

Tent City

Read below to see what the possibilities are!

2019 Jimny towing an Avan Sportliner CL. 
I have been happily weekend holidaying with my rig for 3 years. This week I decided to get the complete weigh check done as a preparation for the Tow Ed …

Seymour  
Seymour is his name and Sey mour we do. I have 30lt fridge solar blanket and battery, light weight popup tent ,4kg gas bottle,fold up chair,2 small …

Peggy 
Hi, I just bought a Jayco campervan. It is a very small one with only 1 side having a pullout bed. The other side doesnt have an opening. The Tare rating …

My first jimny 
I just bought my first Jimny & will need it to tow a 6 x 4 to the local tip with green waste, but i cannot see where a tow bar could possibly be connected …

Kayaks 
Hi there, I am planning to buy a Jimny and wonder if anyone can share their experience with carrying kayaks on the roof of the Jimny. We need to …

Driving my 99 Jimny from Melbourne to Darwin, any tips? 
Driving my 99 Jimny from Melbourne to Darwin, any tips? Its my first time driving across state lines. Does anyone have any tips? I'm concerned with …

Dave's Jimny and Camper trailer 
After many months serching for a light camper trailer I found and bought a Tourlite camper trailer. I can recomend them as it is easly set up, quicker …

Camping in style, without a trailer. 
Ready to camp in under a minute, my Jimny has a Hanibal fibreglass camping pod on the roof, which weighs almost 75kg once I throw some folding chairs, …

2006 Jimny and home made camper trailer 
This is my second Jimny, it's a 2006 VVT with a couple of mods. Our camper is an OzTrail tent attached to a trailer I custom built to suit the OzTrail …

Greetings from good ol' Germany! 
I could hardly believe it when I first saw your excellent Jimny website - I do own a Jimny and also a camptrailer, too. Perhaps that's not unusual Down …

Jimny and Campy in North England and Scotland 
Got an 07 Jimny and bought a second hand caravan, Campy, this summer. Permitted maximum loaded weight of Campy is 1000Kg. All sorts of people had told …

Barry 
I don't own a Jimny but one of my best mates Barry does. I am one of the chest beating large 4wd owners and take great joy in getting my GQ patrol out …

Click here to write your own.