Three-tonne towing upgrade coming for Toyota Prado

Toyota's top-selling Prado will take on another 500kg of credibility when Lovell’s Springs releases its 3000kg braked towing capacity upgrade for the popular full-size SUV around mid-year.

The 150-series Prado five-door’s long-standing BTC of 2500kg has been a major point of frustration for both Toyota buyers and the Australian caravan and boating industries for years, with local van manufacturers specifically targeting 2000-2100kg tare weights for their smaller off-road vans in order to make their products legal behind one of Australia’s most popular 4WDs.

Similar to its Stage 1 (3700kg) and Stage 2 (4000kg) kits currently available for the LandCruiser 200 Series, Lovell’s Springs’ BTC 3000kg kit for the Prado will see it match the three-tonne towing capacity of chief rivals like the Ford Everest, Mitsubishi Pajero, Pajero Sport, Isuzu MU-X and Holden Trailblazer, but not the 3500kg rating of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, outgoing Land Rover Discovery and most one-tonne utes.

It will also meet the practical and documentary compliance requirements of Work Safety, Police Licensing, Insurance, Lessors and Fleet Managers, Sales & Marketing Manager Mike Davison assured motoring.com.au.

He said that, like Lovell's LC 200 kits, it will similarly have approval by all relevant government departments and will be supplied with a secondary manufacturer's compliance plate.

Federal compliance BTC upgrades can only be fitted to vehicles prior to registration and to vehicles fitted with a Lovell’s 3800kg GVM upgrade, however, Lovell’s can also comply vehicles after registration via state compliance type approvals.

Lovell’s BTC upgrade tongue/hitch receiver/drop shank can only be attached to Toyota original equipment tow bars and are not compliant for aftermarket tow bars. Ball weights with the Lovell’s kits can still not exceed 400kg.

As with its LC 200 BTC upgrades, Lovell’s is again expected to partner with the Melbourne designed and manufactured Hitch-Ezy coupling.

The novel, but heavy (16kg) Hitch-Ezy five-tonne self-locking pillar coupling is uniquely offered as part of the LandCruiser upgrades, but Hitch-Ezy has a new 3500kg coupling due for release around April and it’s believed this will be part of the Prado BTC 3000kg kit.

Weighing significantly less than its five-tonne coupling at around 9kg, the Hitch-Ezy primarily uses aircraft-grade alloy in its construction, but offers similar functionality to its larger brother. It will have a large-diameter ‘pillar-like’ shank and a self-centring action that automatically locks when fully seated. It also cannot accidentally be fitted upside down, as is the case with some other off-road hitches.

The Prado BTCc 3000kg upgrade will only be fitted by Lovell’s Springs dealers and authorised fitters, but by arrangement with Toyota dealers it should be possible to have it fitted to a new Prado prior to delivery.

The Australian caravan industry is expected to welcome a BTC of 3000kg being the new ‘normal’ for Prados, and we can expect to see tare weights creeping up closer to 2500kg once customers are let ‘off-the-leash’ and able to spec all their favourite options, like washing machines, dual spare wheels and generator hatches when ordering their caravans.

Pricing is expected to be in line with the LC 200 kits, which cost $3000 as a Stage 1 kit, so budget around this. The warranty is likely to be similar, which is five years on coil springs, three years or 70,000km on shock absorbers and two years/40,000km on suspension and towing components (whichever occurs first).