What can tow a four-tonne van
Thirteen of 675 tow-vehicle variants clear every check against a 4,000 kg van at a realistic load, and four of them do it with room to spare.
Analysis of 675 tow-vehicle variants across 18 makes and 872 towable models with a published ATM.
Vans at 4,000 kg ATM and above are a small but growing part of the Australian market. The list of vehicles that can legally tow one is smaller than most buyers expect.
The test
Van: 4,000 kg ATM, 400 kg on the ball. Four hundred is 10 per cent of ATM, the working figure used when a van’s own ball weight is not published, and higher than the tare-state figure most of these vans quote.
Vehicle load: two adults at 80 kg each plus 150 kg of gear, so 310 kg aboard.
Margins: none. Every check is run to the full legal limit, with no reserve held back. All four checks must pass, and a check with a figure the manufacturer does not publish is counted as unrun, never as a pass.
The four checks:
- ATM within braked towing capacity
- Ball weight within maximum ball load
- GVM less kerb mass less 310 kg less 400 kg is zero or more
- Kerb mass plus 310 kg plus 4,000 kg is within GCM
Thirteen of 675 variants pass all four with every figure published.
The thirteen
| Vehicle | Kerb | GVM | GCM | Braked | Ball | Payload left | Under GCM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Ranger Super Duty Single Cab Cab-Chassis 4x4 | 2,518 | 4,500 | 8,000 | 4,500 | 450 | 1,272 | 1,172 |
| Ford Ranger Super Duty Super Cab Cab-Chassis 4x4 | 2,615 | 4,500 | 8,000 | 4,500 | 450 | 1,175 | 1,075 |
| Ford Ranger Super Duty Double Cab Cab-Chassis 4x4 | 2,675 | 4,500 | 8,000 | 4,500 | 450 | 1,115 | 1,015 |
| Ford Ranger Super Duty Double Cab Pick-Up 4x4 | 2,803 | 4,500 | 8,000 | 4,500 | 450 | 987 | 887 |
| RAM 1500 Express Black Edition Hurricane | 2,491 | 3,505 | 7,711 | 4,500 | 450 | 304 | 910 |
| RAM 1500 Rebel Hurricane | 2,612 | 3,505 | 7,711 | 4,500 | 450 | 183 | 789 |
| Ford F-150 XLT LWB 4x4 | 2,482 | 3,360 | 7,410 | 4,500 | 450 | 168 | 618 |
| RAM 1500 Laramie Sport / Laramie Night Hurricane | 2,642 | 3,505 | 7,711 | 4,500 | 450 | 153 | 759 |
| Ford F-150 XLT SWB 4x4 | 2,462 | 3,315 | 7,365 | 4,500 | 450 | 143 | 593 |
| Ford F-150 Lariat LWB 4x4 | 2,566 | 3,360 | 7,410 | 4,500 | 450 | 84 | 534 |
| RAM 1500 Limited Hurricane High Output | 2,722 | 3,505 | 7,285 | 4,200 | 420 | 73 | 253 |
| Ford F-150 Lariat SWB 4x4 | 2,546 | 3,315 | 7,365 | 4,500 | 450 | 59 | 509 |
| Ford F-150 Platinum LWB 4x4 | 2,636 | 3,360 | 7,410 | 4,500 | 450 | 14 | 464 |
All masses in kilograms. Payload left is what remains of GVM after kerb mass, 310 kg aboard and the 400 kg ball.
Two more variants pass every check that can be run but do not publish kerb mass, GVM, GCM or a ball rating: the RAM 1500 Big Horn Crew Cab and the Toyota Tundra Limited and Platinum. Nothing has been estimated in their favour, so they are not in the table.
One rated variant fails. The Ford F-150 Platinum SWB is 6 kg over GVM once the ball load is counted, on a 3,315 kg GVM and a 2,611 kg kerb mass.
The list splits in two
The four Ranger Super Duty variants finish with 987 to 1,272 kg of payload left and 887 to 1,172 kg under GCM. Everything else finishes with 14 to 304 kg of payload left.
That gap is GVM, not GCM. The Super Duty is rated at 4,500 kg GVM. The F-150 sits at 3,315 to 3,360 kg and the RAM 1500 at 3,505 kg. Subtract a 2,500 to 2,700 kg kerb mass and a 400 kg ball and there is very little of the F-150’s payload left to argue with.
At 14 kg remaining, an F-150 Platinum LWB has no spare capacity for a second toolbox, a full long-range tank or a passenger heavier than the 80 kg assumed here. It passes the test as posed. It does not pass a slightly different one.
Why it is only thirteen
The first gate is the tow rating, and it eliminates almost everything. Of 675 variants, 659 are rated below 4,000 kg braked. Only 16 are rated at 4,000 kg or more, across four nameplates: Ford Ranger Super Duty, Ford F-150, RAM 1500 and Toyota Tundra.
The second gate explains the first. GCM is why manufacturers do not rate the 3,500 kg class any higher.
The median GCM across the 3,500 kg-rated variants that publish one is 6,000 kg. The highest is 7,010 kg. A 4,000 kg van behind a vehicle of 2,400 kg kerb mass carrying 310 kg needs a GCM of 6,710 kg before a single kilogram of margin. Not one 3,500 kg-rated variant in our data has a GCM that high.
Every variant in the whole table with a GCM of 7,285 kg or more is one of these fourteen full-size pickups. There is no dual-cab ute or large SUV in the 3,500 kg class with the combination mass to carry a four-tonne van, which is exactly why none of them is rated to.
Once past the rating, GCM stops being the problem. Not one of the 16 variants rated at 4,000 kg or more fails the GCM check at this load. The only failure among them is on GVM.
The vans in question
Of 872 towable models in our data with a published ATM, 29 are at 4,000 kg or more. That is 3.3 per cent.
| ATM | Towable models |
|---|---|
| Up to 2,000 kg | 102 |
| 2,001 to 2,500 kg | 98 |
| 2,501 to 3,000 kg | 332 |
| 3,001 to 3,500 kg | 295 |
| 3,501 to 4,000 kg | 22 |
| Above 4,000 kg | 23 |
The median towable ATM is 3,000 kg. The 3,500 kg mark is a wall: 827 of 872 models sit at or below it, which is the mass most Australian tow vehicles are rated to and no coincidence at all.
Six models sit at exactly 4,000 kg: the Zone RV Peregrine, Sojourn Couples and Sojourn Family, the Red Centre Caravans Oasis, the Mountain Trail RV LXV 6.7 and the Everest Caravans Ice Glider Limited 22.8F.
Above that the figures cluster at 4,400 and 4,500 kg. The Highclere Caravans The Queen 26’1 FT is at 4,200 kg with a published 420 kg ball weight, which exceeds every maximum ball load in our vehicle table except the 450 kg figure carried by the F-150, the RAM 1500 and the Ranger Super Duty. The JB Caravans Scorpion Sting Air, the Zone RV Summit, the Sunland Caravans LTD and the Legend Caravans Tycoon Slider are all at 4,500 kg, which is the braked rating of the Super Duty, the F-150 and most of the RAM 1500 range with nothing left over.
If you are shopping in this segment
Choose the vehicle after the van, not before, and choose it on GVM as much as on tow rating. The Super Duty’s advantage in this test is not that it tows more, since the F-150 and most RAM 1500 variants share its 4,500 kg braked rating. It is that it can carry more while doing it.
Then run your own numbers rather than these. Change the load-out to three people, or the ball to 12 per cent, and the list shortens again. The vehicle finder runs the same four checks across all 675 variants at whatever ATM, ball weight, load-out and reserve margins you set.
Figures here are manufacturer-published; your vehicle’s compliance plates and handbook govern.
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