I have a bit of a quandary regarding how to tow our kayak trailer. Currently we have an F Type, enough said regarding a hitch. Additionally, we have a 2018 full size Range Rover which is leased and does not have a trailer hitch. Nobody and I mean nobody makes an aftermarket hitch for a 2018 Range Rover!? At the time we leased the 2018 RR we had a Mercedes Sprinter that had a hitch, we since sold that vehicle. I apologize for sharing too much information however, it helps to underscore the problem. Which is, I don't want to purchase another car just to tow the kayak unless it's an absolute last resort. With that said, we have a 2016 Portfolio which very seldom is used and I'm wondering if anyone out there has fitted a trailer hitch on their XJ or has any thoughts.

Thanks in advance...

 

Tahoe Dave, well, I did a little bit of looking and all of my sources say the same thing. The XJ was never designed to have a hitch attached to it. All the sources I could find said that the towing rating of the car is 0 KG (or stated it as N/A). If you look in the owners manual, back in the specifications area, it talks about this specifically and says "NOTE: This vehicle is not designed to be used as a towing vehicle, so a Gross Train Weight is not applicable". The other oddity that I found that kinda backs this up is the very limited amount of weight that the car is recommended to have put in the luggage compartment.(77 pounds/35 kg). Now, there is a by-out for this in that if you don't have a lot of weight in the rear seat, that you can then apply that weight to the luggage compartment as long as you don't exceed the maximum rating of the rear axle.

 

Chris,

Thanks for looking into this. The idea of fitting a trailer hitch to the XJ was truly a long-shot. However, before I make the inevitable purchase of another vehicle I needed to check that box.

Dave

 

No towbar design could be linked to the fact the chassis is in aluminium, no?

But for your Range Rover 2018 I'm surprised you don't find anything, I'm quite sure I already saw some of these having a trailer hitch in Europe.

 

Look at post 52 of Randy's thread. He fabricated a mount for his bike.https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-199108/page3/

 

https://accessories.landrover.com/us...#tertiary-tabs

 

Thanks, it was actually post 54 and it reportedly is a "custom" job. The good news is, it can be done!

 

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, our kayak is a tandem and weighs 93 lbs. Too heavy at this stage of the game to hoist that bad-boy up there. This is why I purchased a Malone trailer, makes life much easier.

 

My friend has a folding / inflatable sea kayak. Much better than my Sea Eagle 370 inflatable, which is what I use just for messing around in lakes when camping, although it's great for that purpose. Fits on the back seat of the Jag.

Check out the Advanced Elements range.

The good point of an inflatable is stability, which is unbelievable - having all that buoyancy at each side. My 370 will take 650 lbs and you can step into it, it's that stable. 2 people and a big dog, no problem. The downside is speed, although the better ones are, well, better in this respect.

 

Holy Cow!! I exceed that, just in grocery bags, when we make our weekly trip to the grocery store! Is that figure, maybe, so you don't damage the "floor section" that covers the spare tire well? And now that has me thinking about the weight capacity of the cover in the back of our F-Pace. We ordered the full size spare tire with it, so it has a "high riser" floor cover, in back.

 

I've put way more than 77 lbs in the trunk sorry boot. Like 8 40lb bags of pool salt and never a problem.

 

Leadfoot4/XJsss, please include the following sentence after that. You can exceed that value if you reduce the weight sitting in the back seat. So, if it is just you in the car, you can probably put 500 pounds in the trunk, but no one in the back seat. The true "limit" is not exceeding the rear axle weight limit. Now, how you figure that out, lord only knows. I would think you could monitor the air pressure in the air springs and that could be translated into a maximum weight. But, short of playing with the car and a large scale to measure the weight seen on the rear wheels, I know of no way to know if you are or are not exceeding it. With pick-up trucks (atleast the new ones, older ones it becomes a bit more difficult to determine based on the weakening of the springs), you reach the maximum weight limit when the truck sits level. If you see the back end of a truck sitting lower than the front, then you are most likely exceeding the weight rating of the axle. The same concept is true of semi trailers. If you look at them unloaded, they all arch upwards. When they reach their maximum rating, they will be flat. if you see a trailer drooping in the center, you may want to give yourself some additional room from them. This is how cops can determine if you are driving your vehicle safely or not.

 

Point well taken. Rear seat was empty.

 

Mike, thanks for the clarification. I'd hate to think that Id have to reduce my grocery consumption, due to car trunk capacity limitations!!

 

There is a company in Germany offering a solution : https://www.kupplung-vor-ort.com/kup...fuer-jaguar-xj

 

Their pictures show the previous XJ not the X351 model?
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But in the text it says they do x350 and x351 hitches

 

I ended up contacting them asking if they did indeed have one and they sent a reply saying no, they don't have a hitch solution for the x351. It was worth a shot

 

eTrailer.com makes a hitch for our x351 Jaguars. Class I $279.95 (as of Jan 2020 when I last looked at their hitches).

 

Hey great find! Thanks for posting it.
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