a towing weight question

[Kevin]

Hi

this must have been covered by posts already but possibly things have changed.

I have a licence which says Im allowed to drive and tow (combined) a maximum vehicle weight of 10 or 12 tons ( cant remember which and cant find my licence!). so thats the licence bit taken care of.

Now, my car, towing limit is 4 tons maximum ( not to exceed 20mph) or about 3.5 tons at any speed (obv. within reason!) but I thought a new law had been brought in to say that the maximum combined weight can now only be 3.5 tons is this correct?

I know the 80% of vehicle weight was caravan club safety thing but Im after THE definitive weights if they exsist.

Many thanks

Kevin

 

[me2]

the max gross weight of trailer must not exced 3.5 tons on over run brakes the tow weight of the car will be on the vin plate take the car weight away from the gross that gives the tow weight for that car and that is max at any speed it will not be 4 ton at any speed unless it has the tow car has air brakes i hope this helps

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[Kevin]

Hi

thanks for coming back

so going on that, 3.5 tons will be inside the cars allowable limit and the law unless it has continous brakes in which case I can go to the 4 tons as set out as the limit in the cars manual

kevin

 

[britemp]

Hi

Firstly what is the car in question? It sounds like a Land Rover judging by the high towing limits. Be warned that the coupled brake system that allows you to tow 4 tons instead of 3.5 is complex and expensive. At best with a trailer more than twice the weight of the towcar you won't want to go far and you wil need to do it slowly.

For a definitive answer on towing weights see:

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/dl_towing_trailers.htm>http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/dl_towing_trailers.htm</A>


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[gonfishing]

Provided you passed your test prior to 1997 you will be allowed to tow on a U.K road a combined weight of 3.5 tonnes so that's boat and trailer. Average trailer at this size 700kg max boat weight 2800kgs, given the average weekend sports boat of around 26 ft that's about the limit , maximum beam 9ft 6ins
This is the max allowed, from hereon it's a flat bed or low loader!!!!

Julian

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[steverow]

Bear in mind that the traffic police have some latitude here.
If they consider the outfit to be unstable or a danger to other road users, they can pull it off the road anyway, whether or not it's within the legal towing limits.
Thats how they tackle the badly loaded and dangerously old "two weekers" caravans in Cornwall every summer.
Personally I would never tow anything above 100% of the kerbweight of the towing vehicle it's just too damn dangerous.....
If you've ever towed a caravan and got a serious "snake" you'll know why.
And it only takes one truck overtaking you at speed to do it.








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[BrendanS]

Why do they never pull in the pikies who are overloaded then?

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[steverow]

Too much trouble.
They'd have to get social services to put the 12 kids into care....imagine the paperwork.


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[gonfishing]

Because they will disappear back to wherever , they are not traceable, and not worth the hassle compared to a decent law abiding, tax paying, legal resident,of the U.K

Julian

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[BrendanS]

Dear chaps, you seem to have a prob with situationally habited peeps

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni

 

[gonfishing]

Not Really!!!

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[BrendanS]

Eeek! Just shunt them into field then? I'd rather shoot the vermin....foxes?

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[Kevin]

Hi

thanks for your replies and the link.

much appreciated

Kevin

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[andrewa]

Re: A bit off topic but...

I am looking at a boat with a US trailer, it won't be used on public roads but I would like to use it for launch and storage my question is does the UK tow ball fit the US hitch or is it to big or small?


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[Kevin]

Re: A bit off topic but...

Hi

As far as I know the US ball is about 1mm bigger than ours, thus the hitch is slightly bigger but they are ok to use to haul about the yard and launch boats, a lot of people do this.

IMHO

Kevin

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[duncan]

Re: A bit off topic but...

whilst both are new (ball and hitch) they seem to work fine - a friend is even towing his small sportsboat around on this combination as he struggled to get a 2" ball.
A further suggestion made was to put a piece of cloth over the ball before hitching up.

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[andy_wilson]

Re: A bit off topic but...

US 2" (50.8mm)

UK 50mm

Go figure as they say over there

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