towing

[tyce]

hi,
does anyone know if it is possible to pull approximatly 4 ton of boat and trailer with a car (2litre diesel) or will the car just refuse to budge

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[bigmart]

I think you'll find that the problem is more one of legality. I have towed that kind of weight with a 2.5 Ltre diesel Discovery. At no point did I find I needed the Low Ratio Gears.

On the road the discovery is legal up to 3.5 tons with a Close Coupled Trailer. I doubt if your car is legal to this weight.

Martin

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[Talbot]

on the flat, perfectly possible. up a slope, very unlikely (more likely to burn out the clutch) On the road, conventional thought is tow about 80% of cars weight. proper 4wd are different, in that their weight allowance CAN be much more.

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[Mudplugger]

Somewhere on your vehicle you should be able to find the max legal road weight towable..try the handbook. Have a feeling that the towed weight shall not exceed that of the towing vehicle, as far as cars are concerned, on the road.. HTH Tony W.

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[fastjedi]

My newish Audi A4 130TDI is rated at 1600Kg ... and my trailer sailer weighs in at 1000Kg on it's trailer all up. Get it on a steep slope as is often encountered around the coast and the clutch gives up completely. ..... as itn car and trailer go nowhere!

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[misterg]

Car will budge OK, but problem is being road legal (as pointed out by others). My old Volvo estate is legal to 1900kg (with special tow-bar). I've not heard of any passenger cars that exceed this.

I think the maximum weight (incl. trailer) you can tow in the UK is 3500kg, and only the older Landrovers, or the Defenders, or the bigger Jeeps and some Japanese 4x4 are plated to do this.

Subject has come up before - the information you need is on a plate under the bonnet, or in the handbook.

Andy


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[oldharry]

The car will shift 4 tons on the level. But if you have to do a hill start you will destroy your clutch. Also braking or swerving at any speed (25mph ) you may distort the chassis, and possibly even tear the towbar off its mounts! The cars brakes will not stop the outfit unless the trailer has first class brakes of its own.

But the real no-no is the legality of it. The car should have a plate usually in the engine compartment which shows the Vin number. This plate will show the maximum permissible trailer weight (normally around 80% of the weight of the vehicle for a private car), and a figure for 'Gross Train Weight' This is the maximum permissible all up weight of the car, with occupants and luggage plus any trailer and its load. If you are trying to move 4 tons of boat you will be exceeding that figure by at least 100% or more! Although the vehicle may be able to shift vastly heavier loads, these figures are regarded by the courts as the legal safe limits, and you will be commiting an offence if you exceed them - as many a caravanner has discovered to his cost! If youi cannot find these figures the local dealer will have them.

The Boys in Blue will just love you, as you will be a nice easy target for them to improve their conviction statistics. With that level of overload you will without doubt get a stop order slapped on you at the roadside as having an unsafe load, you will not be allowed to continue your journey and will have to pay for a contractor to come and remove the boat and trailer outfit from the roadside. Expensive!

Then of course comes the Beak, with fines for unsafe load, dangerous driving, swearing at Police etc etc... and possibly driving without valid insurance ...

Like I said, the Boys in Blue just love this sort of scenario. Down here on the S Coast they regularly run checks on any private vehicle towing large caravans, boats etc, and pull a surprisingly large number off the road as unsafe.

Commercial vehicles and vans are rated very differently, and you may well find that you can legally shift your boat by using a large van, where the MTW and GTW is often in the order of 150 -, 200% of GVW. My Old LDV van can legally tow 150% of its weight, but a car with the same engine is only allowed a little over half that figure.

All this applies only if you are going down the road with it of course. In bottom gear the car will easily shift the boat round the yard or garden as long as it is reasonably level! You will of course shorten the life of your clutch and transmission by a lot of thousands of miles....

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[Avocet]

You won't find a maximum trailer weight on the VIN plate of the car - only the maximum "train" weight (as you say, the weight of the car and anything it is towing added together). If the "Plod" do stop you, and take you to a weighbridge, they will look at what your car weighs AT THE TIME IT IS WEIGHED. So if the car is largely empty and doesn't have much fuel in it, the amount of trailer load you will be allowed will go up. Unfortunately though, it is very unlikely (in fact, I'd guess at just about impossible) that a 2 litre saloon will be able to (legally) tow anything like 4 tons (probably not even half that!) The largest weight on the VIN plate is the Gross Train Weight. it is usually the first number on the plate and will be something like 3150kg. The next number (always smaller) will be the maximum permitted weight of the car by itself. The unladen or "kerb" weight of the car does not appear on the plate at all - you will have to go to the handbook for that but I imagine it will be about 1300 - 1400 kg. The other two numbers on the VIN plate are the maximum permitted front and rear axle weights respectively. They are sometimes prefixed by a "1 -" and a "2 -". Axle "1" is always the front axle.

I think you'll be so easy to spot with a whacking great boat on the back that you'll be a very easy target for PC Plod! Whereabouts do you want the boat moving to and from? Avocet weighs about 3.5 tons and we have used a firm with a 7.5 ton flat back truck before now. They're very reasonable. If you're in the North West, PM me and I'll pass on the number.

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[silverseal]

I towed 5 tonnes of boat and trailer with a Ford Granada Saloon with auto gearbox, using lowest gear on the flat. But only on MOD land, and only about 3/4 mile - reason brand new MOD Landrover had brake failure

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[Superflid]

Sometimes you can get away with it.....

....and that was 10 feet wide!

But they speak wise words here, legalities are the real problem.

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[Joe_Cole]

But he was charged with driving on the wrong side of the road!

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[Superflid]

Just resting in a layby on the A46 before tackling Lincoln.

Could have been charged with being in control of an ugly boat though.....

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[Guest]

If you got good clutch and low enough gearing - you can tow annything .....

I have a Garden Tractior to cut the lawns ..... 13HP Briggs and Stratton ..... in first gear it will pull my 6m w/ender up onto the bank ....

But whether it is legal to go on public road is another matter !!
And my initial thoughts about your example is most likley NO !

<hr width=100% size=1>Cheers Nigel http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gps-navigator/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/searider/