towing a frame

[glenbo]

thinking of getting one of these just wondered if anyone had any experiance with one,any advice greatly received

[stevepeanut]

do a search mate, this has been talked about before. I think they are illegal now, unless its for moving a vehicle a short distance to get it safely off the road in a breakdown or similar

[livewire7116]

i think when you fit one to a car it technically becomes a trailer, so you need to check you have trailer entitlement on your license, also it needs to have 4 legal tyres, also make sure you dont exceed your cars towing capacity/kerbweight

[rambo67]

Yes only good for moving vehicles short distances for safety reasons . There's loads of regs you can and will break for any arsey copper to have a field day .

 

I teach people to drive HGV's and have a good idea of the law regarding these and trailer's ....... if ya need any help or info

[glenbo]

ok so no good for motorway then,ill have to look for a trailer,thanks for the info :thumbsup:need to tow car to santa pod for the osfdc just in case something breaks while at the track

[Fiesta Steve]

I've towed mine on an a-frame form the south coast up to Santa Pod loads of times with no problems.

 

Although my car is likely to be less than 750kg so doesn't need brakes unlike a heavier outfit.

[glenbo]

mines a mk1 escort behind transit

[bomber1]

a mate of mine uses one reguly the only problem he had was when he went from a transit to a belingo van. he tried towing anther belingo which was filled with scrap and ended up jacknifed across the road. the transit towed granadas no problem. all im really saying is make sure the towing vehicle is big / heavy enough to dominate the towed vehicle.

[stevepeanut]

if you can get your head round this

 

http://www.ukmotorhomes.net/a-frames.shtml

 

think A frame would work ace all day long unless the law turn up in which case you are screwed. I think by the looks of this, you need to be towing a car weighing less than 750 kilos and you are ok

[glenbo]

think the best bet is to buy/borrow a tralier to be on the safe side thanks for the feedback guys

[mk3cokebottle]

right which do you want to use ??

 

a towing dolly or an a frame ??

 

an a-frame is a no no now with all the new laws being passed i sold mine after owning it for 2 days after being pulled up and told they are highly illegal if your towing anything much heavier than a mini

 

now a towing dolly unbraked has the same rules as the a-frame above ,

 

but if the towing dolly is braked then the car is classified as a trailer and trailer license rules apply ie if you passed your test after 1997 then you will have to have the towing entitlement on your licence to use it to tow anything over 750kg in weight

 

everybody calls an a-frame a towing dolly

 

this is a towing dolly

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/towing-dolly-/300 ... 45f3b8b93b

[glenbo]

im going to look at a couple of trailers this week so hopefully get one of those

[Smudger105e]

an a-frame is a no no now with all the new laws being passed i sold mine after owning it for 2 days after being pulled up and told they are highly illegal if your towing anything much heavier than a mini

 

now a towing dolly unbraked has the same rules as the a-frame above ,

 

but if the towing dolly is braked then the car is classified as a trailer and trailer license rules apply ie if you passed your test after 1997 then you will have to have the towing entitlement on your licence to use it to tow anything over 750kg in weight

 

Surely if you are using a dolly, i.e. the front wheels of the car being towed suspended off the road, it does indeed become a trailer, but the brakes have to work on all wheels of a trailer, and they won't work on the rear wheels of the car being towed, so a towing dolly is also illegal. This is an extract from the page quoted earlier in this thread... "if the trailer (regardless of mass) is fitted with a braking system, then all brakes in that system must operate correctly".

[Ken B]

Exactly, trailer law is quite specific in saying all braked wheels on a trailer must operate with equal pressure on all wheels. Car brakes are biased towards the front, so thats law out the window straight away. Also, the weight thing refer to the maximum authorised mass, or maximum carrying capapcity, not what the trailer weighs. So even if your car weighs, say 700kg, if you look in the handbook, its maximum carrying weight (MAM) will be far higher to allow for passengers and luggage. So thats that law broken.

 

As for unbraked trailers, you can only tow 50% of your cars kerb(unladen) weight with an unbraked trailer. So to tow the full 750kg unbraked your tow car must have a kerb weight of 1500kg. so thats Frontera's and the like.

 

 

The other thing you all have to remember, most cars since the 90's have to have a maximum towing weight specified as part of the type approval. To exceed this, you are overloading the vehicle which is an endorsable offence.

[Mk2Jo]

You really have got the bug glenbo

[glenbo]

yeah cant wait for the 22nd