Trailer/Tow Car advice

Post by **Drax** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:31 pm

nitin_s1 wrote:

With this smile you can tow anything..

that made me chuckle far too loudly!

Dino · Post by **Dino** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:09 am

@firstlude can you give me a make of trailer, weight and length/dimensions of load area please?

Im so glad that my Hamster Hammond routine on my teeth is making everyone happy

3rd gen steve · Post by **3rd gen steve** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:12 am

Merlin wrote:@3rd gen steve He arranges the trailers we use so he might be able to give some pointers.

We have used quite a wide variety of trailers and the main thing I noticed is that when we were using the PRG and Woodford trailers they were much better than the cheaper GT trailers which are a more budget friendly. The main differences being the ramps were much easier to use and easier to get the car on without removing the front bumper. Also there were more tie down points and they were mounted in easier to access locations. Weight wise, you should be fine with any kind of modern trailer, the heaviest we had was a triple axle, fully covered and tilting trailer and still only weighed around the 600kg mark. If I was looking to buy it would be a few year old premium brand trailer.

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:17 am

With regards to the tie down points and ramps, I guess you could always weld on more tie down points and always extend the ramps???...

3rd gen steve · Post by **3rd gen steve** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:49 am

You could certainly weld more points on but i think the main issue would be that most modern trailers have removable ramps that get stored inside the bed of the trailer, if they are modified it would have to in a way that would allow them to still be stored securely. Or there is always the option of storing them in the tow car.

Post by **Merlin** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:56 am

Having to take the font bumper off to load/unload is a massive pain in the butt and only really workable if you don't have the bumper cover attached to the bumper bar.

3rd gen steve · Post by **3rd gen steve** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 11:09 am

The other thing to be wary of is the MAM stamp of the trailer. If the tow car is a Saab with an 1800kg limit you need to make sure that the maximum authorised mass of the trailer is 1800kg. If you went to a weigh bridge and found that the weight you were towing was 1700kg but the MAM was 1900kg that would technically be illegal. You can have a large capacity trailer down plated to suit whatever it is you are going to be doing but i'm not sure what is involved in that.

firstlude · Post by **firstlude** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:24 pm

its not my trailer just one i can use if i need to so will look into getting the info you need

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:35 pm

3rd gen steve wrote:The other thing to be wary of is the MAM stamp of the trailer. If the tow car is a Saab with an 1800kg limit you need to make sure that the maximum authorised mass of the trailer is 1800kg. If you went to a weigh bridge and found that the weight you were towing was 1700kg but the MAM was 1900kg that would technically be illegal. You can have a large capacity trailer down plated to suit whatever it is you are going to be doing but i'm not sure what is involved in that.

This is what I've been reading up on and find most annoying. My truck has a MAM of 2900kg which means (without me having a towing license) I can only tow a maximum of 600kg (3500kg total train MAM minus my 2900kg MAM). I know I can tow 750kg legally as that is the legal minimum, but I wanted to get across that even though my truck can weigh 2900kg fully loaded it does only weigh 1830kg with just me in it, which means I could in theory tow 1670kg (the weight of my lude on a trailer).

I had assumed down plating was only applicable to professional towing vehicles (Those with a tacho for example).

3rd gen steve · Post by **3rd gen steve** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 9:27 am

NafemanNathan wrote:
3rd gen steve wrote:The other thing to be wary of is the MAM stamp of the trailer. If the tow car is a Saab with an 1800kg limit you need to make sure that the maximum authorised mass of the trailer is 1800kg. If you went to a weigh bridge and found that the weight you were towing was 1700kg but the MAM was 1900kg that would technically be illegal. You can have a large capacity trailer down plated to suit whatever it is you are going to be doing but i'm not sure what is involved in that.
This is what I've been reading up on and find most annoying. My truck has a MAM of 2900kg which means (without me having a towing license) I can only tow a maximum of 600kg (3500kg total train MAM minus my 2900kg MAM). I know I can tow 750kg legally as that is the legal minimum, but I wanted to get across that even though my truck can weigh 2900kg fully loaded it does only weigh 1830kg with just me in it, which means I could in theory tow 1670kg (the weight of my lude on a trailer).

I had assumed down plating was only applicable to professional towing vehicles (Those with a tacho for example).

I was hoping that was how it worked but after 4 very long phone calls to local police headquarters and DVSA I found that the loophole which says you can tow a trailer provided the combined weight doesn't exceed 3500kg and the towing vehicle is heavier than the trailer doesn't refer to the weight on the day but to the plated weight of both car and trailer combined so you would need to find a car with a MAM of 1800kg that could tow a trailer with a MAM of 1700kg, and as far as im aware no such combination exists. After much looking at different options I think the best one is to just sit a trailer test and tow whatever makes you happy.

Ive never looked much into down plating as its never been needed so not sure on the exact ins and out's of it