Towing with transit

[tehguy]

A 75ps Transit towing almost 2 tonnes of trailer...if it was structurally capable would it even have enough power to move? My estate car has over twice as much power and I can tell you, towing 1.5 tonnes with that is not exactly a "speedy" affair, although it will do 60mph it takes a little while to get there.

[Super Slo Mo]

Petrolhead_Rich said:

Just to add a little extra info on, the B entitlement actually states "any combination upto 3500kg OR a vehicle and trailer combination over 3500kg where the trailer doesn't exceed 750kg and the total combined weight doesn't exceed 4250kg"

So you can tow UPTO 750kg with a 3500kg van on a B license.

Not that this affects the OP as he passed in '87 so will have B+E which covers upto 7500kg, but might be useful for other people like myself who have a Transit 350 (3500kg) and are wanting to tow a small trailer (upto 750kg) on a B-Only license.

Oh and also the trailer weight is based on DESIGNED WEIGHT not actual weight at the time, so for example with a 3500kg van you couldnt tow a big car transporter trailer on the basis that you only have a washing machine on so it doesn't exceed 750kg, because the trailer is rated to tow more - this may be relevant to the OP!!

Doesn't the 'designed weight' thing only apply to B Licence category holders though? And I thought that had been revoked recently so it goes on actual weight like it does for every other vehicle towing a trailer.

[Petrolhead_Rich]

Super Slo Mo said:

Doesn't the 'designed weight' thing only apply to B Licence category holders though? And I thought that had been revoked recently so it goes on actual weight like it does for every other vehicle towing a trailer.

Weights apply to the vehicle not the license, doesn't matter if you have a full HGV licence or a 50cc moped licence.

The weights of the vehicle you are driving must be within the weights you are authorised to drive on your license.

As far as I'm aware it's the gross vehicle weight + gross Trailer Weight, I could be wrong, but pretty sure I'm not!

[Super Slo Mo]

That's not right. It's actual weights, not plated weights when it comes to the vehicle. The plated weight only matters when you're dealing with licensing, and I think when dealing with weight restrictions such as bridges.

For instance, you can quite legally tow a 3.5 tonne gross trailer with a vehicle that only has a 2 tonne max trailer weight as long as the trailer weighs 2 tonnes or less.

I'm going to see if I can find the relevant legislation to reference, just to make sure I'm not going completely loopy, stand by.

Here we go, R0G is as good as the official source http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by Super Slo Mo on Monday 12th May 18:48

[Petrolhead_Rich]

Super Slo Mo said:

That's not right. It's actual weights, not plated weights when it comes to the vehicle. The plated weight only matters when you're dealing with licensing, and I think when dealing with weight restrictions such as bridges.

For instance, you can quite legally tow a 3.5 tonne gross trailer with a vehicle that only has a 2 tonne max trailer weight as long as the trailer weighs 2 tonnes or less.

I'm going to see if I can find the relevant legislation to reference, just to make sure I'm not going completely loopy, stand by.

Here we go, R0G is as good as the official source http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by Super Slo Mo on Monday 12th May 18:48

I stand corrected, welcome to the minefield of trailer towing....

[Super Slo Mo]

I know. I remember some years back having this conversation in our transport office, 6 different people had six different opinions on the subject, we ended up digging out the Croner's Road Transport manual (about 800 pages thick if you've never seen it), and trying to decipher what it said we could and couldn't do (basically could we pull a full-sized but empty Tri-axle trailer with a unit plated at 28 tonnes, which is largely the same as we're discussing here, but on a slightly larger scale).

[tehguy]

It's hardly a minefield, all you have to remember is that plated weights are relevant for licensing, and actual weights are relevant for the vehicle.

If for example you had a trailer which was 2 tonnes unladen but had a 10 tonne gross weight, and a vehicle with a 3.5 tonne towing capability, you could tow that trailer with 1.5 tonnes of payload.

However if you do not have B+E driving licence entitlement (essentially restricting you to 3.5 tonnes gross train weight), you had a car with a 2.5 tonne gross weight and a trailer with a 2 tonne gross weight, you could not drive the outfit even if the trailer was unladen and only weighed 500kg.

Edit:

My car has a 2200kg gross weight, and 2000kg towing capability. I have a car transporter which is 550kg unladen and 2600kg gross, I can legally tow it with a 1450kg car on top. Someone without B+E wouldn't be allowed to drive my car and trailer at all, even if it was unladen.

Edited by tehguy on Friday 16th May 11:30