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Towing Weights?
coozer - 26/11/09 at 09:29 PM

Passed a Mondeo towing a Mercedes Sprinter on the A19 yesterday using a solid (short) flimsly looking bar..

It just looked all wrong and I'm sure if there was ever any plod on patrol they would have been in big trouble..

Q?: Does a standard mid size saloon have the towing capacity for a 3.5 ton van? Would it come down to laden, unladen or actual weight?

Mark Allanson - 26/11/09 at 09:53 PM

The towing of any vehicle without a trailer is now strictly illigal irrespective of size unless an 'emergency' - not sure how they define that

matt_claydon - 26/11/09 at 09:53 PM

For 'recovery' most of the towing rules go out of the window. I believe there are theoretical maximum speeds though.

Try regulations 19 and 22 of the Construction and Use regulations if you're feeling brave!

[Edited on 26/11/09 by matt_claydon]

hillbillyracer - 26/11/09 at 09:53 PM

Towing as in on an A frame or trailer it's way over the limit but on a rope/tow-pole with someone in the towed vehicle to operate the steering & brakes then I'm not sure.
I am sure it's not good for a Mondeo clutch!

Something of interest to me is what trailer weight you can tow, I've heard that the manufacturer's maximum weight counts for nothing & for UK law you subtract the Maximum Gross Vehicle Weight from the Maximum Gross Train Weight. This means my VW T4 can tow 1700kg but the handbook says 2000kg. A look on the VOSA site says only that the maximum weights for axles, GVW GTW must not be exceeded & nothing about the towing weight being worked out by subtracting GVW from GTW.

bj928 - 26/11/09 at 10:24 PM

quote:
Originally posted by hillbillyracer
Towing as in on an A frame or trailer it's way over the limit but on a rope/tow-pole with someone in the towed vehicle to operate the steering & brakes then I'm not sure.
I am sure it's not good for a Mondeo clutch!

Something of interest to me is what trailer weight you can tow, I've heard that the manufacturer's maximum weight counts for nothing & for UK law you subtract the Maximum Gross Vehicle Weight from the Maximum Gross Train Weight. This means my VW T4 can tow 1700kg but the handbook says 2000kg. A look on the VOSA site says only that the maximum weights for axles, GVW GTW must not be exceeded & nothing about the towing weight being worked out by subtracting GVW from GTW.


the reason the vosa web site only lists GTW, GVW and axle weights is becasue thats all they worry about with a commercial vehical, as long as you are under on all 3 your legal, and thats why the RAC use 150/330 transits, because empty they can tow 3.5 tonne because of a GTW of 5.3 tonnes empty they are about 1.8 tonnes

and a mondeo can tow 1.8 tonne, so if the merc was empty it was on its limit, but on a straight bar it wouldn't matter.

hillbillyracer - 26/11/09 at 10:34 PM

Well, as my T4 is a commercial (an ex AA van) I'll go with VW's figure of 2000kg & point at the miss-information on the VOSA site if I get in bother for it!
It makes all the difference, if my trailer weighs 500kg then I can load a car of 1500kg according to the 2000kg VW limit but only a 1200kg car by the mythical subtracting method. There's a fair few things between 1200 & 1500kg that I would want to be able to shift!

rent a clown - 26/11/09 at 11:30 PM

You need to know the kerb weight of you vehicle, as an RAC patrol i can tell you we have our vans weighed and this governs what weight we can tow. Straight bar or not that mondeo was way over its weight limit, but i bet the driver has now got stronger sphincter muscles especially if he had to stop quickly!