Oh Bu**er! (Transports of delight)

So how much weight will a barge carry ? I thought they were made for the job ..

-adrian

Most vehicles now show the four weight limits, front axle, rear axle, G= ross vehicle weight and gross train weight of vehicle and trailer.

Of my van this is 3300 and 4800 Kg.

Then Mr Plod can also insist that the vehicle or Vans at least have a t= acho fitted if the combined weight exceeds 3.5 tonne.

A;though it is thought that a private individual does not need a tacho = for non commercial use, it seems to be again down to Mr Plod and what he decides.

I would tend to suggest using pallet line. They will shift quite some weight and do it within 3 to 4 days. Generally cheaper then hiring a va= n and trailer.

It does however mean that trust is placed at the far end on how secure = it is on the pallet.

Adrian

=C2=A3220 fine certainly tells me Mr Plod is watching on the M6 around Birmingham.

Absolutely. They pull HGVs on a regular basis but smaller stuff is only going to get bothered if the vehicle or the load looks unsafe or unusual. I borrowed a friend's Toyota van for a workshop move a few years ago. By the time I had the thing full of engine blocks and heads it was about down to the bumpstops at the back and the tyres looked like squashed balloons.

After a bit of judicious load juggling including moving as much as I could into the passenger footwell and pumping up the tyres to the maximum safe pressure indicated on the sidewall (60psi or so from memory) it all looked much happier. It was quite possibly well over its weight limit but it looked ok and in fact coped perfectly happily on the road. I let the tyres back down for the return empty trip though or we'd have been running on contact patches about the size of a postage stamp.

Oh, as an aside. It was the first vehicle I ever drove with a column shift although that didn't take long to get used to after I'd had a good look at the markings on the lever and worked out where all the gears went. When I dropped it back to my friend's business he asked how it had run and I said fine, in fact it cruises really well once you get it up to speed and stick it in fifth and it managed close to 30mpg taking it steady.

"Fifth?" he asked. "What fifth? It's a 4 speed box."

Turns out he and his workshop foreman had put 100k miles on the thing without either of them realising it had a fifth gear because they'd never looked at the lever properly.

-- Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

That's the secret in getting the load distributed. How many times have you seen a builders pickup about to tip over backwards. Now if this could have been spread out chances are plod wouldn't even notice. Remember they have to see something unusual first to attract their attention.

Also helps setting off just as it's getting dark having made sure you have dropped the headlights so as not to shoot he 737's down on the approach to East Midlands

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

No good in this case, too heavy. I investigated that option.

Cheers Tim

Dutton Dry-Dock Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs Vintage diesel engine service

Talking of Mr Plod & column changes, before the days of the M62 I was on my way to Leeds late on a wet winter's night in an old Bedford CA Utilabrake, with a leaky radiator. Having gone 'over the top' got held up at some lights in Huddersfield. There was no other traffic, place was deserted, so I got out to check the radiator. By the time I'd done that the lights had changed, & as I said there was no other traffic. Decided to reverse back over the studs to activate the lights ... Crash! Mr plod had crept up behind me in a patrol car :-( He said he was coming to 'have a look at me', I had a look at him instead! He was worried I'd claim he'd run into me (I had a mate, he was on his own) so they carted us off to the station to sign statements that made it looks as though all parties were more or less innocent, then wished us a good journey & goodnight Oh, the column change - the lever was missing, all I had was a stub about 2" long to change with.

Cheers Tim

Dutton Dry-Dock Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs Vintage diesel engine service

It's the law for vehicles which are used for commercial use, hire or reward or for carriage of goods, but NOT required for local operations within a prescribed radius of base, and for utilities, armed forces and the like.

Private use is excluded from the Drivers Hours reg's completely, even if you are over 3500kg GCW.

The trick is to have the van and trailer in the first place.... :-))

We have a load of stuff going out to the states soon, we have used Chep pallets and bolted the engines through 3/4 ply AND the pallet.

Oh ? tell us more :-))

Haven't heard from TES since all the activity last week....

Peter

Just going of some information I had off the net. My LDV has a tacho f= itted as it is an ex-minibus. The web pages suggested that European policy i= s for every vehicle commercial or otherwise. It did say it is very unlik= ely prosecutions would happen in non commercial instances in the UK but gav= e no guarantee to say they would not be used either abroad or in the UK.

My own van at the time (Renault trafic) got myself and a friend down to=

Coventry just on to the duel carrageway into town when the gearbox inpu= t shaft snapped. Heading down to collect a Harrison Miller.

Called breakdown services back to leyland. Checked weight of mill in book and it still says 530 Kgs. Borrowed wor= ks van, a despatch, pay load of 815 Kgs. Finally back down in Coventry ar= ound

Already had the mill split in the van and ended up leaving a section i= n a lay-by just outside the weighbridge and comming back for it the next da= y. noted about three other loads left from previous vehicles.

As the van was sign written for company use, was being prosecuted to fu= ll extent as deemed on company business. Took a grovelling letter from me= and an explanation from Director that I was allowed to drive the vans for personnel use, finally fined =C2=A3220 plus costs. I can only say that= my friend and I must be very heavy, or the book lies.

I think it is down to Mr policeman and general mood. To much of the sh= ow and tell programmes on TV for my liking.

No I assumed it has been sorted, I only get involved on the odd occasio= n with the project mostly Andrew and Mark at TES.

1. Are there any exemptions from UK domestic rules?

Yes, the rules do not apply to: drivers of vehicles used by the Armed Forces, the Police and Fire Brigades; drivers who always drive off the public road system; private driving, ie not in connection with a job or in any way to earn a living.

Drivers of the following vehicles are exempt from the duty limit but not the driving limit: goods vehicles, including dual purpose vehicles, not exceeding a maximum permitted gross weight of 3.5 tonnes used: by doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives and vets; for any service of inspection, cleaning, maintenance, repair, installation or fitting; by a commercial traveller; by the AA, RAC or RSAC; or for cinematograph or radio and television broadcasting.

1. What about emergencies?

The UK domestic rules are relaxed for events needing immediate action to avoid danger to life or health of people or animals; serious interruption of essential public services (gas, water, electricity or drainage), or of telecommunication and postal services, or in the use of roads, railways, ports, airports; or serious damage to property. In these cases the driving and duty limits are suspended for the duration of the emergency.

Sounds like you had a bad case of "it looks overloaded therefore we will pull it over" :-)) Problem is, 240kg is a big percentage of the total payload, might have been better if that hadn't been as high.

I'll give Andrew a call tomorrow and make sure everything is sorted.

Peter

Mind you, with our Discovery, there wasn't a caravan made that was 85% of the Disco's weight!

Cheers

Peter

Ah, nostalgia ain't what it used to be. I fondly recall the days when I drove a Mk 2 Consul with column change. I could change up and down the box without using the clutch and nary a crunch or jerk to be felt. More importantly the lack of a floor change stick, and the full width bench seat led to some "interesting" and rapid contact with the passenger!

Cliff Coggin.

Disco series 1 (200/300) has a towing capacity of 3.5 tons with close coupled brakes according to land-rover, 2.5 tonnes is for overrun brakes, a mate collected his latest tractor all 2&1/4tons of it with the trailer, behind his last weekend. Seeing two series 2 discos towing tri-axle sheeted trailers (carrying racing cars I think) last week at 70 mph I suppose they must be capable, but were the drivers more importantly? I have towed 5 tons plus behind a disco to get a problem breakdown off the road, the machine is capable, but not a good idea pushing your luck for transporting heavy loads over the rated limits. That said we had a furnace delivered by a bloke in a 110 landie with a twin axle trailer with close coupled brakes, drives all over europe with it delivering odd shaped things, often right to max. weight as its close coupled.

Lathes, like crated engines, need to be secured, I had a big 6 cyl. diesel tip over and smash its way through the 2" bed of a D series, the strop slipped under braking, not something you want to happen with that kind of weight....

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 14:21:13 +0000, "njf>badgerbadger

I'm missing some messages it seems, uni firewall I suspect. As long as we don't end up with american electric trailer brakes I'm not worried either way.

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 17:00:48 +0000, "njf>badgerbadger

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 17:00:48 +0000, "njf>badgerbadger

Aaahh the Telma Retarder, thanks for that trip down memory lane Peter.

What can you say about this classic American design other than the fact it made a better toaster than a brake and could remove propshaft bolts quicker than a quick fit fitter.

As regards braking it wasn't actually needed because in practice the drive applied this at the top of a steep drag, halfway down it caught fire and the driver then had to accelerate to the nearest river / fire station / transport cafe [ delete as necessary ] to put the bugger out.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

They are still going too! :-))

We went on their stand last November at the bus and coach show in another part of the NEC to where we were at the Railtex exhibition.

Peter