Re: Trailer reminder

All these tales of poor trailer maintenance begs the question when will trailers and caravans need MOT's? Surely sooner rather than later.

John

Those of us with any sense get our caravans checked proffesionally at least once a year, especially as I dont wish to trash £5000 - £10000 of caravan. Most of the time the problem is not the caravan or trailers fault, its the idiot towing it. A mate and I went to Shaftbury on Sunday via the M3 and we were passed by a car and caravan, nothing wrong in that except I was cruising along at between 70 - 75 MPH. Loading and balance is not carried out correctly and quite often the towing vehicle is vastly underated. An MOT would not solve these problems.

By the way I hope your feeling better John.

Mart> All these tales of poor trailer maintenance begs the question when

Please lets not ask for more interference in our lives. Perhaps you have inadvertently hit on the reason for the proposed regulations in the earlier thread: by effectively killing off rallies they will greatly reduce trailer traffic ! Governments in general and this one in particular seem to suffer the delusion that laws change behaviour. They never have and never will. Exit rant-mode....... Roland

"Roland and Celia Craven" wrote

I'll second that. While the current government, though nominally socialist, are more like "wet" Conservatives in many areas of policy, there is an element of Soviet style regulation building up, which I could do without.

There is plenty of poorly thought out, and not particularly beneficial, new regulation on business and on the private individual. On the face of it, much of it appears to be drawn up by the unknowing, with little idea of the practical implications to those who are being regulated. IMHO much of it is political window dressing to draw the public's attention away from important issues and each new regulation just adds a little more grind to life.

In general, if there is an expectation that people will behave well, they usually do. Ebay is a case in point, where the majority conduct themselves decently. It should not be the case that a small amount of shoplifting means we all get searched going in and out of each shop.

Regards, Arthur G

Well many MPs, too many IMO, are lawyers so what do you expect.=20

Moral: consider your candidates' professions before voting.

--=20 anton

Feeling much better now thanks Martin. So what's wrong with being overtaken? I do agree that there are too many laws and regulations, particularly those to do with motoring. As a long standing caravaner, I regularly toured the country towing our one and a bit tonne van behind my Mini. Sadly that's now illegal. I did well over 1000 miles every year and never had a problem worthy of mention. Overtook many other road users in that time. It always amazed me how many got annoyed about being overtaken. Come to think of it, many drivers still get annoyed when I overtake them. Rant over as he descends from his soap box.

John

John, I dont have a problem with being overtaken, the problem is 60mph is the maximum we can tow at not 75mph and as for towing vehicle the 85% rule should be mandatory not as a guide.

Pleased to hear you are better.

Mart>> Those of us with any sense get our caravans checked proffesionally

60mph would not be a problem if the trucks didn't take such a long time to overtake on the motorways at their ridiculous 56mph max speed, and towing vehicles were restricted to the middle and nearside lanes on 3-lane motorways. We regularly get caught behind one of these, struggling to edge past at a speed differential of nearly zero!

Usually pop out and overtake quickly, rarely when loaded though, even though we can normally zip past quite quickly.

Weight recommendations are general, but vehicle towing weights on the rating plate are not, so we have to be careful not to exceed the rated loads, especially when on a tacho run where the hours and other stuff chime in. Doesn't apply to private trips, so as much as possible is now 'private' :-))

Peter

And you remember to disable this arrangement before hitching up?

Every time??

David Mack

The steering wheel boss is an exceptionally good place to stick Post Its. In the past, the ones on mine have varied from "Have you taken the Trailer off charge" to "NO OIL!!!" and everything in between

Relyeth ye not on the little grey cells ;o))

regards,

Kim Siddorn.

Yes I do.

Martin P

I wonder if it's time to do what the Germans do on their motorways and dual carriageways - restrict HGV's to the nearside lane during daylight hours, giving the rest of the traffic a chance to move freely.

Brian L Dominic

Web Sites: Canals:

of the Cromford Canal: Light Railway:

:

Nice idea except that there are many dual carriageways that are used by very slow traffic such as farm vehicles and the occasional large load. Preventing HGV's from overtaking would be unreasonable.

John

I thought those speed limits were purely advisory. You mean they're not! Imposing the 85% rule would certainly help my Mini. It would nearly double it's rated towing limit. On the other hand, Landrovers would have their present 3.5 Tonne limit cut by about 2/3. As most of these are used by businesses and farmers, what would they use for towing? Perhaps hoping for the old days when manufacturers towing limits were purely advisory is somewhat optimistic. However, I often wonder just how manufacturers arrive at the towing limit for a particular vehicle. Logic seems to have little to do with it.

John

Towing limits are arrived at by placing a vehicle on a gradient vehicle facing upwards, the load is then determined by how safetly a vehicle can move from rest and also wether the braking system is also sufficient. As for speed limits John you should put a smiley on your threads as you are starting to wind me up. 50mph on single carriageways, 60mph on Dual carrige and Motorways Page 25 and 26 section103 "The Highway Code"

Mart>> John,

Err, I don't think so. My last car was a 2.9 litre Sierra 4x4. Lots of torque, excellent large brakes and so much traction you would not believe it. Towing limit was the same as 'normal' Sierras. Likewise my 1275 Mini with disc brakes had the same towing limit as an 850cc model on debatable drum brakes. My current car is a 4x4 turbo Subaru with significantly more torque, power and brakes than the non-turbo. Yet the towing limit is actually 200kg lower???? I have checked, and the gear ratios are the same. In fact, my wife's 1.6 Astra is rated to tow more weight. Logic? I think not. Speed limits - wind you up? Martin, how could you think such a thing? Sorry you missed Old Sod, it was a good day.

John

John, look at answer to peter forbes under old sodbury thread :-))

Mart>> Towing limits are arrived at by placing a vehicle on a gradient

John, Just cos I'm really a nice person, I thought you might like to read this as it answers your question well.

. Manufacturers have a gross vehicle weight (GVW) maximum that they use to calculate the maximum towing or load rate.These are usually mandated by law. GVW is the unloaded weight of the vehicle plus the weight of the load. If GVW for a vehicle is 7500 lbs. but the unloaded or unladen weight of the vehicle is 4000 lbs. then the maximum load you can carry or tow is 3500 lbs. My two wheel drive Dodge Durango has a maximum tow rate of 5000 lbs. but the

4 wheel versi> John,

John,

My Van has a GVW of 2.7 T if I put a trailer behind with a all up load of 1 ton ( the trailer is part of that weight) then the van has to be empty because my train weight is very close to the GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight). The 85% rule means that when you tow you have some leeway, but loads of people assume that you put the weight in the towing vehicle to overcome the load in the trailer/caravan. Its the train weight that matters.

Marti> John,