Thread: TOWING WEIGHTS

nope thats what you can haul behind it...

your disco weighs between 1.9 and 2.3t depending on trim and options and has a GVM of 2.7t (or near enough)

lets say your disco weighs 2.2t so you can have 500Kgs of cargo on board.

you can then tow upto 4T behind it with a full braked trailer whcih mean your GVM is potentially 6.7T.

here is the only part that gets tricky.

all trailers have a "downforce" thats the downwards weight that the nose of the trailer places on the hitch of the vehicle. The downforce weight comes out of your 500KG cargo. So if your trailer has 100KG of downforce (and thats a lot of downforce) then you can only have 400KG of load in the vehicle itself.

In Australia you cannot tow more than 2000kg GTM on overrun brakes.

Over 2000 kg and you require brakes that can be activated from the vehicle and have a breakaway system which will apply the brakes for at least 15 min after the trailer has broken away from the towing vehicle.

750 kg GTM is also the legal limit for an unbraked trailer.

Then there is the tow bar and tow ball rating and the vehicle axle weights as Blknight.aus says above.

Originally Posted by slug_burner

In Australia you cannot tow more than 2000kg GTM on overrun brakes.

Over 2000 kg and you require brakes that can be activated from the vehicle and have a breakaway system which will apply the brakes for at least 15 min after the trailer has broken away from the towing vehicle.

750 kg GTM is also the legal limit for an unbraked trailer.

Then there is the tow bar and tow ball rating and the vehicle axle weights as Blknight.aus says above.

ok, so overrun brakes, is that the hydraulic brakes on a trailer? and breakaway system is electric brakes which also engages in the event of the trailer coming off? (sorry you need to be more... umm... stoopid speak with me, im new to the caravanning/heavy towing scene lol)

over run brakes are the brakes that come on when the trailer tries to push the car. This is usually achieved by a sprung coupling up the front that pulls on a cable or activates a hydraulic master cylinder. Regardless of how many wheels have this kind of brakes on them your trailer MAX total weight is 2000Kg.

Coupled or controled brakes are ones that you can activate from the cab usually electric and tied into the vehicles brakes via some kind of electronic controller thats activated by the brake lights.

If you have an electrical breakaway controller the odds are that you have electronic coupled brakes on the van that will have one of the "dumb" controllers that require you to manually set the braking effort that the trailer applies when the brake lights come on. Cheap and generally very effective if the weight of the trailer doesn't change much. With Electrically controled breakaway brakes you need to be careful to look after the electronics and the battery that supplies them. No volts at the battery means no breakaway control.

over run brake rely on the inertia of the trailer to compress the coupling, causing the hydraulic brakes to come on. This system usually (for $$ reasons) only works on the front axle. Once you go over 2000kg GVM (trailer and load combined), the law states you must have a 4 wheel breakaway system. This system is required to maintain the brake on the trailer for 15 minutes should it (the trailer) part company with the tow vehicle. The system also has to be capable of being activated from the drivers position whilst the vehicle is in motion.

It is not stipulated that the trailer braking system be electric, BUT I do not know of any other designs available (at a reasonable cost). The 4 wheel electric breakaway system has a battery onboard the trailer that keeps the trailer brakes on for the required time. The battery can be charged from the tow vehicle or a small solar cell on the trailer.

Your handbook may state what the vehicle is capable of, but this does not always comply with the local laws.

HTH

Paul

note to self - refresh thread before posting

thanks for your replies gents, i'll have to read both of those last two replies a few times to get my head around it, if i have any issues, i'll probably end up sending either of you guys a pm.

once again, thanks

Whack a location up on your profile, there might be someone close by who can help out.

I recon the D1's weakest point is the 150kg legal towball limit. Any more and you void your vehicle and van insurance.