Thread: Caravans and Better Payloads

Originally Posted by Graeme

Why's this Terry? Is it so that the van is still towed as a trailer rather than becoming part of an articulated vehicle, with the tow vehicle having to meet some more strenuous MV regulations as for prime movers?

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I know Graeme you are correct, it is a case of if the hitch is in front of the axle then it is considered as a Semi, behind it then it is considered as a trailer being towed.

A fifth wheeler can not be over 19metres either.

Cheers,
Terry

Originally Posted by TerryO

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I know Graeme you are correct, it is a case of if the hitch is in front of the axle then it is considered as a Semi, behind it then it is considered as a trailer being towed.

A fifth wheeler can not be over 19metres either.

Cheers,
Terry

What if it is directly above the axle?

Perhaps the criteria is being forward of the axle whereby some of the load is taken on the front axle and jack-knifing can occur.

Duplicated above responce deleted.

Cheers,
Terry

A bloke I know turned up at the track today with his new 150k Dodge Ram with a 38' fifth wheeler on the back. I checked it out and saw the hitch mounted in front of the axle, when I asked him about it he said he didn't know what the law was nor basically cared.

When I pointed out that he may find he had some insurance issues if he had an accident and the hitch was fitted incorrectly he changed his tune on caring and said he had never thought of that.

Cheers,
Terry

Originally Posted by TerryO

A bloke I know turned up at the track today with his new 150k Dodge Ram with a 38' fifth wheeler on the back. I checked it out and saw the hitch mounted in front of the axle, when I asked him about it he said he didn't know what the law was nor basically cared.

When I pointed out that he may find he had some insurance issues if he had an accident and the hitch was fitted incorrectly he changed his tune on caring and said he had never thought of that.

Cheers,
Terry

I haven't checked the "law" but logic says 5th wheelers are effectively small semis ie the turntable (5th wheel) is between front and rear axles of the prime mover (tow) vehicle. If you look at where their trailing axles are located, you don't have a weight "balanced" normal caravan/home trailer load arrangement, but a lot of weight pushing down on the gooseneck. If that is the case there is no way you would allow the 5th wheel connection point to be located behind the rear prime mover axle. Happy to be shown to be wrong, but don't recall ever seeing a rearward 5th wheel.

Personally, I'm still thinking along the lines of an ideally no more than 2 ton(ne?) caravan (inclusive of water etc) which can legally carry another ton. Dream on Gavin!

back in the 80's when i was in the transport industry in Brisbane i wondered on what license the drivers at LUYA-JULIUS had for their car carring division, 'E' (semi) or 'C' (body truck). the trucks were cab over Leylands able to put a car on the back and on the roof plus the trailer for a total of 6 cars. no one could tell me with any certainty, so i went and found out from some official channel at the time (no internet then) and the regulation went something like this.
if the turntable is mounted over or in front of the drive wheels it is classed as an articulated vehicle.
the car carriers had their turntables mounted under the drive axle so they could be driven on a 'C' (body truck) license. i was driving a dog at the time which is a body truck license as the turntable is mounted on the trailer

And then we have the urban bendy buses many/most of which are pushed by an engine in the rear with a turntable behind the second from front of the 3 axles. I don't think DoT ever really came to grips with them and we were able to drive them on a then F class (carrying fare paying passengers) licence as we were trained in house. I think the MAN versions were the only ones with the engine in the front half (underfloor mid engined if I recall) and a true "trailing" rear half - again with a turntable between the halves.