Thread: 3.5 Tonne Capacity Car Trailer: is Longer & Wider Better?

The chassis length is about 4368mm with front bar, check this though. It should be about 3560 from front of front wheel to rear or rear wheel.

So for me it would be the 14 or 16 foot trailer, you really just need one that will fit the vehicle on it. I personally wouldnt buy so you can fit the wheels on and let the rest overhang because you need to position the car for the correct ball weight.

For the width, interestingly to run a heavier trailer you have to narrow down a fraction due to tyre load ratings, but for the width whatever is comfortable, but I really don't think you want to run a trailer out to the max overall width of 2500mm because they're hard enough to keep in the lanes already. If you're going to put cars on, you will need to have a bit of room around the car so you can open the car door - it may not swing over the sides like a 4WD's will. I think most 4WDs and cars would be about 1900 wide.

1000kg is about right, but have a look at the design and contruction of all of it.

In my opinion, float type car trailers with no sides are too flexible.

Look for one with sides on it as the sides produce a truss like structure to the chassis and stiffens it right up. This is really important rearward of the rear most suspension point because it is the only unsupported area of the chasses, the load stress concentrates at the rear suspension point and the vehicle point loads at the end of the chassis, so without sides you're really going to test the chassis when loading and when hitting bumps on the road while loaded.

I would also look for HD tiedowns on the front and the rear ends of the trailer.

I deliberated over getting a car trailer, problem is unless you are using it a every month it's money tied up that could be used for something more important. It sits there devaluing with the wife asking why you need it.....
Problem is that the servo rental trailer isn't rated high enough and is often in such a state that you're worried about it even being safe.

I towed my Dormobile from the top of VIC on a rental trailer, it towed well although possibly over the max weight for the tow vehicle. I understand the risk and I'm not suggesting that you follow what I did.

One option is to track down someone near you that hires heavy duty trailers, you'll need a brake controller fitted to your tow vehicle. Then work out how often you might actually need it and go from there.

I ended up inheriting a trailer designed for towing a Suzuki Jimney behind a motor home. A shorty fits on it perfectly but because the trailer is so narrow most cars are too wide. I added 500mm to the front and a 500mm beaver tail to the rear so it will take a LWB but it's only rated to 2 tonne.
I towed my Series I to Cooma in 2018 on it and it's been used by a couple of people for long distance LR moves. A Series I shorty was loaded on it and put over a weighbridge and came in at just under 2 tonne so a LWB will be overweight.

IMG_1583 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Colin

Originally Posted by gromit

I deliberated over getting a car trailer, problem is unless you are using it a every month it's money tied up that could be used for something more important. It sits there devaluing with the wife asking why you need it.....
Problem is that the servo rental trailer isn't rated high enough and is often in such a state that you're worried about it even being safe.

I towed my Dormobile from the top of VIC on a rental trailer, it towed well although possibly over the max weight for the tow vehicle. I understand the risk and I'm not suggesting that you follow what I did.

One option is to track down someone near you that hires heavy duty trailers, you'll need a brake controller fitted to your tow vehicle. Then work out how often you might actually need it and go from there.

I ended up inheriting a trailer designed for towing a Suzuki Jimney behind a motor home. A shorty fits on it perfectly but because the trailer is so narrow most cars are too wide. I added 500mm to the front and a 500mm beaver tail to the rear so it will take a LWB but it's only rated to 2 tonne.
I towed my Series I to Cooma in 2018 on it and it's been used by a couple of people for long distance LR moves. A Series I shorty was loaded on it and put over a weighbridge and came in at just under 2 tonne so a LWB will be overweight.

IMG_1583 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Colin

Yep, about 10Kg under 2000Kg. Towed like a dream for the 550Km trip I towed it with the S1 shorty on it.

Lionel, if you're only going to be using it occasionally and hauling over short distances, the economics of getting a tilt tray in to do the work for you probably needs considering , regards, Laurie

Nothing compares to having your own,, towed distances become irrelevant, you can add proper tie down points, storage racks, a custom length draw bar,,
as for the cost,, how long will you own the towed car for?
should think of them as a matched set.

If you commit I’d talk with manufacturer to remove anything no required, just the bare minimum without the all the fruit ....you want the TARE to be as low as possible.

Don’t skimp of length, you need a bit extra so can get the right amount off weight over the tow ball.

a chequerplate rental trialer with ramps, winch and spare tire will be closer to 1300kgs .... Given you can only tow 2.0 tons before it must have 4wheel breaks with a breakaway system.... this means almost all car trailers are these days not legal as a car trailer (as they can only carry legally carry 700kg .... so are ok for possibly a Citroen 2cv and not much else. This is why hardly anywhere rents car trailers any longer.

To legally carry 3.5 tons .... your trailer is probably going to be a tri-axle or have huge heavy duty axles .... it'll likely weigh close to 2tons itself and you will not be able to tow it with anything short of a truck!

As soon as you start looking into this, you will realise there is no simple answer short of buying a small truck (that probably isnt' rated to carry something like a late range rover that weighs over 3tons on its back).

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

a chequerplate rental trialer with ramps, winch and spare tire will be closer to 1300kgs .... Given you can only tow 2.0 tons before it must have 4wheel breaks with a breakaway system.... this means almost all car trailers are these days not legal as a car trailer (as they can only carry legally carry 700kg .... so are ok for possibly a Citroen 2cv and not much else. This is why hardly anywhere rents car trailers any longer.

To legally carry 3.5 tons .... your trailer is probably going to be a tri-axle or have huge heavy duty axles .... it'll likely weigh close to 2tons itself and you will not be able to tow it with anything short of a truck!

As soon as you start looking into this, you will realise there is no simple answer short of buying a small truck (that probably isnt' rated to carry something like a late range rover that weighs over 3tons on its back).

The hire ones are a bit less than that:

Uhaul: 800kg trailer with 1200kg load which are everywhere or 1100kg trailer with 2400kg load which there are not many of, but you can see the nearest via their website. In the Central west NSW there is one in Dubbo, the next in Penrith, Sydney.
Move Yourself: 790kg trailer with 1210kg load which are everywhere.

50mm parallel axle setups are becoming a more common trailer part for heavy loads. We're actually building a triple axle trailer at the moment (getting axle alignment was interesting!) but it's exceptional. Most prefer larger axle/bearing 2 axles tandem setups because the triple axles dont get good life on the trailing axle from the cornering forces.