Blue ZT towing a Trailer with a Blue ZTT on it.

[Jules]

Surely you must have noticed the weight placard on this old trailer ?!!
Perhaps it's made of titanium if it's as 250

[Sonic ZS]

Originally Posted by TomRS

Yes I remember that crash, didnt he fall asleep at the wheel?

may i ask what your weight limits are on the land rover pictured with the Tourer on the back? just as a comparison?

Yes TomRS, you are quite right, I believe the investigation found that he'd nodded off (which I'm not suggesting you would do !), however the knock on effect of the accident was 10 innocent people dead and a near £20 million insurance claim...

Rich17865 is correct, the Discovery towing weight for a trailer with normal over-run brakes (see below) is 3500kg. I put the transporter trailer shown below on a VOSA weigh bridge the day I collected it. With ramps, winch, ratchet straps and spare wheel all fitted it came out at 810kg, so giving a legal useable payload of 2690kg. To give myself a sensible safety margin, I limit myself to vehicles weighing 2500kg - you'll see this on my leaflet and website: www.blackcatplymouth.co.uk

Strangely, not all big 4x4's are rated to tow 3500kg, with (from memory, so don't quote me ) a SWB Shogun is around 3200kg, L200, Shogun Sport, Kia Sorrento, Navara, Pathfinder and Ranger all about 2800kg and smaller 4x4's like Freelander at 2000kg - although the very latest Isuzu's pick-ups are now legal to 3500kg and tachograph ready

Interestingly, you use to be able to add 'coupled brakes' to a Discovery, which I believe was a type of air brake system driven off the engine and operated directly by the Land Rover's brakes, rather than the aforementioned over-run coupling. The Discovery towing capacity then goes up to 4000kg...!!!

[Sonic ZS]

Originally Posted by Jules

Surely you must have noticed the weight placard on this old trailer ?!!
Perhaps it's made of titanium if it's as 250

The trailer chassis plate will only give you the TOTAL allowable weight that the trailer with load must not exceed, along with permissible axle loads. It won't give an unloaded weight, as this can vary.

The only correct way to check is to put it on the scales with all the normal accessories (ramps, straps, winch, etc.) and get yourself a ticket or something in writing from the weigh bridge operator, that you can show at a roadside check or Police stop.

Interestingly, mine shows each axle at 1800kg (total 3600kg) but is plated at a gross of 3500kg which is what the hitch coupling is rated to. But nice to know I'm not going to snap an axle...

[Jules]

Paul I have a Nissan Elgrand E50 MPV 3.2 diesel auto which has plenty of power.
But there don't seem to be official towing figures for this vehicle as it's an import?
Any ideas?

I need something for trailing the odd 75 I rescue each year but don't really want to go buying something like a discovery.

I might just carry on using professional chaps like yourselves as last year I only rescued three 75's and one ZT.

Mind you I actually drove the ZT home as I got it running in front of the bemused seller who advertised it as a non runner !!!

We digress !

[Jakg]

Originally Posted by Jules

Paul I have a Nissan Elgrand E50 MPV 3.2 diesel auto which has plenty of power.
But there don't seem to be official towing figures for this vehicle as it's an import?
Any ideas?

I think you might just be plain out of luck.

Quite a few cars don't have towing homologation because the manufacturers just didn't sort it out.

For example - BMW E60 (5-series) - 550i can tow, M5 can't.

[Sonic ZS]

Yes Jules, I seem to remember reading somewhere once that towing is not actually allowed in Japan (or similar), so they don't need to quote towing weights.

My first stop would be to contact Nissan UK direct and ask the question, quite likely they'll of been asked before. If no joy, try the towbar manufacturer (if known) or look for a supplier that does one and see what weight they state. Lastly, try VOSA and get their guidance, preferably in writing - a lot of truck drivers don't like them but I've always found them helpful & happy to assist when they can see you're trying to stay legal

Otherwise, if it's only 2 or 3 cars a year, it'd probably be cheaper to use a transport company than go to the expense of buying a Discovery and running it, getting a tachograph fitted, having it calibrated and then keeping all the necessary records, etc

I need to move to north Wales...

[TomRS]

Very interesting read from you guys.

Yes the "titanium" plate doesnt show unloaded weight, there is a weigh bridge down the road from me so i will take the trailer and have it weighed to find out what it is.
Puts this discussion to bed and obviously relaxes my issues with legality and towing weights.
My RS6 is not homologated to tow although after contacting VOSA they told me to just go by a standard A6 3.0TDI and the only reason the RS wasn't homolgated is Audi didnt want people towing caravans and ruining the RS image.
But that was only used once to tow and is now back to normal with tow bar removed and sold on, got the CDTi workhorse for my towing needs!


Anyway im done rescuing MG/Rover's had my fair share after number 5... two scrapped and 3 saved.
The V6 190 will be for sale soon as ive replaced it with a ZT-T 1.8T (not the one i rescued on the trailer that one is scrap)

[Sonic ZS]

Can't say fairer than that TomRS

Teaching granny to suck eggs now, but just remember to unhitch the towing vehicle and move it off the weigh bridge, leaving only the transporter & equipment on the scales, supported by it's jockey wheel. Otherwise the displayed trailer figure won't be accurate (as a certain amount of it's weight is normally taken by the vehicle towball).

Look forward to hearing the outcome