Towing - weight and power (1 Viewer)

[Candapack]

We've been thinking about towing a small car. The max towing limit on my van is 1,250kg, which I'm not sure is enough for a car plus a trailer, plus bikes - we have a towball mounted bike carrier which of course we won't be able to use if towing a trailer.
Looking at something like a Skoda Citigo or similar, kerbweight is given as 920 - 940 kg. I imagine similar cars will weigh much the same. The bikes are about 40kg, so the trailer would have to be under 300kg, including any accessories eg a spare wheel, (motor mover, is such a thing necessary?).
Also, the van has a GVW of 3,850kg, which I reckon we use most of. It's on a 2.3 Ducato with 130hp, it drives well as is but how will it cope with dragging an extra 1250kg?
Any info/advice welcome.

 

[pappajohn]

Firstly, you need to know your train weight....the max combined trailer plus vans gross weight.
Deduct the vans gross weight and you have your max trailer weight.

Also, forget the cars kerb weight as when towing as a toad you must use the cars gross weight.

 

[pappajohn]

Apologies, I read your post to fast and get brain lock on the first line....

We've been thinking about towing a small car.

I assumed (wrongly) you were going to use an A frame

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[Candapack]

Firstly, you need to know your train weight....the max combined trailer plus vans gross weight.
Deduct the vans gross weight and you have your max trailer weight.

Train weight is 5,100kg. Take away the 3,850 van gross leaves 1,250kg. Plus the V5 says the towing limit is 1,250kg.
Saw your amendment re gross/kerb weight, thanks. So I assume on a trailer, kerb weight is what is used.
Have now been on Brian James trailers website, it would appear that the combined weight of a car like a Citigo, and the trailer to carry it, would exceed 1,250kg by a fair margin. Have I got a van (2015 Autotrail Apache 632) with an unusually low towing capacity?

 

[Speve]

Train weight is 5,100kg. Take away the 3,850 van gross leaves 1,250kg. Plus the V5 says the towing limit is 1,250kg.
Saw your amendment re gross/kerb weight, thanks. So I assume on a trailer, kerb weight is what is used.
Have now been on Brian James trailers website, it would appear that the combined weight of a car like a Citigo, and the trailer to carry it, would exceed 1,250kg by a fair margin. Have I got a van (2015 Autotrail Apache 632) with an unusually low towing capacity?

You have Auto trail are known for this we had a 2013 Tracker and uprated to 3850kg and when looking at towing car trailer it didn't have the capacity.we now have a Hymer Exsis 4250kg with GTW 6000 kg and we can just get away with towing our 4x4 Panda on trailer at 1700kg.
We did consider Aframe with Autotrail but by time we added weight of Towbar and frame it was to close for comfort..

 

[pappajohn]

Saw your amendment re gross/kerb weight, thanks. So I assume on a trailer, kerb weight is what is used.

On a trailer the cars weight is of no consequence, it's just a load......it could be a car, it could be sacks of coal.....
it's the gross of the trailer which counts and cant be exceeded.
Of course, to decide which car is suitable you do need to know the ACTUAL weight of the car at the time of loading onto the trailer.
The difference between a full tank of fuel and an almost empty tank could be maybe 40kg or 50kg.

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[maxi77]

Having had a quick look it seems that many of the trailers are really intended for much heavier cars than yours but this one seems very close to your requirements and they may be able to plate one to suit if you talk to them.
http://www.blendworthtrailers.co.uk/images/woodford-lightweight-car-transporter-trailers-spec.jpg
Certainly I carried a 2 tone boat on a trailer that weighed no more than the one you were looking at and it could have been plated for a heavier boat-

 

[Mart grump]

we have a tag axle carthago and towva single axle trailor with a fiat 500 i recomend a ifor williams trailor which are lighter than brian james and single axle comined weightvof 6000