towing with a tag axle motorhome (1 Viewer)

[aba]

hi funsters i am taking the plunge and going to have a towbar fitted to the motorhome
however it has come to my attention that in some situations i may end up stuck as i have noticed that the van doesn't particularly like slight hill starts solo especially when the roads are damp. one classic example of this problem is the traffic lights at the shipley end of canal road at bradford. has anyone else had this problem.

thanks in anticipation
andy:thumb:

 

[old-mo]

WE used to tow a 4 wheeled car trailer behind our Hobby 760,, and had no problems..

While towing we used to stow as much heavy stuff up front as possible,, any front wheel drive be it single or double back axle is likely to wheel spin.. in certain circumstances, as said steep incline..

I always used to be as light on the accelerator as possible without stalling when starting of on a hill.:thumb:

I think Tag Axles are the bee`s knee`s for towing,, they are so stable and do not roll so much thus eliminating the good old trailer sway/wiggle. That`s my opinion any way, no doubt others will say different..

 

[Snowbird]

Have owned both tag axel and rear wheel drive.The rear wheel drive is far better for towing in my opinion.See atached.
Not only do you not have good traction on take off with front wheel drive but under heavy braking when trailer weight shifts downwards and if cornering at the same time steering becomes light,coupled with poor traction you can soon be in serious trouble.

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[aba]

thanks guys i'm only going to tow (or try to) a small 4 wheel trailer with a cinqucento on it as i'm not convinced of the a frame issues (but theres enough on here about that already)
plus i can only tow 1000kg according to the weight plates on the van so i am going to have too be careful to keep the trailer weight to a minimum so it may end up being a single axle trailer.
fortunatley i have access to a weigh bridge and a couple of nice hills to try this new combination.

andy:thumb:

 

[bigbaz]

I've never had any trouble with wheelspin while towing my trailer & car.
Bought a new 4 wheel trailer this year & peugeot 107 total weight 1.5 ton,
motorhome pulls it easily,starts off a bit slow but alright once you get going.

 

[aba]

thanks bigbaz but what does your motorhome weigh without the car/trailer
as mine comes in just over 4 ton empty with a max plate of 5 ton laden + 1 ton for trailer/car

andy:thumb:

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[pappajohn]

with a 1000kg limit you can forget the A frame option anyway.



the weight used by VOSA is the gross weight and the fiat will be more than 1000kg gross.

on a trailer the cars weight is immaterial unless it goes over the trailers gross or the vans train weight.

a 1tonne trailer may only have a 700/800kg payload so you may even find the trailer + car could be over 1000kg

will be worth weighing the car empty and finding out the kerb weight of the trailer and adding them together before buying.

 

[aba]

thanks pappajohn the cinqecento weighs in at 760 kg with about half a tank of fuel so the trailer has to come in at 200 kg at most to allow for the fuel weight in the car.
i know its going to be tight which ever way i do it.

andy.:thumb:

 

[motor roamin]

Hi aba

Pappajohn is quite right in what he said, I don't think you will find a twin axle trailer light enough, it will have to be a single axle.

All the best Rick

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[pappajohn]

just had a look on ifor williams, ok they are a little industrial, and the smallest single axle car transporter they do is 1400kg and 400kg kerb.

the next up is 2000kg.

dont forget, VOSA go on the gross trailer weight for the train...not what it weighs at the time.

 

[bigbaz]

thanks bigbaz but what does your motorhome weigh without the car/trailer
as mine comes in just over 4 ton empty with a max plate of 5 ton laden + 1 ton for trailer/car

andy:thumb:

my motorhome is 4.2 ton unladen & 5 ton laden,the same as yours.
Your allowed to tow a trailer of upto 750kg unbraked but if the trailer
is braked your allowed to tow upto 2500kg.
my trailer is braked & is 512kg unladen and with the car on the weight
is only 1386kg (well in)

 

[Larrynwin]

I have a single axle Brian James trailer which weighs 300kg with my Peugeot 107 , 800kg kerb weight, all up it comes in just under 1125kg which is the trailer rated weight. I did get a new reduced trailer plate from Brian James .

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[aba]

my motorhome is 4.2 ton unladen & 5 ton laden,the same as yours.
Your allowed to tow a trailer of upto 750kg unbraked but if the trailer
is braked your allowed to tow upto 2500kg.
my trailer is braked & is 512kg unladen and with the car on the weight
is only 1386kg (well in)

that may be so but the max train weight for my van is 6000kg so i suspect that yours is the same so if you get pulled and weighed you could be in for a nasty fine/points etc for being over weight.oh:

andy

 

[rainbow chasers]

Be careful of train weights on tag axles! They are not always accurate, we had this problem with a tag - and ended up removing the towbar, as although the train weight was legal, and the plated weight legal, the type approval certification for the alko chassis tag axle was only for 248kg! (The wieght carrying ability was over the axles, not towing behind) We argued this with vosa as the vin plate stated it had a higher weight, thus we went by that and we were let off after some discussions!