What do you guys run?

[V8Druid]

Iirc it’s a fair bit higher on my Dmax, possibly 240ish

look at your couplings on the trailers .... max nose weight is stated on a plate ....... if it's still there ... as far as the coupling is concerned, it's to do with the way it operates ..... too much on the nose and it either won't 'over run', or it can jam on ..... certainly won't operate as smoothly as if the loading is adhered to .

draw/tow bar manufacturers will also tell you it is specifically designed to tow with, not as additional load carrying

 

[Routy56]

Always amazes me that plod/DVSA aren't a lot 'hotter' on pulling obviously over loaded hitches .... max nose is 100kgs .... 50kg on a car .... it's a TOW bar, not a load carrier ..... most if not all couplings have it clearly stated on their plates

Interesting observation
The Police no longer have Road Policing officers to routinely enforce this stuff....
Whereas DVSA will check if yer pickup is going up the road like a speedboat
Agree that overloaded hitches can cause real problems....
....my old Disco 2 is authorised to TOW up to 3500kgs. The authorised nose weight is up to 250kgs.
Whereas, my old Ifor LM146 is authorised up to 3500kgs. The plate on the towing hitch is stamped with nose weight up to 150kgs
Often have to adjust my load to keep the nose weight down.
Have retained the air suspension on my Disco to keep it on the level
Which brings us back to the whole point of this thread......
......when I change my Disco 2 for a pick up truck, will want to know that it is specified to do the job

 

[Brendan]

Biggest issue with pickups is train weight.

Recently a lot can now tow the magic 3.5t but you have to give up payload on the pickup to achieve this.

My wildtrack is rated for 3.5t towing but only has a gtw of 6t so pickup can only be a max weight of 2.5t to do so yet the fucker weighs 2.3t empty so only has 200kg of payload but this weight has to includ the driver.

New navara looks wrong when towing the arse end squats down but that's probably due to rear coil springs

Latest 2017 updated l200 will tow 3.5t but only with a triaxle trailer.

Only pickup on the market with a 7t gtw is the latest ssangyong musso so a full 3.5t trailer and 1t payload on pickup

2014+ ranger with correct rear axle will tow 3.5t rear towbar is rated for 250kg nose weight.

Latest dmax tows 3.5t also so does the latest Hilux although from my experience of the older ones they suck at towing

One of the issues with small trailers is a lack of indicator for correct nose weight I'm sure there was one manufacturer that did one with a green good to go indicator

 

[V8Druid]

Interesting observation
The Police no longer have Road Policing officers to routinely enforce this stuff....
Whereas DVSA will check if yer pickup is going up the road like a speedboat
Agree that overloaded hitches can cause real problems....
....my old Disco 2 is authorised to TOW up to 3500kgs. The authorised nose weight is up to 250kgs.
Whereas, my old Ifor LM146 is authorised up to 3500kgs. The plate on the towing hitch is stamped with nose weight up to 150kgs
Often have to adjust my load to keep the nose weight down.
Have retained the air suspension on my Disco to keep it on the level
Which brings us back to the whole point of this thread......
......when I change my Disco 2 for a pick up truck, will want to know that it is specified to do the job

Always amazes me that plod/DVSA aren't a lot 'hotter' on pulling obviously over loaded hitches .... max nose is 100kgs .... 50kg on a car .... it's a TOW bar, not a load carrier ..... most if not all couplings have it clearly stated on their plates

look at your couplings on the trailers .... max nose weight is stated on a plate ....... if it's still there ... as far as the coupling is concerned, it's to do with the way it operates ..... too much on the nose and it either won't 'over run', or it can jam on ..... certainly won't operate as smoothly as if the loading is adhered to .

draw/tow bar manufacturers will also tell you it is specifically designed to tow with, not as additional load carrying

looked at the three I've got sat today for yers and all are plated "Max. nose weight 100KGs"



the perceived wisdom / advice used to be ..... if you can't pick it off by hand ... (circa 50kgs) it's TOO heavy ...... and is still a very good rule of thumb

As for plod policing this sort of stuff ... a traffic officer will always go for a dead cert. result and will still pull you for a tail/brake light out,etc. ... they don't wait for the DVSA to do it

 

[Brendan]

looked at the three I've got sat today for yers and all are plated "Max. nose weight 100KGs"

View attachment 1403 View attachment 1404 View attachment 1405

the perceived wisdom / advice used to be ..... if you can't pick it off by hand ... (circa 50kgs) it's TOO heavy ...... and is still a very good rule of thumb

As for plod policing this sort of stuff ... a traffic officer will always go for a dead cert. result and will still pull you for a tail/brake light out,etc. ... they don't wait for the DVSA to do it

Never really got the rule of thumb, fair enough with a single axle it's straight forward but with a double or triple what do you do then?

 

[Brendan]

My Brian James tipper seems to have a max nose weight of 350kg unless I'm reading it wrong trailer a frame has the same max s of 350kg

 

[V8Druid]

Biggest issue with pickups is train weight.

Recently a lot can now tow the magic 3.5t but you have to give up payload on the pickup to achieve this.

My wildtrack is rated for 3.5t towing but only has a gtw of 6t so pickup can only be a max weight of 2.5t to do so yet the fucker weighs 2.3t empty so only has 200kg of payload but this weight has to includ the driver.

New navara looks wrong when towing the arse end squats down but that's probably due to rear coil springs

Latest 2017 updated l200 will tow 3.5t but only with a triaxle trailer.

Only pickup on the market with a 7t gtw is the latest ssangyong musso so a full 3.5t trailer and 1t payload on pickup

2014+ ranger with correct rear axle will tow 3.5t rear towbar is rated for 250kg nose weight.

Latest dmax tows 3.5t also so does the latest Hilux although from my experience of the older ones they suck at towing

One of the issues with small trailers is a lack of indicator for correct nose weight I'm sure there was one manufacturer that did one with a green good to go indicator

Why with a "tri-axle trailer" ???? makes no difference to the tow barge ... in fact it makes it harder to control ... three axles are gonna want to go straight on, far more than a twin will .... the load is on the trailer, two or three axles, it's still 3.5t, as far as towing it is concerned?

As I've already said, most couplings are only rated at 100kgs MAX nose weight, so any more 'load carrying' ability added to a tow bar is superfluous, unless you want to put a m/cycle rack on it .
Even an old ring/eye coupling is still only rated at 100kgs ... any more and the over-run mechanism, for the smooth operation of the brakes, will not work properly

Think you may be thinking of the old 'green to go' indicator on some couplings, which told you the coupling was correctly secured and locked to the ball .... was now't to do with nose weight

 

[TiltyShaun]

You make very valid points about the GVW of pics ups. I have gone down the road of an Iveco tipper that has a GVW of 7ton. With all the buckets on the back and tools in the tool store I am heading very close to that magic number. Mine has a wood chip back on it which means I am happy to have all the buckets in the back with the doors closed!! It tows so much better than my old discovery 300tdi.

 

[V8Druid]

Never really got the rule of thumb, fair enough with a single axle it's straight forward but with a double or triple what do you do then?

yes I understand what you're saying, but should still be able to lift it the 50mm needed to remove it, if correctly loaded .... you can actually get a nose weight gauge to check the nose loading

 

[TiltyShaun]

yes I understand what you're saying, but should still be able to lift it the 50mm needed to remove it, if correctly loaded .... you can actually get a nose weight gauge to check the nose loading

Surely it would depend on your hitch height. When I have my a digger on the trailer I can't lift it. I have the adjustable tow bar and set it as low a neccasary!

 

[V8Druid]

Surely it would depend on your hitch height. When I have my a digger on the trailer I can't lift it. I have the adjustable tow bar and set it as low a neccasary!

not loaded correctly then Shaun ...... nose weight is nose weight ... on or off the tow ball ... correct running height for a 50mm ball coupling is 16" centre above G/L ... laden

 

[Brendan]

M

Why with a "tri-axle trailer" ???? makes no difference to the tow barge ... in fact it makes it harder to control ... three axles are gonna want to go straight on, far more than a twin will .... the load is on the trailer, two or three axles, it's still 3.5t, as far as towing it is concerned?

As I've already said, most couplings are only rated at 100kgs MAX nose weight, so any more 'load carrying' ability added to a tow bar is superfluous, unless you want to put a m/cycle rack on it .
Even an old ring/eye coupling is still only rated at 100kgs ... any more and the over-run mechanism, for the smooth operation of the brakes, will not work properly

Think you may be thinking of the old 'green to go' indicator on some couplings, which told you the coupling was correctly secured and locked to the ball .... was now't to do with nose weight

My one has a green to go tab on the coupler but I'm 100% sure Ive seen a video of a mini digger being loaded onto a trailer with an indicator on the hitch that went green when desired nose weight was reached. I'll have to keep trying to find it.
It's silly about the l200 but the update is 3.5t with triaxle and something like 3.2 on double axle trailers

 

[Brendan]

not loaded correctly then Shaun ...... nose weight is nose weight ... on or off the tow ball ... correct running height for a 50mm ball coupling is 16" centre above G/L ... laden

Coupler centre height should be 395-465mm and towball centre should be 350-420mm although no pickup on the market meets this, it only seems to be cars that do. These heights are individual and level so not coupled together height

 

[V8Druid]

Coupler centre height should be 395-465mm and towball centre should be 350-420mm although no pickup on the market meets this, it only seems to be cars that do. These heights are individual and level so not coupled together height

"The EC Directive 94/20/EC (The standard that all towbars are designed to) states that the tow ball height should be between 350 and 420mm from the ground with the vehicle in a 'laden' state. "

 

[V8Druid]

M

My one has a green to go tab on the coupler but I'm 100% sure Ive seen a video of a mini digger being loaded onto a trailer with an indicator on the hitch that went green when desired nose weight was reached. I'll have to keep trying to find it.
It's silly about the l200 but the update is 3.5t with triaxle and something like 3.2 on double axle trailers

Probably a Knott coupling then ... they seem to favor it

very interesting on the vid. .... would love to know HTF they achieve it, without a load cell in the system some where and that wouldn't come cheap
was it actually coupled to a vehicle? ........ or a nose weight measuring device ?

as for two or three axles .... I fail to see what the difference makes to the GTW ? you are still pulling the same load whether it's distributed between two or three axles on the trailer ..... AND the nose weight should be the same on either set up

 

[Regy53]

a few trailers are like this now they have some indicator which seems fairly basic. has two reds and a green (centre)

 

[V8Druid]

a few trailers are like this now they have some indicator which seems fairly basic. has two reds and a green (centre)

it's supposed to relate to the inner diameter of the coupling .... if the ball, or coupling is worn to the point where it shows red, in the one direction it should be replaced ... in the other, it indicates the coupling has not been made successfully ... or you're trying to get it onto a 2" ball ..... which must be as rare as hen's teeth, these days and again is not a successful connection

 

[V8Druid]

Coupler centre height should be 395-465mm and towball centre should be 350-420mm although no pickup on the market meets this, it only seems to be cars that do. These heights are individual and level so not coupled together height

So HTF do these pass CE marking ?????

 

[Brendan]

So HTF do these pass CE marking ?????

Off road vehicles are exempt from the rule

 

[V8Druid]

My Brian James tipper seems to have a max nose weight of 350kg unless I'm reading it wrong trailer a frame has the same max s of 350kg

'S' usually denotes nose weight Brendan ..... never seen one with a greater nose weight rating than 100kgs max. .... what make is the hitch?