V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
QED .... you are allowed to TOW a maximum of 3500kgs behind your vehicle, pulled by the coupling .. end of
The best loopholes for using dads tractor as a lorry. DVSA please don't look in here.
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
so useless for a rat sh1t
Lancs Lad
Well-known member
Yes often thought that. I'll check tomorrow.
Bri963
Well-known member
I wonder where our resident Towing Expert is? I seem to remember him saying that this never happens.
J
Justme
Well-known member
Dont know about new ones but older ones were 300kg.
J
Justme
Well-known member
I would not read so much into one pic of one police stop doing it that way.
DVSA guidance is for it to be weighed as its used.
S
Smiffy
Well-known member
And that trailer is how it is used! Nothing altered about it. The only reason to unhitch it would be that it met the gtw so further investigation required
TiltyShaun
Well-known member
What he says!!
I was once “advised” to keep the trailer hitch locked so they couldn’t take it off. I do remember reading some guidance that you had some tolerance on axle loadings but I can’t remember what that was.
What gets me from the photos of the other trucks is the unsecured loads. Are we really expecting every load of sand and gravel to be covered??
D
DaveDCB
Well-known member
Flick up one’s in the bed are 500kg but I’m not sure about the bolted side ones in the plant trailers..
D
DaveDCB
Well-known member
There is a big discrepancy with this new covering of loads…
You can load level so long as it doesn’t blow out.. , but some say it will still need a sheet.. or does it? but you can’t put heavy hand tools in the back of a trailer as they could fall out.. but roll a tipper and everything is coming out regardless of what flimsy sheet you put on it
i think some forces are just saying cover everything and be done with it!
JD450A
Feral as Fk 🐾
I'd say that photo of the trailer unhooked is probably someone being too clever for there own good, probably overweight on rear axle on the towing vehicle and trying to act clever.
As said weighbridges are supposed to be used with the vehicle as set. As towbar height can make a difference to imposed weights.
I would also think DVSA opening themselves to liability and prosecution R.e jockey wheels which as discussed elsewhere years ago aren't designed to take the weight of a loaded trailer.
The weights that matter are axle weights really.
As said weighbridges are supposed to be used with the vehicle as set. As towbar height can make a difference to imposed weights.
I would also think DVSA opening themselves to liability and prosecution R.e jockey wheels which as discussed elsewhere years ago aren't designed to take the weight of a loaded trailer.
The weights that matter are axle weights really.
Lancs Lad
Well-known member
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
a jockey wheel's designed weight capability is to cater for raising a correctly loaded drawbar/nose weight off the coupling ...... if the nose weight is over that then it's loaded illegally anyway for both the drawbar's and a coupling's design load
tow bar height should put a ball at 16" ctr and a jaw at 14" above G/L ..... it's what sliders're for .. to vary the coupling height dependent on vehicle loading ... user's responsibility to ensure the coupling height is correct in use.
coupling nose loading is also an important weighting to get right too, aside from axle weights, to comply with manufacturer's design loadings
Last edited:
S
Smiffy
Well-known member
But tow bar height ma
And at the beginning of the post it says one vehicle over by 500kg on the trailer. You can read the weighbridge at 40-- so if you where allowed an imposed weight on top of 3500kg trailer weight then it wouldn't be 500kg over it would be around 400kg over
But towbar height makes no difference to gross weight of the trailer. The only reason to weigh it like that is if they suspect the trailer to be overweight but the train weight is ok. Otherwise they would just do you over train weight.
And at the beginning of the post it says one vehicle over by 500kg on the trailer. You can read the weighbridge at 40-- so if you where allowed an imposed weight on top of 3500kg trailer weight then it wouldn't be 500kg over it would be around 400kg over
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
there is no imposed loading allowance .... your legal towable weight is 3500kg, end of story, provided the trailer is capable of this and the vehicles GTW allows you to ...
it is not a 5th wheel type of trailer, or coupling, allowing imposition of load onto the tractive unit ....
balls and eyes/jaws are meant to draw/tow the load ...
nose weight is a design feature to stop the tail wagging the dog and does not constitute any additional load carrying ability, over or above the maximum drawable weight of a 3500 kg trailer, on over run braking systems ...
any greater weight capacity of a trailer must have active, coupled braking - i.e NOT over run system reliance ...
and that is aside from all the design parameters of a 3500kg cap trailer, its coupling and the attachment point on the vehicle
D
DaveDCB
Well-known member
Personally I think it’s the fairest way of weighing them, it’s impossible to get a fair weight of the trailer if attached to the towing vehicle still.
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
it is the only way to establish a true weight of the trailer and what it is carrying ...... and if the jockey wheel can't handle the disconnection, the nose weight is too great ... simple as
J
Justme
Well-known member
In your opinion.
Thats not how its used as a trailer.
Once unhitched parked up you can load it as much as you like & they cant do a thing about it till you hitch it up.
S
Smiffy
Well-known member
Yes the police really parked a trailer on a weigh bridge. Then started loading it.
How did it get there?? Did it get placed with a hiab ?? No it got towed past a checkpoint pulled in and weighed individually to ascertain if the trailer was overloaded.
J
Justme
Well-known member
That was not my point.
It should normally be weighed as it would be used coupled up not in isolation.
Plus seeing as they give you 5% tolerance which is more than the nose weight allowed for most vehicle & trailer combos there is normally no need / point in weighing uncoupled as long as the weight is under the plate weight.
My guess is
a, that the trailer was so far over loaded that they wanted every possible weight available for when / if it goes to court.
b, that weigh bridge cant have a vehicle off it with the trailer on it & still give an accurate weight.
I use a local one that needs some accurate parking so that I can weigh the trailer via the wheels without the vehicle being on the down ramp & affecting the results. The other two in the area 1 cant do this as they have steep ramps & the other is a pain with bigger trailers.
When I was building the trailer hiab / machine platform I was back & forth to the weighbridge.
As I drove on I weighed the vehicle, then the vehicle & trailer, then the trailer. Then uncoupled & re weigh the trailer so I can then calc the nose weight applied.
I would have liked to do each axle as well but just not possible. However the 3 axles total 1000kg more than the trailers MLPM so would be hard to overload one without being able to see it.
Footer block 1