Confused please advise on towing

[Jabez]

Hi all

I am trying to work out my max i can tow.

I drive a Mitsubishi l200 with a kerb weight of 1900kg and that means working on 85% i can tow 1615kg yet the drivers handbook states i can tow 2700kg which is along way short of the 85% kerb weight.

Can anyone decipher this for me please?

Thanks

Mark

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

The max tow weight will be for a trailer and load where the load is relatively low, eg car trailer carrying a car.

Caravans are high sided vehicles which can catch side winds and bow waves from passing large vehicles, especially turbulence from car transporters. Hence the recommendation of no more than 85% for inexperienced towers and no more than 100% in any case due to stability issues.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Jabez,

Please bear in mind that weights are indeed an important factor in achieving a good towing combination, but you should also take care with other loading characteristics to get a sensible nose load, and to ensure that both tow and towed elements are in sound mechanical order.

Observing the prevailing driving conditions, and driving with the knowledge that a towed outfit will not have anything like the same performance as the solo car is also probably the major factor that affects towing safely.

According to the current Mitsibushi web site

http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/l200/specifications.aspx?trim=Series 5 Double Cab Barbarian
This model of the L200 has a kerbweight of 1860kg, but it has a potential towing capacity of 3100kg. Such high towing limits are not uncommon for this type of vehicle which is more of a commercial pick up rather than a domestic car.

Your model may be slightly different, but the same principle applies.

Legally you can utilise the car specifications full towed weight capacity, BUT, the bigger the trailer more difficult it is to control.(EDIT) The bigger and heavier the trailer, it uses more of the tow vehicles control capacity to manage it.

Woodlands is essentially correct about the caravan industry recommendation where novice tower should not have maximum caravan weight greater than 85% of the tow vehicle's kerb weight, but only when the driver has more experience should they consider increasing the ratio towards 100%. These are only recommendations and they have no legal authority, but they support the sensible approach of always trying to keep the weight and size of a trailer as small as possible in relation to the tow vehicle.

Whatever you do, you must always achieve is a safe outfit, it is perfectly possible to comply with the vehicle's specifications yet the outfit can still be legally unsafe, if its is poorly loaded or driven badly.

You might also consider having a shock reducing hitch fitted to your car, as the stiffer suspension of these commercial vehicles can transmit more harmful vibrations and shocks back through the coupling to the caravan.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Another example of a heavy load for that type of vehicle to pull is a trailer loaded with a tracked mechanical digger, which would have a low centre of gravity and a small cross sectional side area.

 

[Dustydog]

Back in the annals of time I recall there was some suggestion that the max tow weight was the vehicles ability to start from stationary on a 1in 4 (6?) Hill.The handbrake had to hold it, the brakes had to cope, the tow bar assembly be man enough and all mechanicals capable.
Modern 4x4 and SUVs are well appointed full of goodies both technical and comfort.Not sure I'd call an L200 a commercial. After all it's basically a Shogun.

 

[Raywood]

The max towing weight is calculated by finding the max weight the vehicle can restart on a 12% hill five times in a row. This may be in order when towing a broken down vehicle at low speed round town but not when towing a high sided caravan down a motorway at 60 mph. The 85% figure is one suggested for starters and with a strong vehicle made for towing more than the average car possibly 90% for beginners might be OK but I would not want to go beyond that at first for the reasons given earlier.
A word of caution though with a pick up, the hard suspension might be too much for a very long caravan chassis and if you go for that a damper on the tow bar might be needed as suggested by Prof John. The engineer who services our caravan says that travelers using transits for their huge Hobbies have this problem.

 

[Woodentop]

I'm not sure if anyone has answered the OP.

The OP should look for the vehicle plate, these days very often found at the bottom of one of the B pillars (the pillar between the front and rear doors,) or riveted to the top of the front scuttle under the bonnet. This plate will show the maximum train weight (the largest figure) and the maximum vehicle weight (the second largest figure.) Subtracting the maximum vehicle weight from the maximum train weight gives the maximum weight (MPTLM) of the caravan (on a label near the door, or if older on a plate riveted to the chassis behind the hitch.) The driver's licence is governed by the first weight - maximum train.

If the driver passed their test before 1997 then there is no problem, but if in 1997 or later then a B+E licence is required to tow a train weight in excess of 3500Kg. Note that it does not matter what the actual weight of the towing vehicle is, it relates to the maximum that it can be. The handbook says 2700Kg so that is the figure used.

The kerb weight assumes an empty vehicle with a full tank of fuel This weight is usually used as a gauge for the weight of the caravan referred to its MPTLM not to exceed 85%. As the Mitsubishi is rated to tow 2700Kg, if the driver is experienced at towing, realistically it will tow almost any caravan on the market.

 

[Dustydog]

The Prof did say the L200 kerb weight is 1860kgs.
I wouldn't want to tow a heavier caravan and go over 100%.

 

[Jabez]

Hi all

Many thanks for your answers and i am fairly sure i now have my answer which is about what i thought was right.

I do have both B and E so that is a good starter..even got my original paper licience,but as someone said today to me..it looks like an old treasure map..still clearly has all my details

I do tow fairly regular with my pick up but mostly large indusutral electric generators around 2500kg (weigh bridge tested) and mine is also a 62 model and not the newer one as ProfJohnL has found.

I do not intend to go over the advised kerb weights but i was just confused as to wether it was law as now i am looking at the world of caravan owning i was beginning to think i had been towing all along illegally.

Many thanks all for your time and effort to reply.

Mark

 

[ProfJohnL]

Just a small technicality that Woodentop may not have explained very well.

The OP should look for the vehicle plate, these days very often found at the bottom of one of the B pillars (the pillar between the front and rear doors,) or riveted to the top of the front scuttle under the bonnet. This plate will show the maximum train weight (the largest figure) and the maximum vehicle weight (the second largest figure.) Subtracting the maximum vehicle weight from the maximum train weight gives the maximum weight (MPTLM) of the caravan (on a label near the door, or if older on a plate riveted to the chassis behind the hitch.) The driver's licence is governed by the first weight - maximum train.

The plate difference between GTW and VGW describes the maximum actual weight the trailer can be. This means you could tow an empty or part loaded trailer that when weighed falls within the cars limit, even though the fully laden trailers MTPLM exceeds the cars capacity. The car could not tow the fully laden trailer.

It is only drivers licence that looks at the combined MAM's.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi mate just a quickie answer. my mate Mo who is a farmer has a L200 uses it to tow just about everything from tractors to a trailer full of sheep, not at the same time of course.
I would not have thought that there were many caravans it would not tow, and seeing as you tow heavy trailers anyway it should not be a problem, after all a caravan is just a trailer a big high sided one but still a trailer.

 

[GrahamE]

We have an L200 Animal (57 plate) and tow a twin axle no problems in pulling, stopping and snaking on the recent trip to Blackpool from the south coast there was not one hill she dropped below 60. As for construction of the L200 remember un like cars it is built on a ladder chassis, its a commercial vehicle or lgv hence the different speed limits.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

We have an L200 Animal (57 plate) and tow a twin axle no problems in pulling, stopping and snaking on the recent trip to Blackpool from the south coast there was not one hill she dropped below 60.

Do you mean whilst towing? I thought 60 was the max not the min.

its a commercial vehicle or lgv hence the different speed limits.

What do you mean by this?

 

[GrahamE]

The L200 is classed as a "light goods vehicle" weather its used/insured for business or social /domestic. So the speed limits are different ie 50mph on single carriageway 60 on dual where the national speed limit applies, this is the same as other light commercials such as the transit or traffic vans. This has caught many people out and has come up on forums such as the L200 owners club.

Yes that is Max speed and yes I was towing. The Animal variant is the uprated version of the diesel (bit more oomf)

 

[Woodentop]

The L200 is classed as a "light goods vehicle" weather its used/insured for business or social /domestic. So the speed limits are different ie 50mph on single carriageway 60 on dual where the national speed limit applies, this is the same as other light commercials such as the transit or traffic vans. This has caught many people out and has come up on forums such as the L200 owners club.

Yes that is Max speed and yes I was towing. The Animal variant is the uprated version of the diesel (bit more oomf)

I think what you are saying is that a LGV is limited to 50/60 at all times under all conditions? Those just happen to be the towing limits for any vehicle on the same roads.

 

[GrahamE]

Yes, but just to clarify further due to more reinventing of the classes, the pick up is a "light commercial" and what was referred to as an HGV is now an LGV "long goods vehicle". On my original pass certificate of 25 years ago I passed my class 1 (artic license) , according to my piece of plastic of which I have 3 I now have more letters after my name than half the alphabet put together.