I do wonder though that even for 100yds....which I missed due to lack of coffee....the weight being towed, which exceeds the manufacturers limit, is going to damage the tow bar, sub-frame or suspension.
They must have a max rating for some reason.
Yes,and a “conditional” No
I firmly believe it is both satisfactory and safe to use this particular combination in the specific situation, is based on the following reasoning:-
You will, I am sure, recall the many discussions concerning nose load and how the static limit is in practice easily exceeded when the caravan is towed, caused by the dynamic effects of motion.
Exactly the same process for the same reasons applies to the towed load limit. And similar margins are involved. Vehicle manufacturers do tests to establish the peak loads that affect the tow vehicle. And then they have to derate the dynamic results to establish a static load that will not generate dynamic loads in excess of the tow vehicle's strength.
It seems the industry uses an 8G acceleration as the multiplication factor when looking at impulse loading. This means the OP’s car which has a max towed mass limit of 1365kg is designed to withstand an impulse load of 8 x 1365 = 10,920kg!
The scale of any dynamic load has a number of factors and one of the biggest is speed. In simplistic terms if you drove over a pothole at 60mph and it generated a peak acceleration of 8G If you repeat the crossing but only do it at 30MPH then the peak acceleration generated will reduce by the square of the difference in speed in other word the caravan would experience a impulse load of only 2G!
So provided the OP only drives the 1500kg caravan at slow speed, the impulse loading will be well within the vehicle's mechanical strength.
And because the activity is only on private land, there would be no offence of overloading.
This is the same reason why it's perfectly safe to enter a hitched caravan and use the front seats for a break from driving.
Facebook
Twitter