Tow Hitch Question

[Sean_374326099]

Hello all, I have a just got a new Mitsubishi L200 warrior to tug my caravan about but the tow hitch is far too high for the coupling on my van. The question is would a dropper plate be safe or would i be better getting one which you can adjust the height like you see on the back of landrovers and whatnot. Any advice much appreciated .Cheers Sean

 

[Lutz]

How high is too high? Only if the centre of the towball is more than 420mm above the ground when the car is fully laden does it count as being too high. A drop plate is OK if the towbar was approved by the manufacturer for use with a drop plate. You should check first, whether this is the case.

 

[Sean_374326099]

The towball is about 6 inches higher than the coupling on the van. As far as i can tell the eu directive 97/20 (i think) only applies to normal cars. My truck is classified as a commercial vehicle(cheaper road tax).Just wondering what other people use (if there are any others)!!?? Cheers Sean

 

[Lutz]

Only offroad vehicles are exempt from the requirements of the EU directive.

 

[Sean_374326099]

Dont want to appear too dim here but when you say off road do you mean vehicle that are only used offroad or vehicles that are designed to go off road but can be used on road as well. Thanks for the replies so far Lutz, much appreciated. Sean

 

[RogerL]

Off-road vehicles are exempted from the height requirement of the '98-on tow-bar type-approval regulations - I'm not sure whether commercial vehicles are covered by this legislation at all.

 

[Lutz]

The requirements apply to all vehicles of categories:

M1 (Vehicles used for the carriage of passengers and comprising no more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat)

M2 (Vehicles used for the carriage of passengers and comprising no more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat, and having a maximum mass not exceeding 5 tonnes)

N1 (Vehicles used for the carriage of goods and having a maximum

mass not exceeding 3.5 tonnes)

A commercial pickup would fall under category N1.

The regulations only apply to vehicles used on public roads so the exemption for offroad vehicles applies to those offroad vehicles which are also used on public roads.

 

[Sean_374326099]

Thankyou for the replies. Off to the shop friday evening to purchase said towhitch. Hope this weather keeps up for the weekend. Cheers Sean