Towing weight trailer question!

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michelleyork

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Not sure whether I am having a complete blonde moment or not today, so if anyone can help I would be sooooo grateful!

Just looking at the weights of the ifor williams trailers on their website, and they list the GROSS LADEN and UNLADEN WEIGHTS on there. When I am checking maximum towing capacity on vehicles which figure on the trailer weights should i work against?

http://www.iwt.co.uk/products/horsebox/hb506?tab=spec

For example the KIA sorrento have a maximum towing capacity of 2000kg. BUT the Gross laden weight of a ifor HB506 is 2600kg and the unlanden is 920kg.

Thank you
x
 
Legally speaking, your trailer's MAM (maximum authorised mass - the gross laden weight) must not exceed your vehicle's maximum braked towing weight. If it does and you get pulled by VOSA, expect repurcussions and if you need to do the B+E, obv you need to be especially careful!

You can, if necessary, get a trailer downplated by taking the plate off the trailer, sending it to Ifor and asking them to downplate as necessary - e.g. you could ask Ifor to change the plate to show 2000kg as the max laden weight (I believe the standard issue MAM is around 2700kg on most Ifors) but that's all you'd legally be able to take in future, which would be around two small horses / two large ponies.

The unladen weight is a bit more of a 'practical' consideration.

ROG's towing thread in Competition Riders is the best place to look for towing advice. Hope that helps :)
 
Last edited:
You're welcome :)

Another big aspect to bear in mind is the weight of your towing vehicle - there aren't any laws about ratio of towing vehicle to trailer weight in the UK (contrary to popular belief - there are in Europe but not here) BUT it's still a safety consideration. I believe the Camping and Caravanning Club recommend towing not more than 85% of your car/vehicle's weight, especially if you're new to it. A lot tow 100% of their car's weight and some tow more (...). The issue is with snaking and stability. Parkers is absolutely brilliant for checking weights and capabilities - go to http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/facts-and-figures/, enter your make and model then click More Info next to the version you want to check.
 
MissChaos said:
Legally speaking, your trailer's MAM (maximum authorised mass - the gross laden weight) must not exceed your vehicle's maximum braked towing weight. If it does and you get pulled by VOSA, expect repurcussions and if you need to do the B+E, obv you need to be especially careful!

You can, if necessary, get a trailer downplated by taking the plate off the trailer, sending it to Ifor and asking them to downplate as necessary - e.g. you could ask Ifor to change the plate to show 2000kg as the max laden weight (I believe the standard issue MAM is around 2700kg on most Ifors) but that's all you'd legally be able to take in future, which would be around two small horses / two large ponies.

The unladen weight is a bit more of a 'practical' consideration.

ROG's towing thread in Competition Riders is the best place to look for towing advice. Hope that helps :)
Click to expand...


I thought ROG said this was a myth on the towing thread?
 
MissChaos said:
Legally speaking, your trailer's MAM (maximum authorised mass - the gross laden weight) must not exceed your vehicle's maximum braked towing weight. If it does and you get pulled by VOSA, expect repurcussions and if you need to do the B+E, obv you need to be especially careful!

You can, if necessary, get a trailer downplated by taking the plate off the trailer, sending it to Ifor and asking them to downplate as necessary - e.g. you could ask Ifor to change the plate to show 2000kg as the max laden weight (I believe the standard issue MAM is around 2700kg on most Ifors) but that's all you'd legally be able to take in future, which would be around two small horses / two large ponies.

The unladen weight is a bit more of a 'practical' consideration.

ROG's towing thread in Competition Riders is the best place to look for towing advice. Hope that helps :)
Click to expand...

NeverSayNever said:
I thought ROG said this was a myth on the towing thread?
Click to expand...

ditto NSN - on a B+E license the trailer's MAM can exceed the car's towing capacity but you must make sure you don't load it up enough to exceed car's towing capacity. On a B only license you do need the plated trailer weight to be < or = car's towing capacity depending on the weight of tow car as combined theoretical maximum weight should be 3500 or less
 
MissChaos said:
It's actually that the combined weight of car and trailer mustn't exceed the gross train weight stated on the trailer plate.
Click to expand...
Mind if I rewrite that ....
It's actually that the combined actual weights of car and trailer that mustn't exceed the gross train weight stated on the vehicle plate.

INFO:- the GTW of cars etc is the GVW plus the towing capacity but as neither the GVW nor the towing capacity must be exceeded then having the GTW is a bit useless
Different for vehicles such as vans where there is not a restrictive towing capacity because the GTW can be utilised between vehicle and trailer as the driver sees fit providing neither the vehicle GVW or the trailer MAM are exceeded

The myth regarding "the trailer MAM weight must not exceed the towing capacity or the driver could be done for POTENTIAL overloading" has been going around the internet for some time and has many actually believing it!!

Regarding towing capacity and trailer MAM weights - the LOWER of the two is the one to go by whatever licence is being used to tow with
 
michelleyork said:
Not sure whether I am having a complete blonde moment or not today, so if anyone can help I would be sooooo grateful!

Just looking at the weights of the ifor williams trailers on their website, and they list the GROSS LADEN and UNLADEN WEIGHTS on there. When I am checking maximum towing capacity on vehicles which figure on the trailer weights should i work against?

http://www.iwt.co.uk/products/horsebox/hb506?tab=spec

For example the KIA sorrento have a maximum towing capacity of 2000kg. BUT the Gross laden weight of a ifor HB506 is 2600kg and the unlanden is 920kg.

Thank you
x
Click to expand...
Regarding towing capacity and trailer MAM weights - the LOWER of the two is the one to go by whatever licence is being used to tow with and if you are towing that trailer it will most certainly need to be under B+E towing rules
 
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