Towing on an A-frame

[MattW]

Hi All

I bought a towing A-frame when I got my series but there is currently no system in place for fixing it to the front of the vehicle. I hear that mounting it directly on the bumper may be difficult as the bumber is too weak and can rip off> could this be true? Any suggestions as to how I can mount it? I havent actually seen another one upclose that I could copy.

thanks
Matt

This is a picture of a weak little A-frame for a mini - our own is far more substantial.

[karloss]

I fastened it on to the front axle when I picked my series up. That was a universal one tho' not one like in your picture. You do know they are illegal?

[MattW]

illegal? I thought the towed vehicle counted as a trailer?

[Miniman]

My frame has a break system.

I did not know that they was Illegal.
HOW WHEN WHY ?

[woody]

You do know they are illegal?

If they are illigal how come so many motorhomes are towing small cars with them :?:  :?:

the caravan and motorhome dealers are usually pretty hot on what you can and cannot do

[landroverkeith]

there illegal cos of the towing weight of a trailer cant exceed 750 kg without having brakes on said trailer i think anyways u need a braked trailer to tow 3.5t legally ;)

[thumbs]

what about the rac and aa, ive seen them use these!

the universal ones are quite regularly seen being used these dyas, i.e behind motorhomes,

if it is now illegal, why hasent their been anything advertised to inform people

[Miniman]

I think we all need to search the net and see what we can find about the legality of A frames

[muddyweb]

It's been covered above.

An a-framed vehicle counts as a trailer.  So, if it is more than 750kg, it has to have overrun brakes... hence towing a LR isn't legal.

The recovery companies have special exemptions in many cases.

A lot of the motorhome a-frames have attachments to hook up to the car's brakes, hence allowing them to be legal.

So, in order to do it with an LR you would need to do something with the braking... but you can't really use the transmission brake, so it would need to be some sort of modfied rear axle.

[muddyweb]

if it is now illegal, why hasent their been anything advertised to inform people

Because that would make it hard to sell them...  There are lots of things you can buy which aren't legal for use on the UK roads....  just think of some of the lights & tyres you can buy  :?

[MattW]

On that note - I towed the SeriesIII to Tixover on sunday using a friends dual axle braked trailer. Even towing this piece of equipment with our discovery caused outragous stopping distances (like a duck on ice.) I can understand it being more feasible with some of the small Suzukis etc.

Matt

[karloss]

On that note - I towed the SeriesIII to Tixover on sunday using a friends dual axle braked trailer. Even towing this piece of equipment with our discovery caused outragous stopping distances (like a duck on ice.) I can understand it being more feasible with some of the small Suzukis etc.

Matt

If the brakes are up to scratch and properly adjusted on the trailer it shouldn't increase the stoppping distance *that* much. You should actually feel the trailer slowing the tow car. A lot depends on the correct nose weight too.

[Xtremeteam]

On that note - I towed the SeriesIII to Tixover on sunday using a friends dual axle braked trailer. Even towing this piece of equipment with our discovery caused outragous stopping distances (like a duck on ice.) I can understand it being more feasible with some of the small Suzukis etc.

Matt

If the brakes are up to scratch and properly adjusted on the trailer it shouldn't increase the stoppping distance *that* much. You should actually feel the trailer slowing the tow car. A lot depends on the correct nose weight too.

 i agree with that,
we use a towbouy to recover cars with suspension damage/wheels missing on car rallys & when the brakes are adjusted up it will hapilly lock the wheels up going into roundabouts when its empty & when towing a car you can feel it slowing the tow vehicle down