A frame towing

is it possible to tow a 2A with one of these, got one I would like to show so need to tow it with my camper and it seems a cheaper option than a trailer.

not legally, no.

try a search on caravan club or such sites, read an artical not so long back about the rules i.e emergancy towing only,weights and licence issues.They wer warning the police have been told to clamp down on such reg's.What i read seemed to be quite a mine field.

thanks fellas, thought it might be a bit iffy, oh well looks like a trailer job.

I think it was the Caravan Club magazine that carried an article about it, maybe a member on here can enlighten us.

a mate of mine has had a custom a frame made rated at 6 tonnes and uses it to tow discoverys around but he says its nice and easy going till you get above 50mph then its liable to swaying and snakeing but a hell of a lot better than useing a trailer due to not haveing the weight of the trailer there to start with

As "Treway" its not legally.
You can tow 750Kg unbraked but there isint a Car avalibul in the UK that has a Kerbweight of less than 750 kgs.
So any time you see someone towing a car its not legal unless there is someone in it to opperate the breaks or its been fitted with a flash tow breaking system.

Ps if you excced 750 Kgs you may fall foul of the HGV rules

I work for national Rescue and we have 2 corsa's that use A frames
They are legal but it is a total mine field how you use them
Personally o wouldn't tow anything as Heavy as a landy with one they are ok for something like an escort or astra but wouldn't go much bigger
Not only that but it's also how they attach to the vehicle your pulling,
You wrap a chain over the bottom suspension arn and hook the chain back onto the frame so on a landy there is no bottom arm and the steering rods would pro ally get in the way as well
Be a losing battle from the start in afraid
Could possibly do it the other way around though use the landy to pull the camper if it's not to big

Many years ago, I decided upon an idea to tow a Land Rover with no driver, I decided the best way to do it would be have a solid bar with a T to go under the front, these in turn would have plates on the end's to act as clamp's, these in turn were placed under the front of the spring and tightened in place. And that in turn created another problem, when tightened the tow hitch reached for the sky. It did work, but not very well, I found that once a Series Rover went onto full lock that they would not always come to the straight again. I'm sure the concept would have worked with a bit more thought.

You would need to modify the car being towed, such that the overun mechanism on the A frame operated the vehicle brakes. Normally a discreet cable coming out of the grill, that is connected to the vehicles brake pedal, although some electronic systems are now about. No idea how they work though.

Look at the pics here for an idea. Car-a-tow System Information

Can be done, but I imagine with a LR rather than a much smaller car, there will be weight issues.

MW

Mike Whiskey said:

You would need to modify the car being towed, such that the overun mechanism on the A frame operated the vehicle brakes. Normally a discreet cable coming out of the grill, that is connected to the vehicles brake pedal, although some electronic systems are now about. No idea how they work though.

Look at the pics here for an idea. Car-a-tow System Information

Can be done, but I imagine with a LR rather than a much smaller car, there will be weight issues.

MW

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Solomatic A frames (built by intertrade) Use overun brakes. The hitch is attached to a cable which goes to a ram that presses the brake pedal.

clivees said:

You can tow 750Kg unbraked but there isint a Car avalibul in the UK that has a Kerbweight of less than 750 kgs.

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Yes there is.
MG Midget (680/720kgs?), Mini Cooper(?? but sure under 750)
I'm sure there are others



oh, Standard 8. Should be about 500-600 max...

philvy said:

Yes there is.
MG Midget (680/720kgs?), Mini Cooper(?? but sure under 750)
I'm sure there are others



oh, Standard 8. Should be about 500-600 max...

Click to expand...

Ok point taken But theres not a car made in the last few years under 750Kgs including driver + full tank + luggage

Any a frame used for towing other than a broken down vehicle to nearest place of safety is illegal. The braked type used to be ok but since auto reversing brake s law came in even those arent , since its not possible to reverse with car on a frame ( as front wheels tend to go to full lock ) From insurance point of view its a non starter , if things go wrong .

clivees said:

Ok point taken But theres not a car made in the last few years under 750Kgs including driver + full tank + luggage

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erm, no. there aint a new one like that. That's why they're trying to go at 6l/100km, but dont make it, and I did it in my 1979 Midget without a problem...

what about one of them that lifts up the front onto a couple of wheels via a small ramp are they ok/legal, thanks for the replys so far guys.

flyfisher2 said:

what about one of them that lifts up the front onto a couple of wheels via a small ramp are they ok/legal, thanks for the replys so far guys.

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Same applies I think, should only be used to move a car to a place of safety.

I have seen a couple of series trucks that were towed with a-frames, the transfer boxes blew up, literally! When towing like this you must, must, must ensure the red lever is forwards and the vehicle is in 2wd - ideally with the lever unable to move and go into "neutral" or low range. I use inverted commas with "neutral" as its no such thing, it locks the axles together the same as in low range, but does make the wheels turn, so, you have been warned! Safest way to move a leafer at least is on a trailer.