General towing question - car trailer nose weight

Joel1977 said:

With a tri axel there should be no issues at all whats more important is make sure your tow bar is set at the hight so your towing nose up/down and just always try & load up even make sure your loads strapped on nice and your tyres are all pumped up even and you should be fine

Good luck

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Regarding tow ball height, that's why I wrote check recommended height and adjust hitch to suit. Regarding axle loads I simply meant that with towball at correct height trailer will be horizontal, so all will be doing their share.

Daze said:

Good point actually, something that I haven't checked. Just popped out to have a look, quite tricky to get photos of, but this is from the engine-side between fan blades

And this is from the front looking up between grille slats

Looks decent to me? I'll bring a spare thermostat with me as part of my spares box

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That rad does not look too bad at all. Mine had nearly no fins left. When I took it off the car the remaining fins mostly fell out. Where does your temp gauge sit. Mine before changing rad sat at 1/2 way up the gauge and a needles width above half if working. After rad and stat change it now sits steady 1/3rd of the way up the gauge and never fluctuates. Engine seems happier as well so I suspect my gauge undereads and she was running too hot before.

thebiglad said:

and finally.................................... make sure your insurance covers the trailer.

Over here the rules are a bit more strict I think and any trailer over 750 kgs gross weight has it's own log book and insurance - it's treated as a separate vehicle which just happens to be attached to the back of a car.


Cheers and the very best of luck although I know you won't need it, you've got everything covered now,

Dave

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In France, a trailer over 750Kg has it's own registration, log book and insurance. Soon I believe it will also need a MOT.

OP, the max hitch weight on a P38 is 150Kg I imagine the disco will be the same. I generally aim for 100 Kg. I have a jockey wheel with a built in balance. With a 3 axle trailer, there should be no question of the jockey wheel collapsing when unhitched if the weight distribution is correct.

Just load the car and move it forward slowly until there is a just noticable dip at the hitch, that will be near enough.

Hi Daze another thing to consider is your GTW ( Gross Train Weight ).
In the car is a plate showing each axle loading with the GTW. If you are certain you are within these parameters OK. If not you will have to go to a weigh bridge to check.

As a sideline VDSA ex VOSA are having a field day in the west country with car/caravan combinations. Spot checks are scheduled for this summer so anyone coming this way beware.

Safe towing and have a good journey.

Derek

We regularly tow heavy trailers with both our D2 V8's, and in the main they are pretty easy to set up and tow with as long as you follow the basics.

You'd be unlucky or stupid to exceed the noseweight of the Discovery, 150kg for the D1 and 250kg for the D2.

Tyre pressures and load in the boot affects things more than you would expect, if you are going to carry half a ton of tools etc, fold the rear seat down and get the weight well forward.

Our turntable drawbar trailer only imposes about 30kg towbar load, but the 4-wheeler is usually up around 80-100kg with the dynamometer engine loaded.

Braking shouldn't be too badly affected if your trailer brakes are in good shape, but I always try and leave a bit extra room where I can.

Peter

dirtydog1950 said:

Hi Daze another thing to consider is your GTW ( Gross Train Weight ).
In the car is a plate showing each axle loading with the GTW. If you are certain you are within these parameters OK. If not you will have to go to a weigh bridge to check.

As a sideline VDSA ex VOSA are having a field day in the west country with car/caravan combinations. Spot checks are scheduled for this summer so anyone coming this way beware.

Safe towing and have a good journey.

Derek

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Hi Derek just for your info the GTW of a Disco I (the vehicle in question) is approx 6600kgs from memory.

So with the car itself plus average weight driver at 2230kgs + 600kgs of tools + 1900kgs for loaded trailer the OP will be well within the GTW.


Dave

thebiglad said:

Hi Derek just for your info the GTW of a Disco I (the vehicle in question) is approx 6600kgs from memory.

So with the car itself plus average weight driver at 2230kgs + 600kgs of tools + 1900kgs for loaded trailer the OP will be well within the GTW.


Dave

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Dave,
More for info than specific vehicle. Obviously all road users, solo and towing, need to be aware that weight limits apply to cars as well as LGV's. I also appreciate that this topic has been well covered, in other threads, but a subject to be of interest to all road users.

Derek

stand someone who is 50kgs on the towball and measure the arch gap, load up and measure again, but as usually if it looks right it usually is
trail by Ste_Nova, on Flickr

Datatek said:

In France, a trailer over 750Kg has it's own registration, log book and insurance. Soon I believe it will also need a MOT.

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I thought that was the case already? When I lived in France a few years ago, my Sankey trailer just avoided needing one.

srtgray said:

I thought that was the case already? When I lived in France a few years ago, my Sankey trailer just avoided needing one.

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Never had to have the caravan MOT'd, I know it's been talked about but not seen any directive on trailers up to 3.5 tonnes gross loaded weight for private use.