Towing with freelander tips

Have my towbar bought and sitting in the garage to get fitted, just to figure out where the electrics go for the trailer lights etc.

So will be towing a small twin axel brian james trailer, i have a 04 td4 3 door and the trailer will be loaded with slabs and bricks etc as the back garden is getting destroyed and rebuilt.

Ive never towed on the road before, have towed a 5 ton trailer with a john deere at work a few times but theres a difference between going across a field at 4mph and going on the road.

What should i look out for with moving apart from leaving bigger gaps for turning, bigger gaps for stopping etc.

Freeby has new brakes all round and serviced 7 months ago, also is remapped for better power.

I us mine for towing an ifor williams at work its great just allow extra room a little bit more care on the rd. the best thing is you can see over the top of the trailer when reversing so it make that a lot easier. good luck.

Big 2 axle trailers are much easier to reverse than little ones with one axle and a shorter draw-bar length.

If you cant see the rear of the trailer in your mirrors or through the rear window, then you land up guessing what its doing.

When I started towing I made a terrible hash of it until an old hand suggested that I stick a bamboo cane upright in the rear corners so I could get instant 'feedback' of what effect turning the steering wheel made.

As stated earlier you need to allow for the trailer turning in and possibly cutting the corner, mounting pavements, or hitting the kerb on sharp left turns.

After a couple of decent journeys, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

Some of the '2 weeks a year' caravanners never seem to learn though.

Tesco's in Carlisle for example is a hoot in the summer with crazy holiday-makers who try to park their car and caravan in the middle of the car park.

Good luck.

Singvogel.

go behind the trim panel at the rear on the drivers side and you will find a connector for all your trailer electrics

Tips?

Don't reverse into your trailer.
Don't drive off and forget to hitch your trailer.

When checking the lights work make sure someone watches for you whilst you operate the switches. Do it with the engine running and cover all combinations. It's surprising how many indicators stop working when the brake lights come on.

Best tip? get summat better to tow with

Optimus Prime said:

go behind the trim panel at the rear on the drivers side and you will find a connector for all your trailer electrics

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Inside and run it down through the car? This part is giving me a few chin scratching moments.

Oh and as for changing car, not financially possible. College starts in september so the freeby shall be staying for a few more years.
Once done with college and uni then a disco4 is on the cards but thats 4-5 years away.

A.J.M said:

So will be towing a small twin axel brian james trailer

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A.J.M said:

Oh and as for changing car, not financially possible. College starts in september

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You got a licence to drive them? Obviously i dont know how old you are or where you live but i know if your at collage your about the same age as me so you would have got your licence after 1997. I know i needed to take a trailer test otherwise i could only tow an unbraked trailer with a single axle up to 750kg

Mind you i dont know if you care that much. I been towing for years before i got my licence.

My advice would be make sure you can go backwards before you go forwards. Its cringeworthy when you see somone getting stuck reversing and having to get out of there car and take the trailer off. Just get familiar with it thats all.
Mind you if you been driving trailers at work you cant be that shabby

Kizzeh said:

You got a licence to drive them? Obviously i dont know how old you are or where you live but i know if your at collage your about the same age as me so you would have got your licence after 1997. I know i needed to take a trailer test otherwise i could only tow an unbraked trailer with a single axle up to 750kg

Mind you i dont know if you care that much. I been towing for years before i got my licence.

My advice would be make sure you can go backwards before you go forwards. Its cringeworthy when you see somone getting stuck reversing and having to get out of there car and take the trailer off. Just get familiar with it thats all.
Mind you if you been driving trailers at work you cant be that shabby

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Im 25 next month, i was aware of the 750kg limit, but not it being a single axel.

The trailer at work was only going forward, will be driving round the work yard with it to get used to reversing it, although i only need to do 2 reverses with it, one to turn it on my street and the 2nd to get it back in the shed at work to store it overnight.

Wont be loading it too much and if needed i can let my dad drive the freeby.

750kg unbraked, 2000kg braked

Take the trailer test

Freelaner said:

750kg unbraked, 2000kg braked

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These are the maximum towing figures for a Freelander if you have the licence to drive the combination.

There seems to be a fair bit of confusion regards when you need a B+E licence - my young relatives haven't got a clue what they can or can't tow. Here is my understanding of the situation. Nowhere is there mention of the number of axles on the trailer.

Someone who passed a car test prior to 1997 will probably have category B. They should also have entitlement to B+E, C1 and C1+E, D1 and D1+E - so can go up to 7.5 tonnes plus 750kg trailer.

After 1997 with B only - you have a max of 4.25 tonnes, but......

Category B vehicles may be coupled with a trailer up to 750kgs MAM (allowing a combined weight up to 4.25 tonnes MAM) or a trailer over 750kgs MAM provided the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the towing vehicle, and the combination does not exceed 3.5 tonnes MAM.

Note the 'or' in the middle of the above.

So the B licence holder can tow a trailer over 750kg as long as the total MAM is 3.5 tonnes or less and the trailer weighs less than the towing vehicle.

The unladen weight of a TD4 is 1640kg and the max is 2080 so you could with a category B licence tow a trailer of 1420kg as its less than the car and the total is 3500kg.

Clear as mud, eh.

Despite the above I would recommend any driver without the E licence to take the test anyway.

Singvogel.

should be written on their licence shirly

Freelaner said:

should be written on their licence shirly

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No, there is nothing about weight limits, MAMs etc. on either the plastic card bit or on the paper counterpart.

It's all in the info leaflet that comes with the licence of course - but you know what young folks are like - I certainly do - I was one once!

And the rules are changing again on 19th January 2013.

S.

p.s. Who is Shirly?

surely

regarding the licence it's ridiculous not setting the limits in black and white

Freelaner said:

regarding the licence it's ridiculous not setting the limits in black and white

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I agree completely - my 20 year old grandson was totally unaware of the legal requirements re MAM etc.

He intended borrowing a small caravan to go on holiday with his girlfriend and was taken aback when I asked him the weight of the caravan.

Ignorance is no excuse, but the numbers should be clear to everyone, and easily available.

S.

Is there a difference for towing braked or unbraked trailers?

Ie, can I tow one but not the other?
Gov website is as clear as muddy water filled with muddy mud.

A.J.M said:

Is there a difference for towing braked or unbraked trailers?

Ie, can I tow one but not the other?
Gov website is as clear as muddy water filled with muddy mud.

Click to expand...

Not a thing in the licence regs about brakes on trailers - same as axles - not mentioned.

The braked / unbraked figures are from the manufacturer / vehicle specs. and are determined by the weight and braking capacity of the vehicle.

Very few trailers under 750 have brakes - and almost all over 750 do have. Seems to have been adopted as an industry standard.

Other countries in the EU have different regs. Its a positive nightmare trying to check that a driver is OK to tow as far a Greece for example.

The organisation I work for often sends 4X4 vehicles with 2 tonne trailers to Albania, Kosovo etc and some countries are very stringent - The Netherlands, Germany, and Austria are the most heavily regulated. Rightly so in my opinion - although it is a bind at times. My job is routes and paperwork.

UK has no MOT or separate registration for trailers - they just have to be 'legal'. Great fun at the roadside in the Alps when an Austrian Strassen Polizei starts asking questions and looking for documents for the trailer.

We have it very easy here.

Singvogel.

Thanks. Can now feel happy about towing as long as I don't fill the trailer over 1 ton of weight.

if your only towing experience is with a Tractor I'm guessing there's not been much reversing done? (forgive me if I'm teaching an old dog new tricks etc!).

Best advice I can give beyond what's been said already is when reversing keep all move movements nice and gentle and if the trailer's going too far one way or other just simply go forward just a few feet and it will straighten itself up really, really quick.

Twin axle trailers are really nice to tow and reverse. I used to tow a big twin axel Ifor Williams and that was a piece of **** compared to our current teeny weeny single axel box job!

why wouldnt someone that drives a tractor be not experienced at reversing ?