Towing trailers

[the blazing blacksmith]

I recently bought a new to me fairly tatty us import pick up off a mate who was emigrating back to Canada. Its a big bit of kit with a three litre engine, crew cab etc etc. The only reason I bought it is that it still has a 6ft bed on it even with an extended cab. I stupidly imagined it must have a good load rating and towing capacity but have found it only has a payload of 600ish kg and a towing capacity of 680kg. As I am a blacksmith this is a bit of a blow. The auto model with a 4ltr engine has a towing capacity of 2630kg and even the same model with a higher ratio diff has a rating of 1133kg. Any ideas why this would be. Is there a cheap and easy way to up the ratings or can I legally upgrade it by changing springs or should I get a tiddly trailer and start making very wee stuff!!!!

[ultimatehandyman]

Vans can be hard to judge when it comes to payloads and towing.

I doubt it will just be a case of upgraded springs, I bet the brakes would need upgrading as well.

If you break it I bet it will be very expensive to repair and so you may be best of selling it and getting something that can carry the extra weight.

[dazid1]

Legally you can tow 750kg trailer without brakes, after that it has to have brakes fitted. The max you can tow on overun brakes is 100% of your curb weight, 85% is recomended. Where are you ngetting your figures from? does it have the weights on the vin plate?if so what does it say.

[the blazing blacksmith]

I got the figures from the vehicle hand book. It has a chart that gives the max towing weight of the various models of the pick up and mine sadly is the lowest at 680kg. I do have a twin axle braked trailer with a 2.2 tonne ratong on it that tows very well on my hi-lux and so will still use this to shift stuff but I will never have it up near the 2.2 tonne weight limit. I did always wonder if the weight limit was different for braked trailers.

[Mooncat]

I know that if you passed your test recently, you aren't allowed to tow a trailer, even a tiny one, without taking an additional test. Has anybody here done this, what's involved, and how much does it cost?

[dazid1]

That seems very low, does it have a plate anywhere on the vehicle?
You can tow a trailer if you passed your test after 01/01/1997 but it can only have max gross weight of 750kgs. But be careful if you were towing it with a 3500kg van the train weight can not exceed 3500 so the van has to be part empty.

[Mooncat]

I was clearly misinformed by somebody years ago. The 750kg limit seems reasonable. It would include a small caravan, or boat.