Livestock box towing troubles

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
Hi lux weighs over a tonne so doe's the trailer that only leaves less than 1 and a half tonnes of the load. 2 cull cows and a finnished heifer may well have been considerably more than that. My take is that you were overloaded that time
Not sure you've calculated that right.

The Hi-Lux weighs around 2 tons. It may be rated to tow less than 3.5 tons, depending on its age. Let's assume it is fairly new and rated to 3.5 tons.

The box may well be near enough a ton empty.
The three cows may be big ones so average 750kgs each? So 2250kgs plus 1000 for the trailer equals 3250kgs.

With that weight, no matter what the weight distribution, 50 to 55 mph is simply too fast down a slight to moderate gradient. It would be fine on the flat, assuming a partition to stop them playing silly-buggers in the box, but downhill, around 40mph maximum in my experience. Less if there are any kind of bends on the way down or touching the brake might have the arse end of the pickup lose traction with potentially fatal consequences.

Steady as she goes!!!!
 
Hi lux weighs over a tonne so doe's the trailer that only leaves less than 1 and a half tonnes of the load. 2 cull cows and a finnished heifer may well have been considerably more than that. My take is that you were overloaded that time
Surprised the Duck didn’t pick up on it in his reply but the weight of the towing vehicle has no relevance to calculating the weight that can be pulled. Newer hi luxs are rated at 3.5 tons, that’s 3.5 tons trailer and load, it doesn’t include the weight of the towing vehicle.

I see you have replied again whilst I was posting but I’m convinced you are wrong including the weight of the towing vehicle.
 

Highland Mule

Member
Livestock Farmer
3.5 tonnes Max is the gross weight of the vehicle, trailer and load or maximum authorised mass (MAM) as they call it. https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car/weight-and-width-limits It is something you get asked if you take a trailer test The police are often wrong when they pull you in as it's a complicated area but you will get a definate ruling if you have an accident and end up in front of the magistrates

No, the MAM is only an issue for those without trailer licence, and related to that. For anyone with a full trailer licence, you can tow up to the tow car's weight limit. For me with my 110, that's 3.5tonnes of trailer + contents. So long as the trailer is plated to 3.5 tonne (which my Ifor is), I can have (say) 2 tonne of animals in a 1.5 tonne trailer.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
3.5 tonnes Max is the gross weight of the vehicle, trailer and load or maximum authorised mass (MAM) as they call it. https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car/weight-and-width-limits It is something you get asked if you take a trailer test The police are often wrong when they pull you in as it's a complicated area but you will get a definate ruling if you have an accident and end up in front of the magistrates
Wrong

Dual purpose vehicle towing exemption for farmers within 65km
 

Tim G

Member
Livestock Farmer

Drillman

Member
Mixed Farmer
2 cull cows and a fat heifer so very close to legal weight limit and probably 50 -55 mph down hill on A38T
As others have said that weight at that speed downhill is the cause. My rule is uphill foot down and give her all she got. Downhill it’s back off in good time and steady away. I would also suggest checking trailer tyre pressures are even and up to spec.
 

C.J

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Devon
I seem to have caused some confusion by replying to jameshenry's question without quoting it.

His 24 lambs would be 1200kg(I don't do sheep) so really should not be a problem with a modern pickup and a trailer with wheels on the outside.

My own near miss with the 2 cows and fat heifer is something I had been doing fine for 17 years and I'm blaming a 12 year old shock absorber.As you can imagine I'm still a bit nervous towing and go down hills slower.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
3.5 tonnes Max is the gross weight of the vehicle, trailer and load or maximum authorised mass (MAM) as they call it. https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car/weight-and-width-limits It is something you get asked if you take a trailer test The police are often wrong when they pull you in as it's a complicated area but you will get a definate ruling if you have an accident and end up in front of the magistrates
You are quite wrong. Very much wrong. The HiLux weighs about two tons near enough. Probably a bit more with two people and a full tank of fuel aboard. The latest ones are rated to tow 3.5 tons officially.
If what you said was correct, which it isn't, then considering it weighs two tons it would only be allowed to tow 1.5. Even my little Honda C-RV has a higher tow capacity range than that.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
Surprised the Duck didn’t pick up on it in his reply but the weight of the towing vehicle has no relevance to calculating the weight that can be pulled. Newer hi luxs are rated at 3.5 tons, that’s 3.5 tons trailer and load, it doesn’t include the weight of the towing vehicle.

I see you have replied again whilst I was posting but I’m convinced you are wrong including the weight of the towing vehicle.
I didn't mention it because it is irrelevant to the towing capacity except for the quoted weight of the HiLux as a ton being a 100% underestimate.
The towing vehicle weight is relevant though when it comes to calculating how much you can carry in the tray as well as the trailer, because more often than not the carrying capacity is much reduced when towing the maximum trailer weight. The MAM of the combination is likely to be exceeded for the majority of pickups if a ton is carried and 3.5 ton towed.

There's also the related issue of the sturdier pickups exceeding the dual purpose vehicle weight limit and being subject to certain lower [than car] speed limits when not towing. They are also, or were, subject to a different class of MOT test which not all tester personnel may be qualified to conduct and certify. My old 110 HiCap always used to have its MOT at a different station to my cars as a consequence. The Ranger falls into the same category. The speed limit was never an issue for my 110's 67 horsepower.
 
Last edited:
I didn't mention it because it is irrelevant to the towing capacity except for the quoted weight of the HiLux as a ton being a 100% underestimate.
The towing vehicle weight is relevant though when it comes to calculating how much you can carry in the tray as well as the trailer, because more often than not the carrying capacity is much reduced when towing the maximum trailer weight. The MAM of the combination is likely to be exceeded for the majority of pickups.
I’m just surprised you didn’t point out to the previous poster that they’d got it wrong including the weight of the towing vehicle.
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
3.5 tonnes Max is the gross weight of the vehicle, trailer and load or maximum authorised mass (MAM) as they call it. https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car/weight-and-width-limits It is something you get asked if you take a trailer test The police are often wrong when they pull you in as it's a complicated area but you will get a definate ruling if you have an accident and end up in front of the magistrates


You've a lot of learning to do. You need to go deeper into the licenses than just that page.

I've sat, and passed, my trailer test. My Defender 110 weighs 2,050kg. It can carry 1t in the rear bed and I can LEGALLY tow a loaded trailer with a 3.5t gross weight behind it. I can do this because the vehicle MAM is 6,550kg. You must be careful with other pickups, though, as their limit is lower - sitting at a 6,000kg MAM. That is where the trade off comes whereby the more weight you tow behind the vehicle, the less you can put in the rear bed.
 

multi power

Member
Location
pembrokeshire
Hi lux weighs over a tonne so doe's the trailer that only leaves less than 1 and a half tonnes of the load. 2 cull cows and a finnished heifer may well have been considerably more than that. My take is that you were overloaded that time
2 cows at say 1400 kg, hefier at 600 that is only 2000kg plus trailer, say 1200kg, all well under 3500kg, I'm assuming the hi lux can tow 3500kg
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,293
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top