Vehicle towing limits

Pistonbroke said:

Newer L200 trucks were 3000kg or 3500 if the trailer was triple axle so brakes were obviously their concern

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FonterraFarmer said:

Most modern ute's will have a 3000kg to 3500kg braked trailer rating with max drawbar tongue load and with a Gross Combined Vehicle Mass.
That said a caravan or boat trailer needs to be manufactured and loaded correctly without being overloaded or exceeding the legal manufacturers limits, or be it ute or trailer manufacturer.
You'd be surprised how often people get it wrong.
Equally many utes towing a trailer at 3500kg braked are at the limit of their GCVM without any additional ute load and or passengers....
As I understand the current Mitsubishi Triton has the best rated GCVM when towing at 3500kg as it allows you something like 150-180kg more than Ranger/Amarok or D Max/BT50.

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Cowabunga said:

Actually the best is the KGM pickup which is unique in its class, as far as I know, in that it can carry a full ton in the vehicle while also towing 3.5. Most others are very restricted in the vehicle while towing to the limit. These KGM trucks are getting to be quite popular around here.

Interesting point to some maybe is that I saw a strange vehicle parked at The Moody Cow on the 1st March. One that I’d never seen before. Then I saw another, a different colour, on Sunday parked in town. I went back passed this one to see what it was. I suspected something Chinese. It turned out to be the very very recently launched [in the UK] KGM Torres SUV. It’s ‘different’. It’s not Chinese. It’s a new model from a well established brand that changed its name only a couple of months ago.

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CPF said:

Has anyone seen the new Kia Ute/ pickup Tasman being launched in the uk ye

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Cowabunga said:

Yes, that would seem to be so. Only late production models were uprated to tow 3.5 tons and only, as you point out, if the trailer had three axles. Even so, I don’t think the L200’s brakes were obviously lacking in comparison to others in its class. Rather oddly, the first Ford Ranger T6, from 2012 and 2013, only had a 3 ton limit but later ones, like mine, were rated for 3.5 tons. I’ve no idea what they changed, if anything, to gain the extra 500kg towing capacity. I suspect that perhaps they changed the final drive ratios, because Ford did and indeed do have three alternative ratios available to this day.

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Cowabunga said:

seeing as not even the concept vehicle has been seen yet in the metal and that the earliest launch date is said to be 2025, it will be a long time before we see it in the UK where it will need to be electric by launch time.

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Cowabunga said:

Yes, that would seem to be so. Only late production models were uprated to tow 3.5 tons and only, as you point out, if the trailer had three axles. Even so, I don’t think the L200’s brakes were obviously lacking in comparison to others in its class. Rather oddly, the first Ford Ranger T6, from 2012 and 2013, only had a 3 ton limit but later ones, like mine, were rated for 3.5 tons. I’ve no idea what they changed, if anything, to gain the extra 500kg towing capacity. I suspect that perhaps they changed the final drive ratios, because Ford did and indeed do have three alternative ratios available to this day.

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Barleycorn said:

Just wondering about the justifications for vehicle towing limits. Last week I took a couple of steers in with my Freelander 2 and IW trailer. To be honest I was probably (!) close to the limit as it has a towing capacity of 2 tons.
However it went like a dream, I hardly noticed the trailer, plenty of pull and braking. It amazes me that I can legally tow 3 1/2 tons with a clapped out Series 3 Landrover, but only 2 tons with a modern Freelander. Who decides these capacities?

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Barleycorn said:

Just wondering about the justifications for vehicle towing limits. Last week I took a couple of steers in with my Freelander 2 and IW trailer. To be honest I was probably (!) close to the limit as it has a towing capacity of 2 tons.
However it went like a dream, I hardly noticed the trailer, plenty of pull and braking. It amazes me that I can legally tow 3 1/2 tons with a clapped out Series 3 Landrover, but only 2 tons with a modern Freelander. Who decides these capacities?

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Cowabunga said:

However, the drivetrain apart from the light duty Haldex 4wd system, is straight out of a family hatchback or small saloon car. It has a similar tow capacity and performance as others in its class, such as the Honda CR-V.

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scottrac said:

customer of mine has a 2010 hilux,took tub off,shortened chassis,fitted air bags and one of those small 5th wheels to tow a caravan,to get it replated to tow 3500 all he had to do was fit a genuine toyota 3500kg tow bar that he'll never use go figure

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essexpete said:

I have known of a couple of FLs with knackered haldex units, probably due to heavy towing.

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Rich_ard said:

Are them fifth wheels legal in the uk. I see a winnebago caravan down the road from me on a similar idea but thought that wasn't possible in the uk.

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scottrac said:

yes,another customer of mine had one on a ranger pulling a 4.2t caravan,a place in wales did the conversion iirc had it on a navara before that (v6)

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Rich_ard said:

Is it only for caravans or could a stock box be converted. Probably not worth the expense really but I would think it would be a safer ride.

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essexpete said:

I have known of a couple of FLs with knackered haldex units, probably due to heavy towing.

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Cab-over Pete said:

Dad used to, shall we say, chance things a little bit on the road. He saw laws as more of a general set of rough guidelines when it came to lights, gross weight, towing regulations etc.


He had a Peugeot pick up for a while. Great tool, but almost certainly NOT designed to pull a double deck of huge mule ewes wedged in so snug they can barely breathe.

Undeterred by such piffling legalities, off he went.

Now, the trailer had been used a bit, and the maintenance was likely not all it should have been. In fact the trailer brakes were pretty much non existent. But there was a job to do, and the fact that the Peugeot was waiting for a pair of new front brake calipers to be fitted didn’t seem to worry him too much.

He came around the double bends on Red Lane at a fair lick , it being a slight uphill drag so the full beans were definitely being given. After rounding the bend, a little bit of a twitch detectable from the rear of the steed, he noticed a parked car on his side of the road. No problem, with a bit of luck the rear indicator on the trailer was probably, maybe, hopefully working to let the following car know he was about to swerve out.

Then a bit of a concerning occurrence lent itself to the proceedings as a boy racer came around the next bend, which threw a big old spanner into Dads works.

Pretty soon, a decision would need to be made. Either slam the brakes on and stop (very unlikely ), swerve out and hope the boy racer could stop (or be hit head on) or ram straight into the parked car.

He initially chose option one. He pushed down with that right leg like his life depended on it (which it did rather, along with the lives of an increasingly alarmed youth speeding towards him and 34 fat girls in the trailer) and he yanked the handbrake up with all his might, but there didn’t seem to be a lot happening except for a screeching of the front offside tyre. At least one brake of the 8 had worked.

He quickly discounted option one and considered option two, but instantly weighed up the fact the maintenance programme had slipped a tad against the long winded process of claiming insurance. That would likely be fruitless, expensive and ultimately involve the boys in blue.

Option three didn’t appear too appealing either.

So, in true Dad style, he rapidly and calmycame up with option four.

To the left of the parked car was a wide verge between the kerb and the houses on the left. He was a superb mental mathematician and in an instant he calculated that the pick up and trailer would squeeze perfectly between the parked car and the wall to the house garden. But he also realised that, it having been a very wet week, the verge might not be kind to a 2 wheel drive pick up, outrageously overweight and moderately under tyred.

Without so much as a bead of sweat forming on his brow, the laws of physics were challenged and calculations were made.

But option four still needed modification.

With the lightning reactions of a pee'd off cobra, he punched his foot down hard onto the accelerator. The faithful yoke , steering wheel wrenched left, mounted the verge and sped between the parked car and the wall , cutting a perfect pair of ruts but damaging nothing either side, nor the vehicle itself. In a roar of diesel smoke and raw power, the rear tyres spraying turf and stones in their wake, the whole outfit slipped through the gap effortlessly and, once through, with the steering wheel yanked right, the whole glorious rig rejoined the public road and sped off, leaving the following car marooned behind the parked car and the boy racer up on the verge on the other side of the road, contemplating a change of shorts.

It was, without doubt, one of the defining moments in Dads driving days. He and that old pick up had some good times, but that one beat them all.

It was an event that, even though lasting mere moments, made him chuckle for years.

Christ, I wish so much I had been in the passenger seat.

Dad, you were a f**king legend.

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