towing a disco with an A frame

[Tank]

Hi I want to tow an auto disco with an A Frame.

Am I right in thinking that I can just put the High Low transfer box into neutral to isolate the auto box while towing ?? [-o<

Thanks

[ben-dent]

No!!!!!!!!


you will be ok to put both the Gearbox and Transferbox in neutral if you are only going a few miles, Maximum 3 miles or so, and at no more than 30 MPH

if you want to tow it further you will need to remove both prop shafts from the Diffs, Before you remove the Props Chock the wheels or the vehicle will roll away  (ask me how i know  :oops: :oops: :doh:)

[Range Rover Blues]

And hope you don't get spotted by the fuzz/have an accident because it's illegal [-X

[solihull-mick]

I towed a disco from scotland to solihull with an a frame no problems at all, go for it 

[Bluestrobe]

DON'T DO IT IS HIGHLY ILLEGAL :twisted: :twisted:

Unless the brakes are coupled on the vehicle you are towing and your vehicle it is against the law and you will be charged, friendly warning, your choice!

Get sensible and put it on a trailer and stay legal, even under recovery legislation, recovery vehicles are only meant to tow a vehicle for the minimum distance necessary to remove it from a road it is causing an obstruction on. Anything else should be flat bed or trailer.

[les baty]

just to add, any trailer/vehicle that weighs more than 750 kilo, must have working breaks.

cheers

[landymadjay]

Is it to be moved just once or is it to go to p+p days?

[muddyoffroader]

to be honest i wouldnt like to tow a 2ton motor on an A frame. i did tow a saxo the other day from yorkshire to stoke on trent with my A frame down the m6 aswell and 2 police cars went past me and didnt even batter an eye so the illegal side of things is a bit of a ???????? but ye prob better off with a trailer and im sure most rental places do em for about 30 ish quid. a lot less than a fine if it is illegal

[william127]

get to know a local farmer- if im flexible i can hire an ifor flatbed big enough for a range rover for £20 for 6 os so hours, with a 1.1/5 digger for just a tenner more :dance: :clap: :D

[Smego]

make sure the a frame steel is at least 1/2mm thick so it can handle the weight.

[james 100]

DON'T DO IT IS HIGHLY ILLEGAL :twisted: :twisted:

Unless the brakes are coupled on the vehicle you are towing and your vehicle it is against the law and you will be charged, friendly warning, your choice!

Get sensible and put it on a trailer and stay legal, even under recovery legislation, recovery vehicles are only meant to tow a vehicle for the minimum distance necessary to remove it from a road it is causing an obstruction on. Anything else should be flat bed or trailer.

What about the big motorhomes that tow small smart cars/fiat 500's behind on a A frame? How does that work?

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

DON'T DO IT IS HIGHLY ILLEGAL :twisted: :twisted:

Unless the brakes are coupled on the vehicle you are towing and your vehicle it is against the law and you will be charged, friendly warning, your choice!

Get sensible and put it on a trailer and stay legal, even under recovery legislation, recovery vehicles are only meant to tow a vehicle for the minimum distance necessary to remove it from a road it is causing an obstruction on. Anything else should be flat bed or trailer.

What about the big motorhomes that tow small smart cars/fiat 500's behind on a A frame? How does that work?

And what if there was a driver in the towed car to operate the brakes?

[Eeyore]

The legality of towing depends on distance and circumstance. You can tow a vehicle for emergancy recovery, and that's your lot.

However as pointed out, long distance towing with an aframe is a no-no. The wagon would be best trailered.

Motorhomes still have to comply with the 750kg trailer weight. Sometimes thay have complex arrangements to effect braking on the towed car, but more often than not, they're towing illegally (there ain't many cars less than 750kg in this day and age).

[Eeyore]

The legality of towing depends on distance and circumstance. You can tow a vehicle for emergancy recovery (providing its road legal), and that's your lot.

However as pointed out, long distance towing with an aframe is a no-no. The wagon would be best trailered.

Motorhomes still have to comply with the 750kg trailer weight. Sometimes thay have complex arrangements to effect braking on the towed car, but more often than not, they're towing illegally (there ain't many cars less than 750kg in this day and age).

[Bluestrobe]

What Eeyore said!
Yes someone can be in the car operating the brakes but only for a very short emergency recovery.

The towed vehicle should be road legal as well.

Even recovery operators doing suspended recovery should only do that for the minimum distance before it should be placed on a flatbed or a trailer, any vehicle towed on an a frame becomes a trailer and motorhome types are breaking the law unless using an approved brake coupling setup, there are an increasing amount of them using small trailers for the cars now and they are either extremely law abiding or have previously been nicked for it and shown the error of their ways.

As has been said get a trailer and be LEGAL, on top of that if you have an accident whilst towing illegally your insurance is null and void

Go online and look up Road Traffic Act, it's all there.

[Range Rover Blues]

This come up frequently in caravns,trailer,camping forum.

Those motorhome you mentioned, are illegal.  The brakes on a trailer above 750kg LOADED have to conform to the 1987 C&U regs for trailers, they don't, they can't, they can't be adapted to.

They are all illegal.

Same goes for dollys. except where they have been fitted with overrun brakes rated in excess of the combined weight of the car and dolly, it is legal to have a trailer with only one braked axle AFAIK, if anyone knows different please correct me on that.

We aren't killjoys, far from it.  We know these things to be fact and would be remiss if we allowed a fellow club member to get into trouble by not mentioning it.

[tack43]

Came across a chap at the Abingdon 4x4 festival who was selling A frames. He stated he was using an A frame to tow a car behind a Ford Transit van on a regular basis and had branched out into making A frames. Also stated he was selling them through David Bowyer. Glad I didn't buy one! 
Rich

[Tank]

Thanks for all your input peeps.