The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

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 Post subject: Re: Towing weight?
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 1:04 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:49 pm
Posts: 960
Location: Sutton,Surrey.
If the vehicle is on Sorn no MOT or unroadworthy
Vehicle must be put on either a Flat Bed or Trailer.
Any part of a vehicle with its wheels on the road must be Taxed and MOT (If Applicable).

Dragging it behind on a Harvey Frost or even a Spec lift is now a no no.

Ask me how I know. 😡

_________________
2009 Mini Clubman Cooper S Daily Driver.
1980 Dolomite Sprint with a touch of BLTS
Balanced Lightened and Tweaked 13B Rotary and SuperCharged.
Back in my possession 22 September 2019.
Rebuilding the Sprint time taken so far, 111Hrs@15/12/2020
212Hrs @31/12/2021
352 @ 28/11/2022
455Hrs @ 20/10/2023
480Hrs @ 14/03/2024
This is time taken at the Sprint not necessary time worked.

Working on a ratio of just 7Hrs a day not including driving to the Sprint.
That equals to 68 days that doesn’t include weekends.
Member TDC no 0471

Project 13B Sprint now back on.


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 Post subject: Re: Towing weight?
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 2:57 pm 
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Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:59 pm
Posts: 311
^^^^ Dolly wheels will get you round the "wheels on the road" but then the truck towing it can't be taxed in the "Recovery Vehicle" class, it has to be taxed PLG or Goods. I did towing for years and the longer I went on the worse it got. Now I'm glad to be out of it.

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Currently over 35 years worth of fixing 35 boxes.
Hoping to reach 65 years worth of fixing 65 boxes.


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:45 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 4:38 pm
Posts: 535
Location: South Benfleet, Essex
Quote:
The Triumph Toledo’s Towing Capacity & Limitations!?!

According to the Towing Information sub-section on Page 04-3, of Section 04 – General Specification Data, of the official loose-leaf BLMC Triumph Toledo 1300 & 1500 Repair Operation Manual [Part No. 545168, Issue 3], the towing limits for the Triumph Toledo 1300, 1500 & 1500TC saloons are as follows:

Maximum braked-trailer weight: 15 cwt (i.e. 762¼ kg by calculation)

Maximum un-braked-trailer weight: 3•94 cwt (i.e. 200 kg), provided the total weight of the car and trailer (i.e. combined weight of the car, car’s payload, trailer & trailer’s payload), does not exceed the car’s maximum gross-vehicle weight for cars with1300 & 1500 single carburettor engines, or 28•8 cwt (i.e. 1465 kg) for cars with 1500 twin-carburettor engines.
For comparison purposes, does anyone have the BLMC Triumph officially sanctioned maximum towing-weights data, as given in the General Specification Data section of the brown-plastic coated, four-ring, loose-leaf folder based, workshop manuals for the Triumph 1500 and Triumph Dolomite 1300, 1500, 1500HL, 1850, 1850HL & Sprints?

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club


Last edited by naskeet on Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Towing weight?
PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:59 pm 
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TDC Shropshire Area Organiser

Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:12 pm
Posts: 7013
Location: Highley, Shropshire
Quote:
Quote:
suspended tow recovery vehicles, (good old Harvey Frost)
Happy days! I've still got my tubular Harvey frost. I just can't bring myself to get rid of it. I had it mounted on an ex-US military Dodge 4x4 crewcab and in its time it was a great piece of kit.
I'm pretty sure the Harvey Frost style of winch, bar and chains is no longer usable for recovery and towing rigs need a "spectacle bar" to comply with current legislation for suspended tow. Which is a shame, I loved the old Harvey Frost, I learned to manoever a SWB Landy with a car on the hook in very tight confines, before I was even old enough to drive. Years later, I bought the same Landy, complete with Harvey Frost and used to moonlight on the M4 with it and a VHF radio that picked up Police frequencies. Happy days, the Landy was a Total POS, which had been cut and shut out of 2 damaged ex military SWB Landies by a man who didn't own a tape measure, the wheelbases were out by better than an inch, side to side! It crabbed a bit!

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.


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 Post subject: Re: Towing weight?
PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 12:31 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2009 6:38 pm
Posts: 473
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Image

From my '76 brochure. For a 1300, but I suspect the towing limit is mostly based on the fact that the Dolly has very little weight at the rear end and the structure the tow bar mounts to is very insubstantial.

Back in the old days you could pretty much tug along whatever your engine could manage with, but these days you're limited by law to the original recommendation of the car's manufacturer. In the case of the Dolly that puts you into camper tent/tiny 2 berth fibreglass job territory I fear.

_________________
1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Rotten as a pear and dissolving into a field in rural Aberdeenshire.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - Major resto, planned for completion 2021.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.


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 Post subject: Re: Towing weight?
PostPosted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:50 pm 
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Future Club member hopefully!
Future Club member hopefully!

Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 4:38 pm
Posts: 535
Location: South Benfleet, Essex
Quote:
Image

From my '76 brochure. For a 1300, but I suspect the towing limit is mostly based on the fact that the Dolly has very little weight at the rear end and the structure the tow bar mounts to is very insubstantial.

Back in the old days you could pretty much tug along whatever your engine could manage with, but these days you're limited by law to the original recommendation of the car's manufacturer. In the case of the Dolly that puts you into camper tent/tiny 2 berth fibreglass job territory I fear.
That maximum towing weight of 1680 lbs or 762 kg quoted in your 1976 brochure for the Dolomite 1300 would have been for a BRAKED trailer. What I shall be particularly interested to learn, is what weight limit is given for an UN-BRAKED trailer.

When and if I want to go camping, I shall use the 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan in preference to the 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 "HL Special". Both vehicles will be equipped with towing brackets, but at sometime in the future, I intend to use the Toledo to tow an unbraked ERDE 142 general-purpose & camping trailer, for trips to the local recycling centre, garden centre, builder's merchant and DIY store.

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club


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 Post subject: Re: Towing weight?
PostPosted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:09 pm 
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Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:08 am
Posts: 386
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
The towing regulations in this part of the world are clearly quite different to what you have in the UK as is evident in the photo below.

It is legal to a-frame a car here that is both unregistered and without a warrant of fitness – your equivalent of a MOT. When I am towing I do run a cable from the tow car to a “trailer board” sitting in the back window of the car being towed which shows both brakes and indicators.

It is a requirement here that all cars must have a warrant of fitness before they can be registered and driven on the road.

Recently I completed the restoration of the chassis on one of the Dolomite Sprints which I have been working on, on which the registration had lapsed. In order to re-register the car had to be taken to a special testing station where it underwent a very extensive Vehicle Safety Check.

I checked with the Inspectors who gave me two options on delivering the vehicle for checking. Either I delivered the car on a car transporter or I could a-frame the car to them, leaving as I pointed out the a-frame mounting brackets which were bolted to the front bumper.

I chose the latter method, for it was much simpler to do. The inspector spotted my previously restored Sprint HU 5000, the tow car, and was satisfied that the Sprint HU 5089 being returned to the road will finish up in the same condition.

The question of towing weights was never raised.

What I had to do to satisfy the inspectors will be covered in a post on my thread on HU 5089 Dolomite Sprint Restoration shortly.

Robert


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 Post subject: Re: Towing weight?
PostPosted: Thu Jul 08, 2021 6:45 pm 
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Future Club member hopefully!
Future Club member hopefully!

Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 4:38 pm
Posts: 535
Location: South Benfleet, Essex
Quote:
The towing regulations in this part of the world are clearly quite different to what you have in the UK as is evident in the photo below.

It is legal to a-frame a car here that is both unregistered and without a warrant of fitness – your equivalent of a MOT. When I am towing I do run a cable from the tow car to a “trailer board” sitting in the back window of the car being towed which shows both brakes and indicators.

It is a requirement here that all cars must have a warrant of fitness before they can be registered and driven on the road.

Recently I completed the restoration of the chassis on one of the Dolomite Sprints which I have been working on, on which the registration had lapsed. In order to re-register the car had to be taken to a special testing station where it underwent a very extensive Vehicle Safety Check.

I checked with the Inspectors who gave me two options on delivering the vehicle for checking. Either I delivered the car on a car transporter or I could a-frame the car to them, leaving as I pointed out the a-frame mounting brackets which were bolted to the front bumper.

I chose the latter method, for it was much simpler to do. The inspector spotted my previously restored Sprint HU 5000, the tow car, and was satisfied that the Sprint HU 5089 being returned to the road will finish up in the same condition.

The question of towing weights was never raised.

What I had to do to satisfy the inspectors will be covered in a post on my thread on HU 5089 Dolomite Sprint Restoration shortly.

Robert
It's debatable whether it was part of the vehicle inspectors' remit to specify towing weights to you, as the vehicle being tested would only come into their jurisdiction once the car had been delivered. I suspect that you would have been better served by contacting the traffic police, to seek advice about what towing restrictions might be applicable to your specific towing vehicle.

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/glov ... owing.html

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/glov ... ml#howmuch

How much can your vehicle tow safely?

« Most vehicles have tow ratings given to them by the manufacturer specifying the gross trailer weight braked, unbraked, or both, that the vehicle can safely tow. Although the law does not require these tow ratings to be followed, the NZ Transport Agency recommends that they be taken into account. »

« In addition to the requirements above, the law requires that every light vehicle and trailer combination must be capable of stopping within a distance of seven metres from a speed of 30km/h. In effect, this means that the maximum allowable weight of an unbraked trailer is limited by the weight and braking ability of the vehicle being used to tow it. »

« The Transport Agency recommends, as a guide, that the laden weight of an unbraked trailer should not exceed three quarters of the unladen weight of the towing vehicle and then only if the towing vehicle's brakes and tyres are in excellent condition. A trailer heavier than this may prevent the vehicle combination from meeting the seven metre from 30km/h brake performance requirement. To illustrate the increase in stopping distance when towing an unbraked trailer, consider a trailer with a laden weight equal to the weight of the towing vehicle. »

« This combination can be expected to have double the stopping distance of the towing vehicle alone, and even a towing vehicle with good brakes is likely to fail the legal brake performance requirement of seven metres from 30km/h. If the trailer is equipped with brakes, it may be possible to safely tow a trailer heavier than three quarters of the unladen weight of the towing vehicle, but the seven metres from 30km/h brake performance requirement still applies. »

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club


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