car towing frames

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matt brighton
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car towing frames

Post by matt brighton »

Hi

For a few reasons I am trying to find out how practical (or not) these frames are.

I have a car that would easily be capable of towing a small car along with one of these but wondered if anyne here tugs a car to use whilst camping for a longer stay for the convenience of the camper staying put.


Argueably.....why not get a caravan but "on that way madness lies" (bonus point for the origin without googling)

Best

matt

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Mr Bean
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Re: car towing frames

Post by Mr Bean »

A caravan would be of no use to us and I suspect we are not alone in this. Quote: "on that way madness lies". I did once tow a comparatively massive drag racer a few blocks for a friend using a Frod Escort and found it easy peasy if you didn't need to reverse. So yes if the regs. (and particularly insurance). are complied with then it is quite feasible in my opinion. but I can't for the life of me see why two cars!

I find that it can be a faff uprooting for a trip to the beach for instance. In Germany once we returned to find a group of Hippies set up on our pitch :shock: But for most people the freedom and convenience of camper vanning is largely derived the ability to tour and have the, some might say dubious, comfort of home close or even on the beach or halfway up a mountain even. This is not facilitated by hours of setting up and breaking down camp. We often tow a boat anyway so we keep our camper slick and quick in terms of touring and unless staying for more than a few days, stick to pulling out the awning and setting out a couple of seats etc.

Sadly in some respects is that due to decreased mobility, one of my recent projects was a most successful two person mobility scooter which sits over the engine bay of my High top WBX. This gives us local transport together with mobility round steam fairs etc. with somewhere to sit included. Ideal for instance on our boating rallies etc.

CS
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Boldsailor
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Re: car towing frames

Post by Boldsailor »

There was a recent discussion of some of the issues involved in this in a thread entitled 'Towing', you will find it in this section a little further down the index page. Basically towing with a frame is easy but for most private vehicles used to tow the towed vehicle needs to be able to be braked and a towed vehicle has to be fully road legal with regard to tax, insurance and MOT if it has wheels on the highway.
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matt brighton
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Re: car towing frames

Post by matt brighton »

Thanks for the replies,

I take my 1970 Mini (cooper S) to run what you brung days at Santa Pod and also own car track days at Brands hatch (now posts boasty photo at every opportunity)

Image


Santa pod is a helluva trip in a mini from Brighton and the convenience of having the camper with me at Brands or santa Pod would mean luxury on the day and option to overnight too.

I can't justify a car trailer ....hence musing on these towing frames....

Cheers

matt brighton
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Re: car towing frames

Post by matt brighton »

Image

And another of my beautiful rear end :ok

Boldsailor
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Re: car towing frames

Post by Boldsailor »

Really nice car..I'm jealous...I always fancied getting a 1275S
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Re: car towing frames

Post by Porkscratching »

Hi Matt, PM sent.
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matt brighton
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Re: car towing frames

Post by matt brighton »

Boldsailor wrote:Really nice car..I'm jealous...I always fancied getting a 1275S

I can highly recommend the grin factor....... its all about the twisty bits

Much time and money also spent on the engine and suspension.... about as much as you can do to an a series whilst keeping it drivable

All the best

matt
Last edited by matt brighton on 20 Nov 2017, 19:37, edited 1 time in total.

matt brighton
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Re: car towing frames

Post by matt brighton »

Boldsailor wrote:There was a recent discussion of some of the issues involved in this in a thread entitled 'Towing', you will find it in this section a little further down the index page. Basically towing with a frame is easy but for most private vehicles used to tow the towed vehicle needs to be able to be braked and a towed vehicle has to be fully road legal with regard to tax, insurance and MOT if it has wheels on the highway.
\\Whoops - sorry - thanks for that.

I had a look and went on the govt web site.

Seems my mini is under the 750 limit so if i got a frame I am ok .

Should I get one I would do some deeper research tho

Thanks again for the reply

Matt

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Re: car towing frames

Post by DavidPallister »

matt brighton wrote:
Boldsailor wrote:There was a recent discussion of some of the issues involved in this in a thread entitled 'Towing', you will find it in this section a little further down the index page. Basically towing with a frame is easy but for most private vehicles used to tow the towed vehicle needs to be able to be braked and a towed vehicle has to be fully road legal with regard to tax, insurance and MOT if it has wheels on the highway.
\\Whoops - sorry - thanks for that.

I had a look and went on the govt web site.

Seems my mini is under the 750 limit so if i got a frame I am ok .

Should I get one I would do some deeper research tho

Thanks again for the reply

Matt

I too have looked into this, had vague ideas of buying / building a beach buggy to tow behind the camper.

However, I recall reading that the item being towed (be it car or trailer), if it has brakes, they must work, so for a car, the 750kg weight limit doesn't come into it, the brakes need to work.
I also recall that the unbraked weight limit for a T25 is only 600kg, not 750, so your mini would have to be braked anyway

Hope this helps

Dave

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Re: car towing frames

Post by Boldsailor »

DavidPallister wrote: I recall reading that the item being towed (be it car or trailer), if it has brakes, they must work

That is correct, for a car being towed on a frame the law says that if brakes are fitted to the car they MUST be used! If you look on the Armitage Trailers website under 'A Frames' you can see the sort of thing needed. They do a very nice folding A Frame with braking functionality when used with a modified towed car. The whole thing will set you back around £1K, for the frame and modifications to the car, but I don't know how the system works and whether all cars can be modified. On the other hand you may not think it to be a good idea to be whizzing down a track in the Cooper S with a modified braking system, perhaps you will need to fit a braking parachute as backup :wink:
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