how much can a landy pull?

selling my 1987 defender 90 2.5 diesel and ive been asked how much it can pull on a trailer? any ideas? think its about 2 ton...but may be well out!

Edit....mine is a V8 so cant help.

I think in Britain, provided you have the right driving licence, it's legal to tow as much as 3.5 tonnes on the road. There might be different laws in Denmark though

legally you can tow upto 3500kg however on a hill you risk been overtaken by robin reliants and mopeds.

Fred Dibnah used to tow his traction engine in and out of his workshop with his 88" Series Land-Rover, that must have weighed over 10 tons.

I once tow started a 32 ton artic with a 1966 diesel landy.

Have seen a police Rangey pull a artic and trailer off a motorway up a sliproad and into the layby at the top of it.

redhand said:

legally you can tow upto 3500kg however on a hill you risk been overtaken by robin reliants and mopeds.

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Thats 3500kg total weight inc the landy itself right? so mines 1650kg so i can legally have a trailer and contents to 1850kg.....

storm99 said:

Thats 3500kg total weight inc the landy itself right? so mines 1650kg so i can legally have a trailer and contents to 1850kg.....

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No, 3500 is gross vehicle weight, with a trailer added you need to find your gross train weight which is higher.

landowner said:

No, 3500 is gross vehicle weight, with a trailer added you need to find your gross train weight which is higher.

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And now i am back to square 1

gross train weight is 5900kg 2400kg gross vehicle weight and 3500kg gross trailer weight.

On the road its rated for 3.5Tons towing (however a lot of brackets are only rated at 2tons - so be warned - although the built in saftey factor actually means they can pull 16tons).

My 90 before it was owned by me, towed an army generator weighing 10tons, 150 miles with a 2.5NA. The driver was a old school trucker who took it up through the low and high box gears (i.e. low range 5th then high range 3rd kinna thing).

The point is, the chances are what ever the guy who wants to buy it wants to tow with it, he will be fine - but then you have the Danish laws which may restrict him.

I also know that an old family friend once used a 90 to haul a fully laden atric off the M74.

storm99 said:

Thats 3500kg total weight inc the landy itself right? so mines 1650kg so i can legally have a trailer and contents to 1850kg.....

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No. In the UK 3500kg is the maximum allowable weight of the trailer and it's load. So you can legally tow a trailer plated to a max weight of 3500kg. This is on top of the weight of the Land Rover. However 3500kg hanging off the towbar is not to be taken lightly(sorry) and takes seriously careful driving and a properly set up trailer that has good working brakes.

I remember reading that 88" 2 1/4 petrol Land-Rovers were rated by the factory to tow a smidgen more than 4000kg on the road provided the trailer had coupled brakes (like airbrakes) and a suitably rated towing jaw. I wander if it's legal to tow more than 3500kg with a Defender if you use coupled brakes?

fenby1976 said:

I remember reading that 88" 2 1/4 petrol Land-Rovers were rated by the factory to tow a smidgen more than 4000kg on the road provided the trailer had coupled brakes (like airbrakes) and a suitably rated towing jaw. I wander if it's legal to tow more than 3500kg with a Defender if you use coupled brakes?

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Yes it is if you've got close coupled brakes. I remember seeing a pic somewhere of a 110 with a fifth wheel set up and a huge horsebox trailer. Must have cost way more than just getting a wagon to do the job.

Max towing weight for a landy 3.5 tonnes - 4 tonne with coupled brakes.

How much can you tow legally? Difficult question to answer because the rules are different between 'for work use' or 'private'

Basically if you are towing for yourself.
Your Maximum gross weigh (MGW) can be up to 7.5 tonne, any distance, any time and for as long as you like. IE MGW (vehicle, including occupants + overall weight of trailer including weight of goods in trailer)

If your towing for work:
MGW is 3.5 tonnes overall, IE, if vehicle and trailer together are above this weight, you must fit a tacho. Meaning, restricted working hours of driving, cost of tacho, breaks etc.
Excemptions to this are, journeys of up to 30 mile radius from where you work. The weight then can be to 7.5 tonne MGW.
However you can only do this if you are not employed to solely drive vehicles. IE a Builder can so that he can get goods to his job, but a profesional driver would need a tacho fitted to do the same.
Vehicle delivery trucks are excempt from the above however. Though recovery trucks are restricted to 60 miles. IE a AA transit towing your motor home. It has to go on a loader for further travel.

It should be noted that the 30 miles radius from work is 'as the crow flies' so therefore you may well be able to do more miles to a job than 30 miles and still be within the law as few roads are direct and straight.

Theres alot more to it than this, but above is the basics.

As far as I'm aware all 90s can tow 3500kg. Add that to the maximum gross vehicle weight and that gives you the train weight. I wouldn't worry about the finer details, the towing capacity is all that matters.

Edit....That sounds rude now I've read the post above! Sorry!

Pulled a 7.5 ton tipper on Monday up hill in snow, he was stuck solid going backwards whilst driving forwards. Plenty of admiring glances from other stranded motorists.

I read somewhere that if its a twin axle breaked trailer you can tow up to 4 tonnes, thats not including the weight of the vehicle!! thats legally on road, but if the law doesnt matter to you, you can tow anything with a defender!!

Mine towed discojamz's disco easy, it would have done 65mph on the strait if id let it, had no issues with hills or accelerating. I would say, as long as the trailers braked properly, tow the basterd.