Phil Gibbs

Active Member
Hi, can I tow a swb landy using an A Frame ?.
The towing car would be a Range Rover.
Thanks in advance Phil
 
Hi, can I tow a swb landy using an A Frame ?.
The towing car would be a Range Rover.
Thanks in advance Phil

It depends on what licence you have, if you get stopped, and how much of a jobsworth the person stopping you wants to be. It “should” be classed as a trailer I think. We had a big discussion a few months back on towing, may be worth a search.
 
I also think that the car being towed needs to have tax/mot/insurance? If it is on its own wheels. (No mot and it has to be being moved to or from an Mot station).

Trailer is your best bet.
Perhaps a chat with at your local plod station may help you stay out of trouble, they are here to help if you approach then at the right time/place. And not when it’s too late.

J
 
You can only use an A frame to recover a broken down vehicle.

Therefore the broken down vehicle should have insurance and mot and tax (If applicable) to have been on the road in the first place.

It is not a means to transport a vehicle.

A proper car transporter trailer is only about £50 per day, hire one and do it legally and most important safely.
 
Hi, thank for the reply,
You can only use an A frame to recover a broken down vehicle.

Therefore the broken down vehicle should have insurance and mot and tax (If applicable) to have been on the road in the first place.

It is not a means to transport a vehicle.

A proper car transporter trailer is only about £50 per day, hire one and do it legally and most important safely.
)
 
Thank for the reply, Yo see a lot of motohomes towing small cars on A frames. I was thinking about taking my series to a few shows,
 
Those cars are generally aygo's & smart cars (under 750kg) so fall into the unbraked trailer class
I honestly don’t know the answer. But surely an A frame is an A frame regardless of the weight. Also the MAM if any of those cars will exceed 750kg. The kerb weight probably does in most cases too.
 
Yes you're right in regard to the weight, but the a frames for motorhomes are specifically designed and made for attatching small cars to them.

The point I was (clumsily) trying to make is that there's a bit of a difference between towing a smart car with a motorhome utilizing a purpose built device, and using a range rover to tow a swb s3 (which as it happens probably doesn't weigh a great deal more than a toyota aygo, who'd have thought that!) Using an emergency contraption all held together with a couple of ratchet straps.

I do own and have used an emergency A frame, and it's not an ideal thing to use, but it serves a purpose.
 
We have had this discussion before...
If the towed vehicle has brakes they must be working...a smart's brakes fall into that rule so A frame illegal...there is a devise called the unibrake that maybe allowed but not here in Spain or Portugal...
 
No. Cos a A frame is for recovery.

What do you class is an A frame and when can it be used for a recovery and what is a recovery...I have a Smart fortwo and can not tow it behind my 101 on an A frame as all wheels are in contact with road and regs say 75% brakes must work as they were factory fitted...disable them doesn't work either in the regs...
 
Biggest unbraked trailer you can tow is 750kg,
The devices you see used to tow small cars behind motorhomes are rigged in such a way that the brakes of the towed vehicle are applied when the towing vehicle brakes.
They are then classed as a braked trailer & depending on weights you will need the appropriate licence.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-frames-and-dollies/a-frames-and-dollies

The A frames are not braked and most only have an electrical connection to deploy lights...for the brakes to be deployed an electrical ram has to be fitted to push down towed vehicle brake pedal this needs a connection to tow vehicle and wired into towed vehicle ignition on...as I said before Unibrake is the system...
 

Similar threads