Trailer towing

[C.J.]

Having only towed caravans in the past, I wondered if anyone in here has towed a car trailer?
I've just hired a max 1500kg laden weight4 wheel jobbie for next month, to drag my Jimny down to Dorset with the Xantia, and wondered if there are a different set of rules, do's and dont's etc. for them?
Can I expect slightly better fuel consumption over pulling the van I wonder too...less drag etc?

My biggest concern is 'strapping' the car down. Terrified of it breaking loose due to my ignorance/incompitance.

[AndersDK]

The best you can do is to keep down speed according to the trailer load.

You will ALWAYS have significantly longer brake distances - when your car and a trailer makes up a "road train". Besides you can not just swing out to avoid any obstacles with a long and heavy tail. Keep the steering wheel steady.

Your Xantia must of course have a towbar fitted for the job. Note that the towbar itself has a max allowed trailer weight - because of the construction and mounting method to the chassis body. Exactly to do with your concerns on strapping down the trailer. The towball hook/lock is of a very safe construction and simply needs to be in good working condition.

Dont worry about fuel consumption, as that is nonsense. Your Xantia is loaded to the limits and will in no way be economic towing heavy loads. Work needs energy.

A very important note is NOT to keep the towball downforce weight at its maximum of some 70kg. Instead keep it midrange at some 50kg for best stability.

[jeremy]

Be very cautious at when moving immediately after loading the car - as you will have altered the outfit weight distribution and if you've got it wrong the thing may start to snake - it may be necessary to move the Jimny slightly on the trailer and try again.

Tyre pressures should be checked especially if the trailer is not well known to you and could have a slow puncture. (Happened to me - burst a tyre probably at 60 MPH downhill - never really noticed it until I unloaded the car next morning and found 2 walls and no tread! - took some explaining to the hire company!)

Its worth checking the ties carefully after a while if there is any chance of them fraying.

Remember that the body of the Jimny is suspended - and try and tie to unsprung parts.

[myglaren]

Had to Google Jimny there.

What the fsck is a Jimny - some esoteric Scottish device that has to be transported on a trailer?

How many flaming Jimny's have I seen?




Mine's the one with "Paris Hylton" emblazoned accross the back, 'cause she hasn't a clue either.

[C.J.]

Had to Google Jimny there.

What the fsck is a Jimny - some esoteric Scottish device that has to be transported on a trailer?

How many flaming Jimny's have I seen?




Mine's the one with "Paris Hylton" emblazoned accross the back, 'cause she hasn't a clue either.

Och iye, it's a real wee beastie.



Thanks for all the advice lads. Towing isn't really the main concern, as I've dragged many caravans many miles over the years, it's more the characteristics of a car trailer as opposed to a caravan, and more importnatly the strapping down that I was/am concerned about.
I'll get the trailer hire guys to show me the ropes first, or should that be straps?
Presumably the straps all go through the wheels, and I'll follow the advice of checking them for tightness on a regular basis. The thought of it falling off the trailer is just too horrendous to contemplate tbh.

[admiral51]

Hi C.J,
i will have a chat with one of the drivers at work tomorrow he used to be a recovery driver dealing with new to written off cars im sure he has some sort of info that may be useful

Colin

[DoubleChevron]

OMG .....

no, no, no ..... only 50kgs on the tongue

You want about 10% of the trailers weight on the towbar... Which makes the Xantia a cr@p useless towcar legally (out here it can't even "legally" tow a little single axle caravan).

Now out here the average car trailer weighs about 800kgs (++++)...Then you dump a CX or DS on top of that.... So there's another 1.5tons.

I've towed DS's and CX's on car trailers many times. It's quite illegal out here, I load the sh!t out of the cars tongue, I'd rather a bent towcar than a big accident. With a CX/DS on a car trailer your probably dragging close to 2.5tons !! That means you ideally want about 250kgs on the cars drawbar.... No probs, if the back suspension will lift I'm happy.

Make it to balanced and it'll sway dangerously, an accident is almost assured. I have towed a DS backward on a trailer ....... For about 2blocks at very low speed..... Seriously terifying sh!t. Only the crazy insane Europeans have such a lightly laden towbar on the car. All the family cars out here are rated at a minimum of 150kg on the towbar tongue.... Some even 250kgs (standard 4door sedans). That way they can tow 1500-2500kgs (or whatever they are allowed) and keep a reasonable towbar down weight.

You stopping distance will be massively increased, you won't be "swerving" at all. Remember you have the cars mass again swinging from the towbar. You'll be pushing the engine and gearbox to it's absolute limits. Towing a caravan on the highway for example my CX's fuel economy drops from 34mpg (not towing) to 15mpg with the caravan on. I would travel much slower if I was towing a car... Probably 70-80km/h, 'cos if you come unstuck, it's not going to be a happy ending !

seeya,
Shane L.

The best you can do is to keep down speed according to the trailer load.

You will ALWAYS have significantly longer brake distances - when your car and a trailer makes up a "road train". Besides you can not just swing out to avoid any obstacles with a long and heavy tail. Keep the steering wheel steady.

Your Xantia must of course have a towbar fitted for the job. Note that the towbar itself has a max allowed trailer weight - because of the construction and mounting method to the chassis body. Exactly to do with your concerns on strapping down the trailer. The towball hook/lock is of a very safe construction and simply needs to be in good working condition.

Dont worry about fuel consumption, as that is nonsense. Your Xantia is loaded to the limits and will in no way be economic towing heavy loads. Work needs energy.

A very important note is NOT to keep the towball downforce weight at its maximum of some 70kg. Instead keep it midrange at some 50kg for best stability.

[lexi]

All I can say Shane is to always remember that the "Crazy Insane Europeans" invented motoring

[E H Shaw]

The important thing here, is that the Xantia is a car and is governed by max towing weights. If the weight of the transporter and Jimney are greater than the allowable towing weight of the Xantia, then the combination is illegal. If the Jimney falls into the category of a utility vehicle, where rules are different, how about towing towing the Xantia down on the trailer with the Jimney instead?

[C.J.]

The important thing here, is that the Xantia is a car and is governed by max towing weights. If the weight of the transporter and Jimney are greater than the allowable towing weight of the Xantia, then the combination is illegal. If the Jimney falls into the category of a utility vehicle, where rules are different, how about towing towing the Xantia down on the trailer with the Jimney instead?

The Jimny is too light, and even if it was heavy enough, I wouldn't drive it all the way down to Dorset and back.
As my signature suggests, it's probably the worst car to drive on the public highway...EVER!
Awesome off road though.

[andmcit]

When I'm towing with my car transporter trailer, I tend to have an
enormous amount of clobber in the boot, such as a 3.5tonne heavy
duty jack, my tool boxes and practically everything else that will fit too!
The rear of the tow car is then VERY firmly planted on the floor, a good
idea when it's such a small percentage of the overall footprint weight
of a Cx... (even an estate)

Not sure about a Xantia for towing much other than a small trailer and
I'd imagine it won't be legal to tow a great deal!

Anyhow, I've found the secret to a nice stable tow is to have the weight of
the towed vehicle ahead of the first axle from the hitch, so as the Jimny is
a short bunny, have it forwards on the deck (but not TOO far onto the front).

The other factor to consider to prevent calamities is to VERY FIRMLY
secure the towed car and I've found over the years that you really can't
beat these from places like Machine Mart:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... er-lashing

for a great as well as fast solution - makes the process far easier.

Take some time to secure the (sometimes detachable) ramps and treble
check everything is secure and happy after you've already checked ALL
tyre pressures and lighting etc...

It goes without saying that you need more braking/thinking time than you
would even where you regularly tow a caravan. A car transporter trailer
is one long vehicle and needs plenty of lead in/draught/space on normal
'rough and tumble' roads.

Bear in mind, practically EVERYONE is on a mission to swipe you out or
totally ignore your (quite considerable) presence on the road/motorway
despite you gamely staying out of the outside lane and doing the regiment
60mph...

Andrew

[andmcit]

Straps used as shown here:



but bear in mind these could've been a bit higher up the wheel
- probably didn't want to scratch the chrome wheeltrims...

Andrew

[AndersDK]

I have seen some interesting results from heavy towball loads ...

... like insane oversteering snaking the whole train off the road ...

[reblack68]

I think the Xantia's limit is 1500kg, it will tell you in the handbook.

The best advice is strap the Jimny down securely and take it easy.

[fastandfurryous]

I have now towed so many different car transporter trailers with so many different cars I've completely lost count. I've also towed a number of caravans, so can make a comparison here.

A twin axle car transporter with a vehicle on will be affected a fair bit LESS by sidewinds and so on. In general they are significantly more stable than a caravan, which can be good, but also means that on twisty roads you have to be a bit more careful as the trailer wants to "straight on" more than a caravan, and hence the towcar can be prone to oversteer (a bit.) I find the best way to avoid that is to feed the steering in more gradually than you would normally, allowing you more time to feel the response of the vehicle.

With regards to strapping down, my best advice is plenty of wraps. Jimnys (which, by the way I think are brilliant and I think your issue on the road is more your tyres than anything else) have beam axles like a range-rover, and as such there are plenty of places you can wrap a strap round. Go from the trailer bed, up and around the axle, and then back to the trailer bed.

The best way I find to use straps like this is to use one at the back, and make many "wraps" from the trailer bed to the vehicle. Don't worry if they are not tight. Now, leave the handbrake OFF in the vehicle on the flatbed, and using ratchet straps (as pictured above) strap the car down at the front, pulling it forward as you do. This will mean that the straps at the back go tight, and the straps at the front are also tight. It also means you can adjust the position of the vehicle by slackening the rear strap and re-tightening the front one if you need to. Once you've done that, put the Jimny in 4wd, and apply the handbrake. (Putting the vehicle in 4wd means that the action of the handbrake is extended to all the wheels. Not a bad idea methinks)

A note on towbar downforce. Some people swear by 50kg. Some people swear by 300+kg. I generally swear at both of these schools of thought, as in my experience they are the two ends of the scale. Bear in mind that with a twin axle trailer, nose loading is not as critical as with a single axle, but you should be looking at having around 100kg or so of nose load. Any less means you will sway all over the road, as the back of the car is too lightly loaded. Any more means the rear tyres of the towcar are being squashed into the ground, and the sidewall looses much of its strength. Speaking of which, don't be afraid to inflate your towcar's rear tyres beyond what is recommended. Using a 405 estate to tow a flatbed I use 45psi in the rear tyres. Much less than that means it squirms a bit.

While I'm bleating on about all this, although you should of course allow much greater space in front of you while towing, if the trailer is any good your braking distances should only be increased a little bit. Why? Because the brakes on the trailer should be dealing with stopping the weight of the trailer, and the brakes on the car will be dealing with the car's weight, plus the amount of force needed to push the trailer's brakes on (which should not be much). I've had to do emergency stops before now while towing, and I've been able to stop in pretty much the same distance as when not towing. This doesn't of course allow for the trailer having rubbish brakes. Try this test: with the trailer unladen, drive down the road at 40mph and STAND on the brakes. The trailer really should lock its wheels up. If it doesn't, I'd be a bit worried about how well they are working. Certainly you should not really notice any difference in your braking. If the car feels as if it's being pushed along by the trailer, take it back as the brakes are clearly rubbish.