A long slow drive

So, when I volunteered to drive this I didn’t expect the journey to be so slow. I later found out why though.

The journey was from Porthmadog to Whitby and the route I took was up to Bangor, then Llandudno Junction, A55, M56, M6, M62, M1, A64 and a few more A roads.

The vehicle towing is a Range Rover Classic 3.9 V8 Auto LPG’d and the trailer was a 34ft restored 1900’s lifeboat called “William Riley”. It weighed 3.5t including the trailer and as it was a custom trailer for the boat I didn’t realise that it could be altered for it’s load. So 'car+trailer was about 5.5t.

However, it had been as we later found out to adjust the nose weight and as such due to ‘trailer waggle’ we were reduced to an average of 37.5mph for about 7 hours driving.

I was passed by numerous trucks, most I ‘flashed’ in when I wasn’t fighting the wash or other such problems. Even going ‘overspeed’ to between 38 and 40 it got quite uncontrollable, which was not fun. So I took refuge on the hard shoulder as much as I could in those situations. I mean, after all, you won’t want me pulling into lane 2 when you’re trundling along on the limiter

More piccies no doubt to follow but here is one of the first after strapping things down, which I also failed on a bit. However, in my defence I wasn’t even sure that those bits could be removed at the time. Obviously when the ropes came off on one of the roundabouts of Bangor it proved they could.

We had a passenger we were due to drop off at Chester but because of the slow speed we elected to drop her at Bangor and she made her train within minutes…

We pulled in on A-Roads where we could to let past the traffic, but traffic was light on the A-roads anyway. The transmission got hot enough that a bag of jelly babies left on the floor in the back turned all mushy. At least my friend can now enjoy his slab of jelly babies today

I’ve yet to work out the figures but we used about £200 of fuel at approximately 65p a litre. I think…

Whats the legal train weight for your Range Rover ? Looking at the pics and your description quote "uncontrollable " sounds like you were lucky not to have an accident.

I think the word “Trumpet” needs to be used here!

Didnt you check your car’s handbook for max towing mass ? Even a Range Rover would be a lot less than 3.5t !

Your lucky plod dint pull you (Esp on the A55). They would have bummed you sensless!

Yep, the Range Rover can tow a 3.5t braked trailer. And it did have brakes too.

The issue we found out later was that the weight of the trailer had been moved back a foot and it was a custom trailer so it wasn’t obvious that it could be moved.

I don’t do trucks anymore, but it was an interesting drive. As for ‘blowing my own trumpet’ well, yeah, I got there didn’t I, and whilst it isn’t ‘my week of work’ that others here have written, it still is a large slow vehicle that was legal

And that is why I stuck to 35mph as it was controllable at and below that speed. It was only when the speed drifted up, especially on down hill sections, where the problems started, or when vehicles pulled in too close after passing…

Saw numerous police cars, marked and unmarked. No problem there. Saw a lot of other boats being towed as well.

Ripon Land Rover are the people responsible for a trailer and any Defender, Discovery or Range Rover can tow 3.5t braked trailer. My Series 3 Lightweight (2.25 petrol engined, 1972) has towed a 10t agricultural trailer through the fields when I owned it in the 90s and that was rated for 3.5t braked trailers too.

The end price was worked out to be £140 in fuel from N.Wales to Whitby and then home to Coventry. Do you really think we could have got a truck to carry it for that price?

Saratoga:
So, when I volunteered to drive this I didn’t expect the journey to be so slow. I later found out why though.

The journey was from Porthmadog to Whitby and the route I took was up to Bangor, then Llandudno Junction, A55, M56, M6, M62, M1, A64 and a few more A roads.

The vehicle towing is a Range Rover Classic 3.9 V8 Auto LPG’d and the trailer was a 34ft restored 1900’s lifeboat called “William Riley”. It weighed 3.5t including the trailer and as it was a custom trailer for the boat I didn’t realise that it could be altered for it’s load. So 'car+trailer was about 5.5t.

However, it had been as we later found out to adjust the nose weight and as such due to ‘trailer waggle’ we were reduced to an average of 37.5mph for about 7 hours driving.

I was passed by numerous trucks, most I ‘flashed’ in when I wasn’t fighting the wash or other such problems. Even going ‘overspeed’ to between 38 and 40 it got quite uncontrollable, which was not fun. So I took refuge on the hard shoulder as much as I could in those situations. I mean, after all, you won’t want me pulling into lane 2 when you’re trundling along on the limiter

diesel at 65 ppl, what colour was it??

More piccies no doubt to follow but here is one of the first after strapping things down, which I also failed on a bit. However, in my defence I wasn’t even sure that those bits could be removed at the time. Obviously when the ropes came off on one of the roundabouts of Bangor it proved they could.

We had a passenger we were due to drop off at Chester but because of the slow speed we elected to drop her at Bangor and she made her train within minutes…

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3347/4614804280_173d3f210d_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4614208155_73091e5846_o.jpg

We pulled in on A-Roads where we could to let past the traffic, but traffic was light on the A-roads anyway. The transmission got hot enough that a bag of jelly babies left on the floor in the back turned all mushy. At least my friend can now enjoy his slab of jelly babies today

I’ve yet to work out the figures but we used about £200 of fuel at approximately 65p a litre. I think…

green456:

Saratoga:
diesel at 65 ppl, what colour was it??

I’ve yet to work out the figures but we used about £200 of fuel at approximately 65p a litre. I think…

Saratoga:
The vehicle towing is a Range Rover Classic 3.9 V8 Auto LPG’d

3.9 petrol v8 running on lpg, bet its still dear to run though.
at least you got a proper vehicle to tow it though.

philgor:

green456:
diesel at 65 ppl, what colour was it??

Saratoga:
I’ve yet to work out the figures but we used about £200 of fuel at approximately 65p a litre. I think…

Saratoga:
The vehicle towing is a Range Rover Classic 3.9 V8 Auto LPG’d

3.9 petrol v8 running on lpg, bet its still dear to run though.
at least you got a proper vehicle to tow it though.

Saratoga:
The vehicle towing is a Range Rover Classic 3.9 V8 Auto LPG’d and the trailer was a 34ft restored 1900’s lifeboat called “William Riley”.

it does clearly state that the range rover was running on LPG, not diesel

Yeah, the V8 was quite happy towing it and had plenty more power available. I used to drive a 2.25 petrol LR without gas and that was expensive. And my next choice of 4x4 will either be a Disco 1 300 TDI Auto or a RRC/Disco V8 Auto on LPG, but I can’t afford to run directly on petrol anymore.

I do like auto’s and this drive has proved how good they are at this sort of thing. I drive auto’s at work and they’re perfectly suitable for that job, even if most of my driving is at low speed (usually 20-30mph anyway). However, those vehicles are perfectly stable at that speed. Perhaps if the trailer was properly set up, had wider wheels etc then it might have been better.

Of course, having the track of the wheels in a wider position than the RR didn’t help. I think they were HGV width. They fitted in the groves in the road well enough and I know who to blame for that

Green456; I guess you saw the price and immediately thought I was running on diesel. Afterall, how many bright sane drivers use petrol these days Personally I don’t like running on red diesel anyway as it isn’t as clean burning as white diesel. I used to drive Cherrypickers for 5 years so I was legally allowed then. There are quite a few motorway service stations serving LPG now I am pleased to see

This does not seem right to me…Too long too heavy spring to mind, but I could be wrong. In my builders van I could only gross out at 3.5t…
I,m sure the the boat hauliers won’t be too chuffed…

the max length of trailer you can tow with that is around 22 feet so you were probally well over

205:
the max length of trailer you can tow with that is around 22 feet so you were probally well over

Cant be right. 22feet with a Range Rover, the caravan my parents have is over that and thats only a single axle.
Total length of my parents caravan and car is just under 40ft(by about half a foot)

JoeG:

205:
the max length of trailer you can tow with that is around 22 feet so you were probally well over

Cant be right. 22feet with a Range Rover, the caravan my parents have is over that and thats only a single axle.
Total length of my parents caravan and car is just under 40ft(by about half a foot)

Trailer length Joe not combination length. That said I do see quite a few glider trailers round my way and they seem to be well over 22 feet so you may be right but for a different reason. Don’t know for sure.

Wiretwister:

JoeG:

205:
the max length of trailer you can tow with that is around 22 feet so you were probally well over

Cant be right. 22feet with a Range Rover, the caravan my parents have is over that and thats only a single axle.
Total length of my parents caravan and car is just under 40ft(by about half a foot)

Trailer length Joe not combination length. That said I do see quite a few glider trailers round my way and they seem to be well over 22 feet so you may be right but for a different reason. Don’t know for sure.

Yeh, but trailor length the caravan is bigger. Its just over 7 meters(23foot) for the caravan. Like i said this is only a single axle so for a twin axle caravan it will be well over the 22foot mark.
So 22foot max for trailer cant be right.
Although, i could be wrong, but working it out in my mind with reference to other things on the road(caravans, glider trailers like you said) would make it way over this 22foot max length.

DFT Requirement for Trailers

DFT Website:
Dimensions

If the towing vehicle has a permissible gross weight in excess of 3.5 tonnes the maximum width and length of the trailer are 2.55 metres and 12 metres respectively. If however the gross weight of the towing vehicle is 3.5 tonnes or less then the maximum permissible width and length are 2.55 metres and 7 metres respectively. In both cases the overall length of the towing vehicle and trailer must not exceed either 18m or 18.75m depending on the type of towing vehicle.

So if the vehicle has a ‘permissable gross weight’ above 3.5t then the maximum width is 2.5m (8.2ft) and length is 12m (39.3ft). However, the total overall length must be less than 18m (60ft). The lifeboat is 34ft long and the trailer was designed by Ripon Landrover to be towed behind a 4x4, and surely not only they but also the owners of the lifeboat would get the sizes right.

The RR has an unladen weight of 2011kg and a laden weight of 2720kg. It has a towing capacity according to the owners manual of 3500kg for a braked trailer with a breakaway cable. The 3.5t capacity is for all the LRs except the Freelander, which is only 2000kg

JoeG:

205:
the max length of trailer you can tow with that is around 22 feet so you were probally well over

Cant be right. 22feet with a Range Rover, the caravan my parents have is over that and thats only a single axle.
Total length of my parents caravan and car is just under 40ft(by about half a foot)

Pic please.

does the rangy have a tachograph fitted

hitch:
does the rangy have a tachograph fitted

Nope, and doesn’t need one. As I said, it is not for commercial purposes.

and there was me thinking all 4x4 had the same max length
when i had a hi-lux, 22’ was max trl length for it

Does a Range Rover have a permissable gross weight of over 3.5T?

Does pgw apply to the maximum loaded weight of the towing vehicle only

…and MAM (maximum authorised mass) apply to the combined weight of towing vehiocle + loaded trailer.

What I’m trying to get at is, is there a difference between PGW & MAM?

I believe the length cannot exceed 22.97 feet = 7 Metres (excluding the drawbar)

Most police forces apparently use the CLIC caravanners guide of 85% of the towing vehicles kerb weight although it is not set in stone.