I’m posting this on behalf of a mate who phoned me for advice earlier. I know my thoughts on it but I’m not sure enough to give him a possibly illegal recommendation.
So the crux is that he and another lad passed their car tests post '97 (or whenever the law changed) and are this week doing their car and trailer test with a view to pulling their track day cars behind their Sprinter vans (on trailers obviously ) to track day events. His question was can they only pull up to 3500kg MGW, or once they’ve passed their test are they permitted to pull a higher combination weight?
Once they have the B+E they can tow a trailer and its load to a max weight of 3.5t plus the weight of the tow vehicle. Manufacturer’s rated tow capacity of a Sprinter will be under 3.5t though.
One thing to keep an eye out for towing with a Sprinter, particularly LWB and with the Sprinter itself lightly loaded is that metal fatigue around where the hitch bolts to the trailer is very common.
Own Account Driver:
to a max weight of 3.5t plus the weight of the tow vehicle.
Plus the weight? So let’s assume a tare weight of your average LWB Sprinter as 2300 kg (give or take), so you could actually have a train weight of potentially 5800kg?
Iirc my Sprinters in the past have been plated to around the 6 tonne mark for towing purposes, so them lads should be ok with their trailers then?
I know what you mean about the fatigue btw. I’ve dragged a caravan behind one of my vans around Europe and found that the “A” frame of the caravan tends to crack. I put it down to sustained ridiculously high speeds and the uprated (anti VOSA attracting) springs I had fitted giving a very harsh ride.
Max total plated MAM/GVW for B+E is now effectively 7000 kg
Max 3500 GVW for vehicle
Max 3500 plated MAM for trailer (new retrospective EU law 19/01/2013)
That is the licence sorted now to the vehicle …
If the vehicle has a GVW of 3500 and a GTW of 5500 with a manufacturer listed towing capacity of 2000 then the actual weight it can tow is 2000
Example:-
Licence B+E
Van
GVW 3500
GTW 5500
Towing capacity 2000
Empty 2300
Not sure of the model tbh Rog, as said it was a question posed by a mate, but your comprehensive answer above has pretty much nailed it imo. I’ll take a screenshot of your reply and e mail it to him. Thanks again.
the maoster:
Not sure of the model tbh Rog, as said it was a question posed by a mate, but your comprehensive answer above has pretty much nailed it imo. I’ll take a screenshot of your reply and e mail it to him. Thanks again.
You are welcome
TBH I do this sort of thing on many forums for B and B+E towing issues
) to track day events. His question was can they only pull up to 3500kg MGW, or once they’ve passed their test are they permitted to pull a higher combination weight?