confused as to car weight and tow limit

[billyboggins]

Originally Posted by kenny

Remembering back to my old S60 days
2040 will be max car weight
3640 will be max train weigh giving you 1600 max towing

thats what i thought,but it didn't feel very safe last week,perhaps i need to load a bit more carefully or get the other half to leave some of the clothes behind that she never wears!!

[volvoid]

it wasnt safe, probably wasnt legal either.

[volvoid]

Originally Posted by volvo145

He would be running about 100% of the car which is acceptable.

dont be so silly.

about 100% will put him well over with a full bottle of water, gas, fridge etc.
All is well until he has an accident or police pull him over.
Then he would be in deep do-do.
Even an empty van and a dog in the boot of the car could exceed the total weight allowed for the car.
Police love this sort of thing, easy nick.
Insurers love it too, easy no-pay.

chances of having an accident when overladen are very high, tail wags dog etc.

[Billggski]

A local weighbridge will give you both axle weights and total for about £7.
My 2015 handbook gives 1500k max towing weight.
If you are under 2040k fully loaded that gives you more train weight according to your vin plate, but the normal max is 80% for safety.

[volvo145]

Originally Posted by volvoid

dont be so silly.

about 100% will put him well over with a full bottle of water, gas, fridge etc.
All is well until he has an accident or police pull him over.
Then he would be in deep do-do.
Even an empty van and a dog in the boot of the car could exceed the total weight allowed for the car.
Police love this sort of thing, easy nick.
Insurers love it too, easy no-pay.

chances of having an accident when overladen are very high, tail wags dog etc.

Well my old book says on that Volvo is 1600 KG towing weight therefore no silliness here.
A lot of caravans have a payload of 150 kg my one is only 160kg and that a twin axle.
The 80% limit is only a guide you are allowed to tow up to a 100% of the vehicle weight.
If the guy is unsure take his rig to a weigh bridge it will cost about £6.00

[c_lee]

Originally Posted by billyboggins

i have a 2000 v70 d classic diesel automatic..can't for the life of me find out what the weight of the car is and the max towing weight i can tug..getting a bit concerned now as my 'van weighs in at 1383kg unladen...any help much appreciated

I tow with a V70 2.5D classic auto too and I know the maximum towing limit is 1600KG.

Maximum allowed nose-weight is 75KG and I keep as close to that as possible without exceeding it.

A couple or so years ago I bought a portable weighing device for caravans - the Reich CWC and use it regularly to check caravan weight, nose weight and car axle weights when packing for a caravan trip.

With a caravan unladen weight of 1383KG and being that a load margin of 217 KG is unlikely you are probably within your cars max towing limit but please check your caravans MTPLM to be sure.

I do hope you are ignoring Volvo's 'sealed for life' auto gearbox maintenance requirement and looking after your autobox's ATF and changing the fluid.

I have an autogearbox repair thread on here from a couple of years ago - ignore at your peril.
My caravan's MTPLM is 1215KG.

We had a week in Sheringham on a THS at the high school a couple of years ago - very enjoyable.
I was towing with the Vectra at the time as that was a car I bought during the Volvo auto problems I had.

When towing at speed with the Volvo, whenever possible I try to keep my box in TC lock up ( indicated ~2,000 rpm at 60 mph in 4th on our cars ) even if it means manually changing down to get TC lock up in 3rd rather than non lock up 4th on a less than gradual gradient.

In lock up with reduced TC turbine use ATF temperature is likely to be kept lower and that can only be good when towing.

Just done ~ 1,000 miles towing round Scotland for 2 weeks in the Volvo.
Off to France soon.
My car has just short of 200,000 miles on the clock.

Colin

[Munro83]

Well I'm on the hunt for our first caravan. I too find the whole weight thing confusing, I thought it had to be no more than 85% of the car weight?
My car is a 2009 v70 2.4d, what's the max I can tow?

[billyboggins]

Originally Posted by c_lee

I tow with a V70 2.5D classic auto too and I know the maximum towing limit is 1600KG.

Maximum allowed nose-weight is 75KG and I keep as close to that as possible without exceeding it.

A couple or so years ago I bought a portable weighing device for caravans - the Reich CWC and use it regularly to check caravan weight, nose weight and car axle weights when packing for a caravan trip.

With a caravan unladen weight of 1383KG and being that a load margin of 217 KG is unlikely you are probably within your cars max towing limit but please check your caravans MTPLM to be sure.

I do hope you are ignoring Volvo's 'sealed for life' auto gearbox maintenance requirement and looking after your autobox's ATF and changing the fluid.

I have an autogearbox repair thread on here from a couple of years ago - ignore at your peril.
My caravan's MTPLM is 1215KG.

We had a week in Sheringham on a THS at the high school a couple of years ago - very enjoyable.
I was towing with the Vectra at the time as that was a car I bought during the Volvo auto problems I had.

When towing at speed with the Volvo, whenever possible I try to keep my box in TC lock up ( indicated ~2,000 rpm at 60 mph in 4th on our cars ) even if it means manually changing down to get TC lock up in 3rd rather than non lock up 4th on a less than gradual gradient.

In lock up with reduced TC turbine use ATF temperature is likely to be kept lower and that can only be good when towing.

Just done ~ 1,000 miles towing round Scotland for 2 weeks in the Volvo.
Off to France soon.
My car has just short of 200,000 miles on the clock.

Colin

Thanks for a very informative and comprehensive reply, i do all the things you talk about too,Have only just changed 'vans to this much heavier Geist and although I am an experienced tower just thougt I would try and find a definitive answer which you have supplied, thanks againBTW I live about 2 miles from Sheringham High, hope you had a good timei

[c_lee]

Originally Posted by Munro83

Well I'm on the hunt for our first caravan. I too find the whole weight thing confusing, I thought it had to be no more than 85% of the car weight?
My car is a 2009 v70 2.4d, what's the max I can tow?

Here is some useful information on car and caravan matching.

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub...r-and-caravan/

Also:

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/advice-...-matching-help

85% is not actually a legal requirement but a recommended maximum for non experienced towers.

There are some on line towmatch calculators where you input the car and caravan details and are given match suitability details.
On searching for them I can't seem to find the one I favour but I'll add a link later if/when I do.

In the meantime here is one I found:

http://www.towsure.com/caravan-car-outfit-matcher

Hope this helps.

Colin

[billyboggins]

yes thanks, already looked at that but it doesn't list my car or 'van