Towing Frames, Ever Used One? Any Good?

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

I'm on the cusp of buying one of these to move my 205 about with...

Have you ever used one, anything to watch for, any good at all??

 

[MiniGibbo 142]

Commonly known as A frames, been around for years..

 

 

[gwanyerselsun 1]

I used one to get a 205 from Glasgow to the West Highlands, very basic & straightforward bit of kit. I was towing with an L200.

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

They look handy pieces of kit and fold away compactly too. Can't believe I haven't really paid attention to them before. There may be a standard towing bar in the for sale section very soon!

Edited October 4, 2012 by Anton green

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Used one to tow a 205 back from the 'Ring. Absolutely brilliant.

 

Aren't they a bit of a grey area regarding towing laws though?

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

Aren't they a bit of a grey area regarding towing laws though?

Was just thinking that - anybody know the requirements for licence / tax / MOT / insurance? I assume you'd get by with a post Feb '97 licence and you need the other three to be legal?

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

there was quite a long thread on the laws of it a while ago, general jist was its illegal most of the time depending on weights of each vehicle, certain weights need to have a braking system on the trailer/towed vehicle

[welshpug 1,657]

I know Goliath has one and used it quite a bit, he did comment that when towing my 1000 kilo zx behind his 09 Focus that it did push the car along quite a lot!

 

if I was using one I certainly wouldn't want to use it with a FWD vehicle and certainly not the distances talked about given the massive grey area they are in.

 

technically you have an unbraked over-weight trailer!

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

there was quite a long thread on the laws of it a while ago, general jist was its illegal most of the time depending on weights of each vehicle, certain weights need to have a braking system on the trailer/towed vehicle

Yeah, watched that one with interest - thought it might be different with an A-frame as its not a trailer.

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

Hmmmm.. food for thought it seems! I feel it should be safer than towing using a towbar if the car you would be towing is piloted by someone not used to being towed. ..Might be a case of 'emergency use only'.

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

A weighty tow vehicle always a good idea too imo.

[Batfink 201]

I've used one a lot and towed cars all round the country. Its better than a cheap homemade trailer but does not beat a decent car trailer.

They tow very well if the car is light. I've towed up to a Clio mk2 with no real issues. You would fall foul on weight as I think you can only tow 600kg unbraked but no policeman has stopped me.

Other problems...if the car to be towed is very low or has a low front valence then you will catch the arms on the bottom of the valence as it moves. My Clio was towed as it broke down and lost a bit of paint..

Remember to release the steering lock too

[rallyeash 155]

The law on towing...

 

750kg unbraked

 

Braked upto a combination of trailer/load/towing vehicle upto 3.5T

 

On a post 97 license.

 

Work put me through my B+E license as I have a post 97 license but can now tow a combined weight of upto 7.5T

 

Aren't A frames recovery only so the towed vehicle needs to be road legal.

 

Also if you towed a car behind an L200 as mentioned above there's a good chance your combined overall weight Is more than 3.5T making you illegal straight away.

[gwanyerselsun 1]

Also if you towed a car behind an L200 as mentioned above there's a good chance your combined overall weight Is more than 3.5T making you illegal straight away.

 

It was even more illegal than that as I don't have a trailer license & the light board I used had a load of issues, no indicators & only brake lights. I was even stopped by the police at Loch Lomond side for jumping in front of their road block as there was an over sized load coming towards me. Luckily for me the police woman allowed me to carry on my way without paying too much attention to what I was actually doing.

 

Suppose I got away with it that time!

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

Very few occurrences where they are 100% legal it seems then!

Towing a road-legal light car behind a light 4x4, using a light board might suffice..

 

Either way, still a useful effective tool to keep in the garage:D

Edited October 5, 2012 by Anton green

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

They must be legal as you see no end of them used to tow small cars behind motor homes etc:

 

 

Found this:

 

Don't be misled into thinking you can save some cash by using an un-braked A-frame to tow a car behind your motorhome . The law says that if brakes are fitted to the car they MUST be used!

Towing A-frames used to recover broken down vehicles are subject to different rules and stringent speed limits.

 

So guess that unless you're recovering a car, you're illegal to use then unless you have one of the £700+ braked versions

[Batfink 201]

I really dont think the police care until you crash...

[dcc 855]

They aren't legal. they arent braked.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

It is not the police you need to worry about, it is VOSA.

[Leet205 48]

I have one, have towed with it no problem but there are grey areas regarding mot/tax/insurance/ if your using it to move track/project cars that aren't road legal.

 

Also as above regarding vosa if they want to stop you and check out the weights it could be a problem

 

Never been stopped using it, as long as everything is in order with tow vehicle/lightboard I dont think you will get much trouble. When I use it I always make sure the lightboard obscures the tow cars number plate incase of anpr cameras

[mikeyd 13]

Also as above regarding vosa if they want to stop you and check out the weights it could be a problem

 

Never been stopped using it, as long as everything is in order with tow vehicle/lightboard I dont think you will get much trouble. When I use it I always make sure the lightboard obscures the tow cars number plate incase of anpr cameras

 

"could be a problem"----"dont think you will get much trouble"--- if you get stopped and found to have no valid licence /insurance it bloody well will be a problem!!!!!!

[Leet205 48]

"could be a problem"----"dont think you will get much trouble"--- if you get stopped and found to have no valid licence /insurance it bloody well will be a problem!!!!!!

 

 

I said nothing above regarding licence. And you would have to be pretty simple not to check if your insured

[mikeyd 13]

if you dont have the relevant licence you wont have valid insurance and reading some posts here a few people are sailing a bit close- if in doubt use a trailer!

[maxi 36 1 Cars]

Basically, if you want to move a vehicle for anything more than a breakdown, do your trailer test and buy a sensible car trailer. The law is there for a reason, to keep the roads safe. I did my test and have a decent ifor williams for transportation. I have towed heavy vehicles on a straight bar before and it is frightening if the trailing vehicle starts dictating the tractor vehicle. These A frames are an accident waiting to happen when people abuse the weights.

 

Maxi