What Trailer To Tow A 205?

[Wes 86 1 Cars]

thinking of buying a trailer next year to tow my 205 to trackdays and shows. what trailer do you all use? i won't be using it for anything bigger so don't need a massive one. is twin axle a must or will a small single axle be ok?

[welshpug 1,657]

twin axle is much more stable, and if you have room to store it and a vehicle more than capable of towing it then IMO its worth getting something bigger, as you can be a very useful person to know in the car world if you have a trailer than can move say 1.5 ton of saloon car, not just a 900 kilo 205

[Wes 86 1 Cars]

my f150 is more than capable of towing pretty much any trailer i dare hook up to it. but i was trying to stay below the limit of having to do a trailer test, but will do it if i have to.

[2-Pugs 57]

I hired this trailer recently and it was really nice. Not too bulky, and just exactly the right size for a 205 as you can see. IIRC it was a Brian James Minno. I liked the ramps, they slid out of the deck, as such. Twin axle too.

[Wes 86 1 Cars]

that looks the sort of thing i want. any idea what the plated weight was? how much was it to hire and do you have a towing license?

Edited December 15, 2013 by Wes

[2-Pugs 57]

Plated weight, no idea to be honest. My Bee-Em is rated to tow 1800kg so I didn't worry too much given that a 205 is about half that!

Think it was £60 for the weekend. Something like that.

I passed my test before the licence change so I do have a trailer on it already. But a friend of mine dd his trailer test a couple of years ago. Took two attempts but not too hard I don't think :-)

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

There pretty good those one's, The weights are all on there site but I would think it would put you over, I'm like Rob and don;t have to worry about the licence's, I can still drive a 7.5 ton truck.

I tend to prefer the Tilt bed ones as you don;t have ramps to worry about, only thing is there are of course allot heavier

[petert 586]

I've made two trailers to tow 205's and just about to make a third. The first had single axle and springs. It was great for moving the trailer around unloaded, but impractical loaded, as there was too much weight on the jockey wheel. Second and current trailer is twin axle and no springs. It's much better but I didn't quite get the axle positions correct, thus there is a bit too much weight on the towball for a normal car, but fine with the 4WD. Third design will nail it. No springs may not sound bright, but it's the way to go. It keeps the trailer nice and low and minimizes weight. It's bumpy unloaded, but once the car is tied down by the wheels, the car's suspension becomes the springs. Bed size is 3000 x 1850, as expanded gridmesh sheet is 3000 x 600. I cut that into two 300 wide strips. A 405 will just fit on.

 

The other benefit of twin axle is tire choice. Any four 14" tires will have enough combined load rating. But with only two tires, you need light truck tires to get up to 1400-1500Kg capacity (trailer mass + car mass).

[Batfink 201]

Brian James minno is excellent and fits in a single garage as well

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

First of all, forget about NOT doing the trailer test, with the F150 to tow a trailer of any weight legally you will need the test, simply due to the weight of the tow vehicle. Quite stupid as before I passed my test, I could legally tow with my A4 estate, but not with my Mitsubishi Shogun, the Shogun clearly being the more stable and safe choice.

It works on MAM (Max authorised mass) or in other words fully laden permitted weight for tow vehicle and trailer. To do it on a car license the sum of tow vehicle and trailer must be less than 3.5T. In your case I'd guess the F150 will be at least that on its own if not more, so basically you would already be over the 3.5T, remember its plated total weight that counts, NOT kerb weight.

To legally tow a 205 on the post-97 license, you need to carefully choose both tow car and trailer. As mentioned above my old A4 estate with my lightweight trailer (400kg unladen) was legal, but very close. When I swapped to my 535d I was no longer legal due to the BMW being a couple of hundred kg heavier.

Trailer wise, there are some decent enough single axle trailers out there, but I would always go for a twin axle, they are more stable and as said the tyres are doing less work being shared out between 4 of them.

My trailer is a twin axle PRG, it is lightweight at 400kg unladen and is plated at 1400kg gross, meaning it can carry 1000kg. It is also just the right size for a 205, which means it will fit through a standard garage door hence I store it inside, away from the weather which does trailers no favours, and also away from thieving bast@rds as trailers are very stealable.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

This thread is off much interest to me as I will be buying a cheap tow to move the Goodwood around, something along the lines of a TDI Passat and a small car trailer. Should be legal!

[TooMany2cvs 65]

First of all, forget about NOT doing the trailer test, with the F150 to tow a trailer of any weight legally you will need the test, simply due to the weight of the tow vehicle.

 

In your case I'd guess the F150 will be at least that on its own if not more, so basically you would already be over the 3.5T, remember its plated total weight that counts, NOT kerb weight.

I'd have thought an F150 would come in below that, Tom. At least, for Wes's sake, I'd hope so - since the 1997 licence change didn't just remove the trailer entitlement, but shifted the top weight down from 7.5t to 3.5t...

 

Only thing I'd add to all the excellent advice above is to think about how much you're going to use a trailer. Given that anything half-way decent will cost you north of a grand, and as Tom suggests, they are just about the most attractive thing ever to scrotes, unless you're going to use one heavily - I'd lean towards renting.

 

Having said that, I do have a car trailer - a single-axle chopped down many years back from a twin-axle. It's very lightweight, almost to the point of flimsy, and quite a small bed (I bought it for 2cvs, and it only just fits them - smaller than the BJ Minno mentioned above). The biggest restriction on it is that (currently) has 10" rims on, and the heaviest duty tyres findable are only rated to 500kg max each, so a ton total. Would I put a 205 on it? Yes, but I'd be constantly worrying about it... I managed to get lucky, and only paid a hundred quid for it on fleaBay.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Perhaps it isn't as heavy as I thought, Google says 2.1T with a measly 360kg payload.

 

So maybe 2.5T MAM, which means you have 1T left to play with for trailer and load, which isn't realistically do-able when your load is 900kg-odd.

 

Trailer wise yes you need to spend around the £1000 mark for something that isn't a homebrew creation (which is another can of worms as 99% of them will not be plated with weights, and so are technically illegal), BUT, a decent trailer of proprietory manufacture e.g. Brian James, PRG, Fountain, etc are one of those things that hold their value, so realistically as long as you look after it, it will always be worth about the same money to sell on again when you don't need it. Certainly thats the thinking I used when I bought mine a few years ago, and its still worth about the same now.

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

For what it's worth for reference- a friend of mine has a lenghtly Brian James tilt bed which is fairly large and can take a large BMW - and a 205 with plenty of room for a tyre rack (although you'd probably make use of your truck bed and bung your spare wheels in there). We weighed it at the weekend while I was dumping off a shell and it weighed around 700kgs. So a miniture one showed above is obviously going to be lighter than that. We were surprised as the 'converted' caravan chassis trailer we used to use was 650kg.

 

Certainly agree on the value statement. The one I mention is probably 15 years or so old, but it's galvanised so wears well. Some new fold down wheel arches were fitted and it's as good as new.

[welshpug 1,657]

Even the bj A series thats plated for 2 ton only weighs 450kg.

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

Top tip Wes - don't reverse your car on!

[welshpug 1,657]

definitely! snake city otherwise!

[Matt180 31]

I have a PRG the same as Tom. Its a great trailer and pulls really well. I have hired slightly bigger BJ's and Ifor Williams trailers and preferred mine to both of these.

[claypole1360 6]

As you can see, i have a Fountains Trailer from Boston in Lincolnshire. The tow car is a Passat TDi rated at 1800kg braked towing weight. The 205 goes on very well and to be honest, it feels fantastic, I have towed my TR7V8 on the back and that felt heavier. (It is by a couple of hundred KG).

If the 205 xs is 810 KG and the trailer is less than 500 kg, you wouldn't need such a high level of towing capacity, but once you start factoring in tyres, tool kits, passengers, it makes sense to go for the highest towing capacity possible.

My choice of family car is always governed by towing capacity because of the sprinting and hill climbing. My choice is limited to Passats, diesel Mondeos and 5 series BMW. Landrovers and the like are just too thirsty, but if I ever dared to go back to Ford (not likely at the mo) the S-Max tows 2500 kg braked with the correct engine.

I really cannot fault the trailers from Fountains and after 4 years, it is still in great condition.

Calvin

[TooMany2cvs 65]

definitely! snake city otherwise!

On some tow cars, it can be very difficult to get the nose weight right to avoid snaking - the XM I used to have was rock-solid, no matter what. Then I changed it for a Saab 900. Jesus. First time I towed, it got very snakey at about 50mph on the M42. So bad that, once I'd got it straight, I looked in the mirrors to find two HGVs acting as a rolling roadblock 200m behind with their hazards on... <parp>

[Wes 86 1 Cars]

Thanks for all the replies. My truck is 2.2 tons with a full tank and can carry about 650kg in the bed. So with the truck empty that only gives me a loaded trailer weight of 1.3 ton to play with.

I think I'm going to be over weight once I have chucked tools, wheels and passengers in the truck. I think my best bet is to do the test then rent a trailer when I need one.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Or just buy a sensible car!

[Wes 86 1 Cars]

I don't do sensible.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Thanks for all the replies. My truck is 2.2 tons with a full tank and can carry about 650kg in the bed. So with the truck empty that only gives me a loaded trailer weight of 1.3 ton to play with.

 

No, you are missing the point, and its important you get it right. Regardless of truck empty or full, the law takes into account ONLY THE PLATED MAM or the fully laden weight. So from your figures you have 2850kg in the tow vehicle, regardless of what it actually weighs on the day which only leaves 650kg you can legally tow on your license until you have done the test.

[dcc 855]

Tom is right. I legally can tow more with my xsara HDI than I can with the old mans 5.7 v8 chevy.