Just some help on new caravan weight's & Tow car please.
Just picked up our new Van over the weekend, the compliance plate shows the following:
ATM 2500
GTM 2280
Tare 2100
Ball 220
not really 100% sure what that all means, Question is i am looking at a s/hand Toyota Prado with 2500 T towing capacity, would that car be able / legal to tow the van ?
The maximum weight of a trailer is specified as either its Aggregate Trailer Mass (ATM) or Gross Trailer Mass (GTM).
ATM is the combined weight of the trailer and its full load when it is not coupled to a tow vehicle.
GTM is the weight of the fully loaded trailer that is imposed on the trailers axle when it is coupled to the tow vehicle. (GTM will always be less than ATM as some of the trailer weight is transferred to the tow vehicle when the trailer is coupled to it.)
Ball Load is the amount of weight the fully laden trailer imposes (vertically) on the tow bar of the tow vehicle.
Just some help on new caravan weight's & Tow car please.
Just picked up our new Van over the weekend, the compliance plate shows the following:
ATM 2500
GTM 2280
Tare 2100
Ball 220
not really 100% sure what that all means, Question is i am looking at a s/hand Toyota Prado with 2500 T towing capacity, would that car be able / legal to tow the van ?
Proberly a stupid question to most of you.
Thanks for your time guys
Miroku12g
I have a 2003 Prado diesel ,you will find that the Prado tow bar regardless weather it is Hayman Reese or genuine Toyota that van you have bought will be ok for the Prado tow bar max ball weight 250kg and max tow weight 2500kg,you will be on your max tow weight if you are happy with that a BIG go for it.
Many thanks guys great help in deciding what i should look at as a tow car, currently i have a Nissan 2.5 T D 6 speed manual, does the job no problem, just lousy in take off, and in any wet / boggy ground, have to ride the clutch until i reach around 15 to 20 Kph,
A couple of things. The 220 kg ball weight is only applicable at the time the van was manufactured. If you have any fixtures installed by the agent or add them yourself the ball weight could be different. Also the ball weight when you load the van will depend on how you have distributed the load. Hopefully the van will load with an increase in ball weight. You want it as close to 250 kg (10%) as you can get it.
Secondly, I hope the new tug has an auto box. If not then you will have the same problem getting it off the mark. All the modern vehicles have high ratio first gears. Compare the specifications of the two vehicles. Also most modern vehicles have dual mass flywheels, they don't like high loads and are liable to failure under severe conditions.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Just some help on new caravan weight's & Tow car please.
Just picked up our new Van over the weekend, the compliance plate shows the following:
ATM 2500 Maximum legal laden weight of the van. It's not the actual weight.
GTM 2280 Maximum legal weight that can be supported by the wheels/tyres. Not the actual weight on the wheels/tyres.
Tare 2100 The weight of the empty van when it left the factory (If it was actually weighed). This includes empty water tanks and HWS as well as empty LPG cylinders.
Ball 220 The actual ball weight in the vans TARE condition. Will alter when the vanis loaded.
not really 100% sure what that all means, Question is i am looking at a s/hand Toyota Prado with 2500 T towing capacity, would that car be able / legal to tow the van ?
Proberly a stupid question to most of you.
Thanks for your time guys
ATM less TARE = Payload allowance. This includes water in the tanks, HWS and toilet header tank along with LPG in the cylinders and everyting added by the dealer after the van left the factory and everything you add to the van or load in it.
Your payload allowance is therefore 400Kg. With both water tanks full etc you'll probably find this allowance insufficient and exceed the vans ATM. 500Kg plus (i.e 2600Kg ATM) would be more realistic, but also limits the choice of tow vehicle.
Cheers, Ozjohn.
-- Edited by ozjohn on Thursday 28th of March 2013 09:19:11 AM
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Retired Engineer, Ex Park Owner & Caravan Consultant. Holden 2.8 Colorado - Roma Elegance 17'6" Pop Top. Location: Mornington Peninsula Vic.
We did a lot of research before we we chose the vehicle we got. We have a Toyota Prado diesel automatic, which we bought first, then we went looking for our van.
