Legality of forwarding trailer behind 4x4

[tcfengineering]

A few things :

 

I am pretty sure that if it goes over a certain unladen weight, then the trailer needs to be plated regardless of class - Think it might be 1200kg but I would have to look it up.

 

Your wheels and also hubs have have the correct speed rating not just the tyres. They would need to be changed

 

You may have to change the rear cross member area to comply with the lighting requirements

 

You would need to have a compatibility report for the brakes/coupling which proves it is up to spec and also matched. I am not sure if you could get this without using all new components ?

 

Anything is possible, so I am sure that you could modify an existing trailer and get it through an IVA. I am also sure that it would be expensive and time consuming and you would probably end up with compromises which may/may not be OK

 

If you dont do it properly and put it through an IVA, then you are leaving yourself wide open if anything goes wrong. You can kid yourself and pretend that its a grey area, but its not grey, its all there in black and white.

 

We have put a few trailers through IVA now.

[openspaceman]

A few things :

 

I am pretty sure that if it goes over a certain unladen weight, then the trailer needs to be plated regardless of class - Think it might be 1200kg but I would have to look it up.

 

1020kg

 

Your wheels and also hubs have have the correct speed rating not just the tyres. They would need to be changed

 

You may have to change the rear cross member area to comply with the lighting requirements

 

You would need to have a compatibility report for the brakes/coupling which proves it is up to spec and also matched. I am not sure if you could get this without using all new components ?

 

If you are talking about my Jussi it's just not worth doing, other than perhaps moving the grapple loader onto the new road going trailer.

 

The original poster was asking about legality but if the conversation is moving to practicality:

 

I've not much faith in the idea of using a 4wd vehicle as a tug in the woods.

 

I tried not to work further than 20 miles from home and at that range there’s not much journey time difference between 25mph and a road vehicle on normal roads but this presumes working from a yard at home, a luxury I never had. I left my tractors on site and over 30 years suffered considerable damage from theft and vandalism that I would not contemplate it now.

 

The Jussi is ok for loading a transit to save some back breaking lifting, it is impractical for forwarding on other than amenity sites.

 

A 100hp 4wd tractor will move 9 tonnes over reasonable ground and can comfortably extract 50 tonne/day, this saves on loloading costs for a modern forwarder capable of shifting 100+ tonnes/day

 

There is scope for the smaller outfit as timber prices rise back up but not on sites where a harvester and forwarder are practical.

 

The problem for small woods is that the harvesting cost is a major portion of the roadside price and modern harvesters and forwarders have crashed the harvesting cost which has effectively lowered the roadside price to below the harvesting cost for motor-manual cutting and tractor trailer forwarding.

[woody paul]

As said if you are going to use road going truck you will be limited on the terrain you are going to get over and lucky to pull any more then 2.5 to 3. Ton max.

[637547]

I very much understand the skepticism around the 4x4 if it was simple everyone would be doing it right?

This is thinking outside the "box" not trying to compete on harvester viable sites, but all the extra that large mechanized units cannot work for site reasons or simply don't because the units are too small to economic at their rates. This uncommon setup would possibly work alongside a uncommon extraction system, but all theory for now.

Yep probably would only load to around (2.5t) 3t but sticking to rides only 1 load an hour=(20t) 24t load every 30min is=(40) 48, 8 hour day not counting breaks, so could fill a waggon or more in a day.

 

Not having an "old man" licence add's two tests and all the restricted O licence difficulty on top. For a starting up thats not easy, but when established a pretty sensible thing to do.

 

Until you try it you wont know if you like it.

[637547]

A few things :

 

I am pretty sure that if it goes over a certain unladen weight, then the trailer needs to be plated regardless of class - Think it might be 1200kg but I would have to look it up.

 

Your wheels and also hubs have have the correct speed rating not just the tyres. They would need to be changed

 

You may have to change the rear cross member area to comply with the lighting requirements

 

You would need to have a compatibility report for the brakes/coupling which proves it is up to spec and also matched. I am not sure if you could get this without using all new components ?

 

Anything is possible, so I am sure that you could modify an existing trailer and get it through an IVA. I am also sure that it would be expensive and time consuming and you would probably end up with compromises which may/may not be OK

 

If you dont do it properly and put it through an IVA, then you are leaving yourself wide open if anything goes wrong. You can kid yourself and pretend that its a grey area, but its not grey, its all there in black and white.

 

We have put a few trailers through IVA now.

 

This is where I got too thinking myself its not just a case of cut and shut some old caravans and a forwarder, the testing guys/gals are going to want a paper trail for most of the parts and simply working out the exact bits you need and where especially with a unconventional design (for a road trailer) is going to be a real headache.

 

However if I had 10k to blow on a trailer I would seriously consider going down the IVA route getting a crane separate then working from the ground up with whats approved. I like the concept of the riko trailer but it looks pretty low and axle wise not as beefy as forwarders, not seen one in the flesh though.

Did think airbags would be a nice solution (one per wheel) as you could be sprung on the road and articulate with them off, but finding something in the right size weight zone may be very difficult and expensive.

 

Completely off topic always thought it odd that trailer are sprung but not dampened? really the only damping is in the tyres, rubber indespension has some built in, but leaves none, seems that the damping in the tow vehicle must have to contribute a lot.

[637547]

Happy that the legality question is answered, if I do go ahead I need to get a flatbed, plant, or some sort of dolly trailer (like the boats) to move one on, when going anywhere further than around the corner at 20mph.