towing 2 trailers in qld

[v8zuki]

as title states its what i want to do
have looked at the transport website and havent found out why i cant
all i have found is it is prohibited,so that is not good enough,i want to know the reasons i cant
the rules i know of 1max of 3,5t for my 100series braked
2 max length of any towed vehicle is 19 mtres
if the trailers had brakes and were under length and under the combined weight why not

[RED60]

Let us know how you go with this one..appart from B-doubles I've never seen twin articulated... this could start a new craze..

[v8zuki]

i hope i can
my problem is 5kids and we all ride bikes, what i want to do is tow the bike trailer 1.4t fully loaded and 4.8m long behind my camper trailer 1.3t fully loaded and 5.2m long
i want to do this so it is more comfy when we ride and i dont want to have a third trailer that will do the job

[krusty182]

How would you make them track going around corners? Road trains use some kind of steering link, I think. Without it, the last trailer will cut the corner severely, I reckon.

[v8zuki]

doesnt do that the rear trailer tracks slightly less than the front
i do have my roadtrain licence and have driven with 4trailers [roadtrain] while i lived in the territory so that wont be a drama
reversing is also no prob ,it is harder but doable just like a real roadtrain
but a lot smaller
the 2 trailers will track better than 1 very long trailer

[chicken]

G'Day

heres somthing that was on the other forum some time ago , its not a wagon but its the same theory

http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/showthre ... road+train

cheers , chicken

[doe]

mate it has been done before not sure how to get around this other than move too another state other than qld. have heard of a bloke doing it with a bus. you are wasteing your time with trieing to get info out of qld transport even if it can be done they will stuff you around that much that you will give up. that the thoery qld transport work on.

[Sixty]

It may have something to do with GCM (Gross Combination Mass).

Does having the second trailer exceed the tow vehicles GCM......?

[Slunnie]

I'm wondering if it has to do with over-ride brakes forcing a jack-knife.

The other concern may be that just about all small trailers are designed to be reasonably balanced with the axle group in the middle. Heavy multi-combination trailers have their axle groups at each end of the trailer which will make jack-knifing a lot harder as the hitch usually sits over the axle group of the forward trailer or if its a road train the dolly doesn't really exert significant lateral loads on the leading trailer.



This said, military trailers can be ganged up, but I think that may be for emergencys when things are getting exciting rather than during peace time.

[phippsy]

This said, military trailers can be ganged up, but I think that may be for emergencys when things are getting exciting rather than during peace time.

FIL has done it in military situations, but only at slow speed and not on public roads.

[ISUZUROVER]

Why not make a rack for the top of the car or camper trailer to hold the bikes??? Would save a lot of headaches.

[eliteforce32]

i think he might mean motorbikes!

[tweak'e]

interesting

its actually allowable in NZ but..... you have to tow with a truck.
a few guys use yank tanks as they are heavy enough to get classed as a heavy vehicle, obviously need truck license.
theres a couple of regulars who go through here towing double light trailers, i think one is a trailer manufacture and they are designed like that for easy delivery.

[droopypete]

The other concern may be that just about all small trailers are designed to be reasonably balanced with the axle group in the middle. Heavy multi-combination trailers have their axle groups at each end of the trailer which will make jack-knifing a lot harder as the hitch usually sits over the axle group of the forward trailer or if its a road train the dolly doesn't really exert significant lateral loads on the leading trailer.

Slunnie is on the money (no pun intended ) a road train or b double/triple has the coupling over (or very close to) the rear axle group of the towing vehicle/trailer, it is still going to cut the corner and the longer it is the worse it will be, but that is not your biggest problem you can make that work, everyone is talking about tracking, but pitching is the thing that is going to put you into a road side tree, because the axle is in the middle of the trailer (aprox) and any pitching of the rear trailer will be amplified through the second and so on, it will be a dog on the road.

Peter.

[SCANAS]

Don't like you chances .... Road trains can't be driven in the city so if you somehow managed to do it you would have to do what they do pick up one trailer at a time and take it out of the city limits and come back for the next then hook them up.

[ISUZUROVER]

i think he might mean motorbikes!

Ahh - I did wonder why a trailer full of bicycles would be 1.4t loaded.

Why not build something along these lines?


(though I wonder about the ball weight of that one...)

[FKT08]

Ahh - I did wonder why a trailer full of bicycles would be 1.4t loaded.

Why not build something along these lines?

He said he has 5 bike not 1 quad
Have you read the thread at all

[pongo]

i remember seeing my old man at harvest time towing a couple of field bins , pto header, trailer with ag bike on and a furphy water cart down the farm roads to the furtherest non adjoining paddocks . What a sight it was

I guess it could be done, and see some method to your madness, but id definatly would not be putting my kids life on the line with that sort of setup.

But as said, you'd most prob be over GCM anyway( what is the GCM of a large 4x4 anyway) .

And IF you/It can be done, I want to be there to try and watch you back it into a driveway on a normal suburban st. I'll bet you a carton and by the time you get done it'd be drunk gone anyway. AS you know, the shorter the drawbar and trailer, the harder it is to back.

[ISUZUROVER]

Ahh - I did wonder why a trailer full of bicycles would be 1.4t loaded.

Why not build something along these lines?

He said he has 5 bike not 1 quad
Have you read the thread at all

Did you read my post at all???

I said make something "along these lines" - i.e. to hold 5 bikes instead of 1 quad. Btw - I am sure you could squeeze 5 bikes into not much more space if you tried - depending on if the kids bikes are full size or not.

Tool.

[FKT08]

Yeah sure. I think you would have trouble fitting 5 bikes on a trailer let alone on the drawbar, even if a couple are kids bikes.

[v8zuki]

i have made a trailer like that but when it is fully loaded with bikes up front it is 830kg on the ball [not good]changed the camper to the back and moved axles back and its ok but the camper is a pain to set up,so i sold it.
as for reverse it no probs ever reversed a bdouble or a triple trailer road train i have and i can do it.
i like the point on the axle positioning as the 2nd trailer has to have the right ball weight so it doesnt upsett the front trailers ball weight but that is easy enough to work out
i do understand that it is not everyones idea of the best way but it will work for what i want to do
if i have to i will just have to mod my f350 to tow the camper and put the bikes on the back of it BUT it uses alot of fuel and is not as nice to drive as the cruiser is , the cruiser uses 14l/100km with 3.2t on the towbar
the gcm of the cruiser is 6.5t as far as i know you add the max it can tow with its max gvm[correct me if i am wrong pls] so i dont see any dramas there,the cruisers are easily upgraded to 3.7t gvm all the time.
all i want to know is if any one is familiar with the legislation about light vehicles and towing so i can use that when i go to the transport guys

[phippsy]

I think the biggest hurdle with transport might not be the fact that you are well versed in double & triple operation, but that 90%+ of the general road going population are not and there are too many tards who would think that because it is legal, they can do it.

example, someone I know thought that because his trailer was rated to carry 1T, he could tow it. Realised the error when his trailer drove him down the Monaro Hwy in Canbera.

[fester2au]

I simply think you will find frustratingly that the answer is right there in your initial question and that is as far as you will get in Qld with the transport dept and the police etc. My undertanding is it is illegal no idea why and I think you find most in qld transport will only be able or care to tell you that much end of story. Not much point finding out why as ti will still be illegal even if you know why but good luck anyway.

Or maybe the rules governing who can build trailers to what standard is so lax that they aren't game to introduce a bigger headache to the safety aspect. I've seen some pretty average trailers around the traps let alone then alowing them to be doubled up and operated by joe blow everage public who can't adequately back a box trailer let alone a mini "B" double or combination. Maybe it's a licencing skill thing and the easy way to deal with it like just about anything is to take the simple route and ban them all.

[droopypete]

all i want to know is if any one is familiar with the legislation about light vehicles and towing so i can use that when i go to the transport guys

I have no idea about the legalities of it, but speaking as someone who has driven a 3x single axle, box trailer road train around the streets of Melb I would not like to do it at speed on the open road.

Peter.

[v8zuki]

all i want to know is if any one is familiar with the legislation about light vehicles and towing so i can use that when i go to the transport guys

I have no idea about the legalities of it, but speaking as someone who has driven a 3x single axle, box trailer road train around the streets of Melb I would not like to do it at speed on the open road.

Peter.

i understand that astd box trailer is not set up to tow another that is why heavy trailers are designed like they are.
basicly the axle of the lead trailer has to be in the right spot to get the weights right
we used to do this with the semis we drove different trailers can have different turntable positions so to get the corresct weight on the steer tyres,same principle,also i do understand about the majority of public perception of if he did it why cant ?
but i am still going to try jsut have to understand the reasoning by the letter of the law first then make mods to suit it
i mean if you can build a 500hp hotrod why cant i do this

[eliteforce32]

i cant see why under the transport act....IF you worded it right and built it RIGHT why it could not be classed as a tandem trailer ?

[droopypete]

How about a 5th wheeler toy hauler for the F350, 1 trailer, 1 reg, king of the kids

[doe]

that is what i was about too say 5th wheeler you said you have a f350 that would tow it well. whats your cruiser is it a tray back? if so you could tow it with that. please keep us informed with this i myself are very interested in this. being a boilermaker i have made plenty of trailers including b.double chassis. if you need any help with this other than the transport crap let me no i would like too see you have a win with this. would be a cool set up cheers scott

[bogged]

Goto a cop shop and ask them what they would bust you for if you did it. That will tell you what you need to do.

I cant see it being a good idea.. great get offroad and jackknifes on a muddy track.

[1MadEngineer]

just build a 20ft dog trailer mick! easy to do....