Freelander TD4 Towing

Skeeder

New Member
Oct 22, 2007
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Hi I am wondering whether any of you guys out there have towed with one of these and how you find it.
I have the TD4 and I'm thinking of taking my horse on a kelly marks course.
Now I wouldn't tow every week just every now and then so I was wondering whether my Freelander would be ok?
:)
Neddy is 16hh he weighs about 600kgs hope I looked at the weigh tape right but he isn't a heavy weight and it would just be him I would tow.
;)
 
You'll be fine. The Freelander isn't ideal (it has a rubbish weight) but go steadily and you'll be ok with one horse and the trailer.

What trailer is it ? 600kg sounds a lot for a not-very HW 16hh.. Although even if he is 600kg and your trailer is around 1000kg (IW505 size) you'll be ok.. Freelander can cope with 1800kgs.

I used to freak out at the thought of towing with anything less than a Disco (3500kg) but now I'm more relaxed.. I moved to Ireland and regularly see IW510's with 2 big horses on being towed by Passats (and the odd Golf!) .. another popular towing vehicle here is a Ford Connect Van :rolleyes: .. I reckon any 4WD with more than 1200kgs on it is fine at this stage..

I tow 2 + IW505 with my Cherokee (2700kgs) .. it's fine.
 
You'll be fine. The Freelander isn't ideal (it has a rubbish weight) but go steadily and you'll be ok with one horse and the trailer.

What trailer is it ? 600kg sounds a lot for a not-very HW 16hh.. Although even if he is 600kg and your trailer is around 1000kg (IW505 size) you'll be ok.. Freelander can cope with 1800kgs.

I used to freak out at the thought of towing with anything less than a Disco (3500kg) but now I'm more relaxed.. I moved to Ireland and regularly see IW510's with 2 big horses on being towed by Passats (and the odd Golf!) .. another popular towing vehicle here is a Ford Connect Van :rolleyes: .. I reckon any 4WD with more than 1200kgs on it is fine at this stage..

I tow 2 + IW505 with my Cherokee (2700kgs) .. it's fine.

Hi Thanks for your reply I will only be towing once in a blue moon not every week it would be a friends Ifor williams not sure which type but it isn't a huge trailer and it would only be my boy he is an Andalusian but he isn't the chunky type quite fine as they go really.
My dream trailer would be a show treka but I believe I would probs need a disco for one of those as I was told the trailer is heavy on its own.
Even though my licence lets me tow I think I might do towing test thingy as I have never towed before!:eek:
 
Unfortunately BIrish its not so easy in the UK. Actual weight of horse adn trailer does not come into it, it is the plated max weight that is considered. I think the only trailers that can legally be towed by a Freelander are Singles or extralightweights.
 
I have a Mini Cooper S as well maybe I should tie them together get my OH to drive the landy and me in the mini now theres an idea dont worry only joking ha ha:D
 
Free lander can tow max 1800kgs. If your trailer is plated to this then your freelander can tow it.

A 505 for instance is 905kgs plus 600kgs of horse makes 1595kgs which means with plated trailer you will be legal :)

I tow Kia with it in my 505 and it copes absolutely fine. Even pulled him out of muddy boggy field without a prob :)

Nikki xxxx
 
Unfortunately BIrish its not so easy in the UK. Actual weight of horse adn trailer does not come into it, it is the plated max weight that is considered. I think the only trailers that can legally be towed by a Freelander are Singles or extralightweights.

The towing laws are more or less the same here :) .. but the police seem to turn a blind eye unless you look particularly unsafe (although how a trailer with 2 big horses being towed by a Golf is ok I don't know) I lived in the UK for 14 years they are much stricter there than here. :)

I am thinking along the same lines as Kia - below. OP would be legal.. but only just. She only has an extra 200kgs before she is at her max.

Free lander can tow max 1800kgs. If your trailer is plated to this then your freelander can tow it.

A 505 for instance is 905kgs plus 600kgs of horse makes 1595kgs which means with plated trailer you will be legal :)

I tow Kia with it in my 505 and it copes absolutely fine. Even pulled him out of muddy boggy field without a prob :)

Nikki xxxx
 
well whatever it is about them i have just been warned to steer clear of freelanders (and other soft off roaders) for towing, which is why i got my disco. anyway, good luck with whatever you do :)
 
No no and no again.

We've pulled an empty trailer behind a freelander and it struggled. Pulling with a horse on board would be far too dangerous. It's not just pulling that you should be concerned about, it's braking.
 
No no and no again.

We've pulled an empty trailer behind a freelander and it struggled. Pulling with a horse on board would be far too dangerous. It's not just pulling that you should be concerned about, it's braking.

Dont know where your coming from wth that statement at all. We regularly towed with it and never had a problem.

Maybe there was a problem with your car in general???

Was fine with one horse, wouldnt recommend two but one was fine:)

Nikki xxxx
 
Unfortunately BIrish its not so easy in the UK. Actual weight of horse adn trailer does not come into it, it is the plated max weight that is considered. I think the only trailers that can legally be towed by a Freelander are Singles or extralightweights.

eml is quite right. if you have, say, an ifor 505 then this trailer will be plated at a max laiden weight of 2600kg. The fact a freelanders max tow weight is 1800kg means you will be towing illegally and invalidating your insurance should you get caught by the police. You can downrate the plate on the trailer to 1800kg or less, hence restricting yourself. But as has been said, freelanders really are pants tow vehicles. I remember someone on a previous towing thread on here warning freelanders shouldn't be towing a caravan let alone a horse trailer.
 
I've looked all this up recently as I wanted to use my OH's freelander (td4 5-door) to tow and i found this info on a towing/caravan website http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity.asp#tab1 (you might have to select land rover and freelander again)

Basically if your TD4 is 5-door, 05 plate or onwards you can legally tow up to 2000kgs however it is strongly recommended that you do not tow more thatn 85% of the vehicle weight - to allow you to stop. That weight is 1394kgs.

An Ifor Williams 505 unladen weight is 905kgs so you need to have a horse which weighs less than 480kgs to be towing safely (and the trailer needs to be downgraded to an MGW plate of under 2000kgs to be legal.)

Whether you're happy to try it is entirely your choice :) If i were you i'd make sure your within the legal limits then try the handling on a dry, no wind day along straight flat roads!
 
I always found that towing an empty trailer made for a worse ride than a laden one. Maybe try towing empty round the block, then half full with straw bales for comparison. If you know how many bales make 600kg (and you can get them all in the trailer!!) then you can do a safe but fair comparison. If you can't find straw, maybe try sand bags etc instead... you get the gist!
 
I have a Y reg (2001) 5 door freelander TD4 it is an automatic and it tows beautifully. I have a IW 505 trailer and my cob weighs about 470 kg and I have on occaisions towed my horse and another weighing about 450kg and it coped fine, we live in a really hilly area as well. I think a lot has to do with how you drive, I used to tow with my OH's manual car and I was rubbish and nearly burnt the clutch out several times :rolleyes: I lost my confidence but
I feel sooo confident with my auto freelander but I do drive very safely and fairly slowly and always allow PLENTY of time for braking.

Incidently my dad used to tow 2 cobs in an IW 505 with his old rover 800 and that coped admirably!!
 
We tow with a Freelander and have no problems, we are towing well below its capacity, I think many problems arrive when you are towing to its limit, like any vehicle.......
 
Think the clarification needed is that its not the trailers unladen weight plus your horses weight that you need to compare. It’s the maximum it can carry and is plated for and has no relation to if you have one horse or two horses on. This maximum needs to be below or equal to the car pulling it. Why de plating is becoming useful for some people
 
Hi I am wondering whether any of you guys out there have towed with one of these and how you find it.
I have the TD4 and I'm thinking of taking my horse on a kelly marks course.
Now I wouldn't tow every week just every now and then so I was wondering whether my Freelander would be ok?
:)
Neddy is 16hh he weighs about 600kgs hope I looked at the weigh tape right but he isn't a heavy weight and it would just be him I would tow.
;)

I take it you have both B&E towing entitlement on your license as this has an influence on what you can tow with the car (according to the Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) rules) ?

Read this link regarding towing but it is fairly confusing :confused:

http://www.johnexley.co.uk/jedtagri.htm
 
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