What is A-frame towing? It’s a way of transporting your car, with all 4 wheels on the ground as an alternative to using a transporter trailer. Effectively, you add an ‘A’ shaped drawbar frame to the front of the vehicle, via a permanently mounted base plate, replicating a trailer.
The car with A-frame attached is variously referred to as a ‘towed vehicle’, a ‘TOAD’, ‘flat towing’ and in the USA even ‘dinghy towing’.
A good percentage of Motorhome owners like the idea, and convenience, of being able to take their ‘city car’ with them, so what’s the best way to go about it?
The A-frame itself is not usually vehicle specific. It can, theoretically, be swapped between vehicles however, as no small car on the U.K. market is designed to be ‘flat towed’, all will require some modification to attach the A-frame. This may be a modification of the crash protection beam to add a 2nd towing eye or, in many cases, removing the crash protection beam altogether to facilitate the addition of a vehicle specific base plate or mounting plate. Some of these are unsightly and can have dangerous projections. It needs to be said that a fabrication such as illustrated, WILL affect the crumple zones and possibly airbag deployment in the event of an accident.... It’s also necessary to add an additional wiring loom to operate the required road lights including, since 2012, reversing light(s). Currently in the U.K. , an A-framed towed car is treated as a trailer and has to comply with all the relevant trailer legislation (more on that later!). Using a trailer lighting board is NOT legal!
Before you take the plunge, you need to check:
1. firstly, your driving licence entitlements. You MUST have sufficient entitlement to drive an M1 class vehicle (passenger car) PLUS a braked trailer equivalent to your Toad's MGW. Usually, that would be category B+E on your licence. If the Motorhome exceeds 3,500kgs MGW, you would need category C1+E.
NOTE: Driving licence categories are based on PLATED vehicle weights, not the ACTUAL weight at any given time.
2. secondly, your Motorhome MUST have the available towing capacity to handle the extra load of a braked trailer. This can be checked on the Motorhome VIN plate (see my blog at https://spinner28.wixsite.com/tonys-towing-trivia/post/weights-vin-plates
3. Is your car suitable to be ‘flat-towed’? If your car is an automatic, 4x4, or has a limited slip diff it’s unlikely to be suitable. There is risk of damaging the transmission. Most semi-automatics are also unsuitable (check with VEHICLE manufacturers, not the A-frame supplier). All fully electric cars are unsuitable as are most hybrids (damage to electric motors) check with VEHICLE manufacturer not the A-frame supplier.
OKAY! so you think you’re good to go? As a ‘towed car’ is classed as a trailer and all cars have brakes fitted, it falls into the trailer category ‘02’. Essentially, with all trailers fitted with brakes, they have to work on all wheels, be fully operational and comply with trailer legislation. It is totally illegal to use an unbraked A-frame, or a ‘Car Dolly’ for transportation. They are limited to recovery operations.
There are a number of A-frame suppliers in the U.K. but essentially their product falls into one of two categories. Traditional, inertia (overrun) couplings, designed for trailers, have been used on A-frames since the 1980s and still are but, more recently, there has been a significant increase in alternative, electronic braked systems. So which to choose? Do your research! While I have a list of A-frame suppliers/manufacturers in the U.K. I’m not here to promote one over another so I’ll refrain from mentioning any. Before deciding WHO to choose, decide which system might suit you best. The obvious considerations are: Budget, Convenience, Weight, Storage/handle-ability, Ease of use and Braking system but you may well have your own, or even different, priorities.
OPTION 1 is the traditional inertia(overrun) braked system. If you are familiar with caravans or braked trailers, you should already know how to use them.
By their nature, they are heavy and bulky. Typically 20kgs+, up to 30kgs if including a jockey wheel!
They rely on a Bowden cable from a brake pivot on the coupling at one end, while the other end fits to the existing ‘dead’ (no servo assist) brake pedal of the car. The Bowden cable requires a quick release fitting to allow the A-frame to be detached.
Regular maintenance is essential to ensure continued smooth operation. The biggest risk is damage or wear to the Bowden Cable (and possible incorrect adjustment) causing significant brake drag and overheating.
Auto-reverse, inertia braked couplings are fundamentally incompatible with standard car brakes and therefore, cannot be auto-reversed. They also fall outside rhe UNECE regulation 13 which only allows them on centre axle trailers.
On the plus side, this option usually has a significant cost advantage over option 2.
OPTION 2 is a lightweight unbraked frame coupled with an electronic activated braking system. They still operate on the brake pedal but this can be power or servo assisted. They can also be auto-reversed.
Typically weighing only 8, 9 or 10kgs, they are easier to handle and store, usually folding up to fit quite neatly in the boot of the towed car when not in use.
As braking is activated electronically, there is little user intervention required but initial installation can be technical. The A-frame itself may require less maintenance yet, as with both options, regular inspections of the attachment points to the car should be carried out.
The down side of these options is cost, often being more expensive than a transporter trailer.
Unlike with inertia couplings, there is no mechanical parking brake in the event of an emergency breakaway.
Braking effect is dependent on an adequate 12volt supply and some systems draw up to 10.8amps. Once the battery depletes, there is no braking!
DRIVING. The A-frame needs to be correctly fitted to the towbar of the towing vehicle, including the attachment of either a breakaway cable or a secondary coupling. (Another blog? 🤔) and the towing electrics connected. Once set up, the towed car then needs to be set in neutral, the handbrake fully off and the ignition key set to the ‘aux’ position ensuring the steering lock isn’t on. Some installers recommend pumping the footbrake several times to depressurise the braking system. Going forwards is pretty straightforward (though remember when cornering, the car will track inside the path of the towing vehicle). A few vehicles can suffer ‘wheel shimmy’ or the ‘death wobble’ as some call it.... BE AWARE!.
It’s a requirement of trailer regs that the outfit has to be reversible without the driver (or anyone else) intervening, that is, auto-reversing. The fact is though that reversing a ‘TOAD’ is significantly more challenging than reversing a trailer. This is due to the steering geometry of the car which has a tendency to react more like a supermarket trolley when in reverse! Due to the castor effect, considerable damage can be done to steering, suspension and tyres if you persist. Inertia/overrun couplings are also incompatible with non-autoreverse car brakes. My advice, if you need to reverse, is to simply uncouple the two, reverse independently and then recouple.
OTHER OPTIONS?
You do not have to A-frame! A trailer may be easier and can be used for other things (provided you can store it). You can abandon the towing idea altogether and hire a car at your destination (may be more cost effective if only using occasionally) or you can cut costs dramatically with local transport and/or keep fit on ‘shank’s pony’ or a pushbike!
LEGALITY…
The legal position of A-framing is contentious, to say the least. In the UK., the view of the DfT is that an A-framed towed car should be treated as a trailer and comply with trailer regs, however, they also say "the A-frame itself is neither a vehicle nor a trailer, and is therefore outside the scope of type approval." yet on the same DfT advice page, they say all trailers need to be type approved! https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-frames-and-dollies/a-frames-and-dollies
Confusion reigns and the result is that A-framing is tolerated. unfortunately, it also means that without any controls, ANYONE can manufacture and fit their own A-frame.
Europe is a different story altogether. While France currently tends to ignore UK plated Motorhomes with A-Frames, they are illegal in French Law. Spain and Germany take a rather more stern view and UK users have been stopped and issued with fines. It's a popular misconception that if a 'vehicle' is accepted on UK roads it has to be accepted on European roads. NOT SO!
There are literally, reams of pages of legislation encompassing UK Construction & Use regulations, EU regulations and UNECE regulations. I shall, hopefully cover this topic in more detail in a future blog.
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