[supermax]

When I was on the lookout for buying what would be my first ever car, a friend of mine sensibly suggested that I should look to buy a car that came with a trailer hitch, as it could come in very handy when one needed to lug stuff that couldn't possibly fit into the boot, even with a collapsed back seat. Fitting one of these trailer hitches to a car that doesn't come with one factory-fitted, can set one back to the tune of anywhere between 8000-15000 SEK (~60000 INR to 115000 INR). This was not an item that was originally on my list at all, let alone high on my list, but when it was pointed out to me, it seemed like a fairly nice thing to keep an eye out for. Fortunately, the car I ended up buying had exactly this; a removable trailer hitch, and I was happy.

Having bought the car, I never really found an opportunity to couple a trailer to the hitch, and neither did I find the time to experiment with a trailer, with a friend who knew his way around these things. Time went by and I decided to even remove the hook entirely, as it was just heavy and made parallel parking even harder. Two years after I'd bought my car, I'd still not even used the trailer hitch once, not even to try it out, but now, I was faced with a real need to bring it into action! My wife had found a really nice but rather large preowned Ikea shelf which came with a lot of extra optional upgrades which cost a lot more if bought new. It seemed to be in fantastic shape, but for those of you know don't know Ikea furniture, they are super nice as they come in nice easy to transport packages and they are assembled inside your own house. However, the drawback with Ikea furniture is that they are only ever expected to be dismantled for scrapping; if you dismantle it, it loses its structural integrity. The assembly is pretty much a one-time and one-time thing only. There are obviously a few plastic chairs etc which are exceptions to this rule, but this shelf was certainly not one of those exceptions. This meant that it had to be brought in as it stood, and there was no way I could cram this monstrous 147cm x 147 cm shelf into the otherwise cavernous boot on my Octavia Estate. The only way this could be brought home, was in a large trailer.

I told my wife that she could tell the seller that we were interested to buy it, but couldn't pick it up for another week, as I needed at least one day to practice driving around with a hitched trailer before I could muster up the courage to do a drive on the motorway. An advance was paid to the seller, and I started looking around for options to rent a trailer.

Freetrailer.com

I checked out a couple of gas stations which rent out cars and trailers, and saw that trailer rentals were not quite as cheap as I'd thought they'd be! After some more searching around though, I came across a service called freetrailer.com, which has a rather interesting business model. Freetrailer ties up with businesses in the Nordics that offer its customers a free trailer, if they purchase large and hard to transport items. Electronic giants such as El Giganten, sporting goods stores like XXL, furniture stores like Ikea and Mio do exactly this, but these are available only to their own customers. What freetrailer.com does, is to match people looking to borrow a trailer to one of these trailers which lie unused for most of the time. Freetrailer charges a small optional booking fee that guarantees an available trailer for you when you need it, instead of hoping that one might be free. They also have a tie up with an insurance firm that allows you to purchase a small policy that gives you zero liability in the event of any damage to the trailer during your use, a rather convenient thing to have, when the self risk amount is rather large, when borrowing a trailer. What's the benefit to the stores which own these trailers? Freetrailer takes care of the maintenance of these trailers. If there's anything amiss with a trailer, users who borrow it report it, and freetrailer promptly fix it before somebody else borrows it again. The big box stores save big money on maintenance and upkeep of these trailers, end users get access to great trailers for an extremely nominal fee, and freetrailer makes money with their booking fees and insurance commissions, pretty much a case-study for win-win.

First experience of hitching a trailer

After watching a few videos of hitching a trailer to a car, I checked my car's registration certificate, to be aware of what I was allowed to draw and what not. My B licence allows me to drive a car, a light truck, or a car with a light trailer, a light trailer being something that weighs 750 kg or lower, including the max payload. My car's registration certificate showed me that the car was only rated to draw a trailer with a max weight of 630 kg. I found out from freetrailer that the trailer I was looking to borrow had a service weight of 360 kg, meant that the maximum weight I could load onto this trailer was 270 kg. The weight of the shelf I needed to transport was just a shade over 50 kg, so this was not going to be any problem.

Next up was figuring out how to actually hitch the trailer to my car. My car has a 13-point cable socket for the brake lights and indicators that needs to be pulled out before use. Unlock the bluetooth lock on the trailer from the app, when in range of the trailer, connect the trailer's power cord to the car's cable outlet, hitch the trailer, raise the support wheel so it doesn't accidentally scrape the ground, release the handbrake, connect the emergency runaway protection wire to the hitch's eye, and we were in business. After performing the checks to ensure that the brake lights and indicator lights on the trailer lit up when I used the brakes and the indicators from the car, I was good to go.

Driving with a coupled trailer isn't so hard, once you get used to the completely blocked view from the inside rearview mirror; you may have to adjust your ORVMs slightly to ensure that you have a good idea of what's happening behind you, since you no longer can see through your back window. Once this is done, the hardest challenge is reversing in a straight line, with the hitched trailer. While reversing, the rear end of your car moves n the same direction as your steering input, but the hitched trailer goes in the opposite direction! For example, if you steer to the right while reversing, the tail of your car goes right while the front of the car as well as the hitched trailer move leftwards. If this seems too hard to mentally work out, the easy thing to do is see in the mirror which side the trailer is tilting towards, and steer in that direction. If the trailer is too far to the left, steer left; this causes the rear of your car to go left, and pushes the trailer to the right, but you need to quickly turn the other way around to straighten out the car, else the trailer will quickly start to tilt the other way. For close to an hour, I practiced backing with the trailer, just so that I'd learn to intuitively make the minor corrections. The learning curve feels steep, but one learns very fast. You go from being completely clueless and unable to back even a few feet without losing situational awareness and control over the trailer, to backing well enough to reverse the car and trailer next to or around other parked vehicles. The next big challenge was to learn to back around a corner, a critically important maneuver that allows one to turn around with a hitched trailer, should the need arise. This too took a while to learn to do without jack-knifing the trailer, a situation where the back of the car is far too much to the left while the trailer is locked in a position that's far too much to the right (or vice-versa).

Once I was satisfied that I could now both back and turn with a trailer to an acceptable level, I did a quick trip down to the motorway, to get a feel for driving on the motorway. The maximum allowed speed for a car with a hitched trailer is 80 km/h, and this was the first time I was driving at 80 km/h on a 110 km/h road, and it felt both a bit odd and a bit creepy at first, as even trucks drive at 90 km/h and every one of them pass you. Till then, my only experience had been passing trucks at speed, without ever having experienced being passed by a truck, but the brief time I spent on the motorway till I got to the next exit, I'd already been passed by a large number of cars, and a fair number of trucks. With a hitched trailer, another thing to watch out for is vehicles entering the motorway from the slip road; generally, most of them are much faster anyway, and would easily outpace you, but on one occasion, I saw another car with a hitched trailer entering and since my speed was too less to safely go onto the passing lane, the only safe option for me was to tap the brakes slightly to scrub off some more speed so there was a safe separation to the trailer ahead of me. Almost nobody ever slots directly behind you, as they know your rear view is compromised, and besides, who'd want to drive so slowly for no reason, but I kept a watchful eye on the external rear view mirrors, all of which would serve me well when I made my actual run to get home the shelf.

Loading the trailer/load distribution

It's critically important to balance the load within the trailer correctly, so you have a proper load distribution.



Picture courtesy: korkortonline.se

It's also very important to secure the load firmly. Using a ratchet strap is an excellent and extremely easy way to ensure that your load is tied down really securely, so it doesn't move under transportation. Here's a short video showing how to use a ratchet strap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49kkCpMTjpQ

Pictures, or it didn't happen!

My first close look at a trailer I could borrow!





The listing of dimensions and weight of the covered trailer.



A look at the rather enormous storage offered by this covered trailer.



Drove from Ikea to the Eko mall, just a couple of kilometers away, where I practiced some more maneuvers in their large parking lot.



The trailer returned to the same station and parking bay where it was originally borrowed from.



Was able to drive the trailer right inside my basement parking



Mission accomplished: The secured load makes it home safe and sound!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Rajain]

Interesting.

The closest in India we come to is a SUV (Willys or Jeep or more recently Mahindra) trailer. These are mostly short distance and have less carriage weight (I think no more than 750 kgs). I have used a trailer in my village behind a Mahindra and it was for a short distance. One needs to get used to the distance, space, vision, dimensions, braking etc. Even more careful while reversing. But once one is used to that extra thing, it is nice to have a capability and a capacity to be able to tow, bring material, take lumber or cart personal effects.

Awesome and thank you for sharing.

Cheers
Rajain

[Jeroen]

Excellent write up. Good to see how thoroughly you went about your first trailer experience. I am not sure for Sweden but in most European countries there are two type of trailer you can use with a B driver license. The difference being whether the trailer has brakes or not. No brakes is usually 750 kg, with brakes it could be several thousands of kilograms, but that depends on your car.

The car registration paper should show both categories and the respective weights.

As you found it these weights do include the weight of the trailer too!

If you have never driven a car trailer combination it does make sense to practice a bit and do some reading up, or indeed watch YouTube. It is not difficult, but it does take a bit of practice and that is before you start reversing. Those relatively non brake short trailers are more difficult to reverse than the long braked version.

I actually quite enjoy driving with a trailer. I think it’s good fun and very relaxing. Because your speed is less and you just have to take things a bit slower.

Here in the Netherlands many DIY places will offer you a small trailer for free or for very little money. Many councils offer them for free too, for taking your garden rubbish and so to the council tip.
Jeroen

[Redex]

Hi,
You should consider raising the "jockey" wheel assembly at the front, as high as possible in the "A" frame behind the tow hitch, avoid fouling the brake mechanism if fitted. Wind the wheel all the way up, loosen the side clamp, and pull the "leg" up as high as it goes. Turn the jockey wheel so it clears the "A" frame. That should prevent it from grounding out on speed humps etc.
Also take care that the wiring loom does not tangle or drag on the road, unless it is wireless Bluetooth.
The trailer hitch should have a "nose" weight of between 5 and 7% of the trailers actual gross laden weight to ensure optimum stability. Sometimes the recommended nose weight can be found in the car user manual. To measure the trailer nose weight just place the the tow socket on some bathroom scales using blocks or a pole to keep the trailer level.
In your example the total trailer weight including shelves is probably about 400kgs, that would give a nose weight of approximately 20 to 25kg.
Allow additional braking distance especially with an "non braked" trailer.
Regards Neil

[supermax]

Originally Posted by Rajain

Interesting.

But once one is used to that extra thing, it is nice to have a capability and a capacity to be able to tow, bring material, take lumber or cart personal effects.

Glad you liked the post. Yes, here in Sweden, almost one in every three or four non-hatchback car would have the trailer hitch installed. I've seen it on the odd hatch also, but it's way more common on estates and SUVs. Unlike in India, cost of labor is extremely expensive, and people don't mind doing their own work, lugging their own purchases home and the like.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Excellent write up. Good to see how thoroughly you went about your first trailer experience. I am not sure for Sweden but in most European countries there are two type of trailer you can use with a B driver license. The difference being whether the trailer has brakes or not. No brakes is usually 750 kg, with brakes it could be several thousands of kilograms, but that depends on your car.

Thanks very much! I love reading your posts, and I was fairly sure you'd have extensive experience with trailers. The braked trailers are less common and I guess cost more to rent. The most commonly found ones at most places are these unbraked ones. My car's registration papers indicate that the combined gross weight of car and trailer is 3138 kg, which means that if the trailer is equipped with brakes, I can draw upto 1300 kg, but without brakes, I'm limited to 630 kg (both values include weight of trailer). My car has a rather small 1L turbo petrol engine, so the more powerful cars like a Volvo V60 ought to be able to clear much more. Jeroen, do you know how they calculate the maximum weight allowed for a non-braked trailer? Is this value a percentage of the car's gross weight or something else?
I guess Sweden is quite similar to Netherlands, or maybe all EU countries have a lot in common. Here too, we have the big furniture and other car and technique places offering trailers for very little or no extra charges to their customers. Many large apartment associations and companies that own multiple residential properties often have trailers that are free for use by their customers. Freetrailer taps into all of these sources and makes these trailers available to the general public. The hire itself is fully free, if one chooses not to take the insurance or if one doesn't want to prebook with the app.

Originally Posted by Redex

Hi,

The trailer hitch should have a "nose" weight of between 5 and 7% of the trailers actual gross laden weight to ensure optimum stability. Sometimes the recommended nose weight can be found in the car user manual. To measure the trailer nose weight just place the the tow socket on some bathroom scales using blocks or a pole to keep the trailer level.
In your example the total trailer weight including shelves is probably about 400kgs, that would give a nose weight of approximately 20 to 25kg.
Allow additional braking distance especially with an "non braked" trailer.
Regards Neil

Thanks for that informative response! Yes, I learned to correctly pull up the jockey wheel all the way up, and did indeed do so when I went to fetch the shelf later (its lower here in the picture). Not familiar with the nose weight concept though. The only thing I was aware of was the ball pressure, which is measured at the jockey wheel. According to Skoda, the maximum ball pressure shouldn't exceed 80 kg.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Rajain

Interesting.

The closest in India we come to is a SUV (Willys or Jeep or more recently Mahindra) trailer. These are mostly short distance and have less carriage weight (I think no more than 750 kgs). I have used a trailer in my village behind a Mahindra and it was for a short distance. One needs to get used to the distance, space, vision, dimensions, braking etc. Even more careful while reversing. But once one is used to that extra thing, it is nice to have a capability and a capacity to be able to tow, bring material, take lumber or cart personal effects.

Awesome and thank you for sharing.

Cheers
Rajain

These trailers were widely used in the plantation districts. This was a rare sighting in Bangalore a month ago.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by supermax

Jeroen, do you know how they calculate the maximum weight allowed for a non-braked trailer? Is this value a percentage of the car's gross weight or something else?

As far as I know, the maximum weight is determined by the manufacturer. They look at several parameters, engine power, torque, vehicle weight and several test.

One of the practical tests is that the car and trailer, whilst at a 12 per cent incline should be able to come to a full stop and pull away again, five times in under five minutes. It should also have sufficient holding power on its handbrake and have sufficient power and reserve to move away smoothly without causing any damage to the clutch and or other components.

These sorts of test and design parameters are all part of the (EU) certification. So they tend to check what the manufacturer recommends and how that number was obtained.

It might be somewhat different for different countries/regions. My Jeep Cherokee does not have any weight mentioned on its car registratioTo to get those added, I would have to get it tested and certified by the RDW (Dutch Road Authorities) who would run thesortsort of tests on it!

I believe we have some members on the forum, who might have some further and more detailed insights into car certification processes.

Jeroen

[Abhi99]

Thanks for sharing, reminds of my first experience with towing. Few months back - after I got my motorcycle license, I found a great deal on a motorcycle I was looking for - some 500 miles out. after a lot of deliberation - I decided to go ahead with it and tow it back ( Getting back to motorcycling after 18 years , wanted to take it slow. Since I was crossing 3 states, checking the rules for towing, license requirements etc and not finding any red flags, I decided to pull the trigger.

Uhaul is a great place to rent such equipment and cheap too (as long as you are renting one way). To save some money - I rented a motorcycle trailer for 2 days (instead of one), but picked it and returned locally.

Experience - Figuring out how to back up was the hardest part, fortunately for me - my truck has a feature that calibrates for the trailer and assists to back up. With little practice, I had enough confidence to go ahead. Overall - since I was hardly towing 1800-2000 pounds, I did not feel much weight - but had to get used to of the overall length. All in all - it was a unique experience - I quite enjoyed it and saved money on the motorcycle in the process.

[AVIS]

Weight distribution in the trailer is critical for safety - at least 60% needs to be in front of the trailer wheels. Here's a link to a video made by U-Haul highlighting this -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mW_gzdh6to

[Jekyl87]

Very interesting writeup, thanks for sharing. We forget the convenience of cheap labor in India (although built on the backbone of the poor) and this serves as a reminder to it.

[Redex]

Hi,
"nose weight" and "ball pressure" are the same. Just different terminology from another country.
Regards Neil

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by AVIS

Weight distribution in the trailer is critical for safety - at least 60% needs to be in front of the trailer wheels. Here's a link to a video made by U-Haul highlighting this -
]

What is relevant is the actual ball pressure. Here in the Netherlands we have million of caravans. When the summer vacation is due all these caravans are picked up from wherever they are kept. People load up and head south. The Dutch police does regular checks about the technical state and loading of these caravans.

The rule of thumb is that the ball pressure ideally is around 4% of the max weight of the trailer. So on these unbraked trailers with a total max weight is 4% of 750 = 30 kg

A decent way to measure is to put the jockey wheel on a scale. That is what some people do at home. The police have a special “scale on a pole” that fits into the hitch coupling.

In the EU the hitch itself has an EU approval and will be fitted with a certification tag plate. It will mention the maximum ball pressure for different trailer types.

DIY ball pressure measurement



Dedicated ball pressure measuring device



EU hitch certified tag plate

[Shubhendra]

Originally Posted by Rajain

Interesting.

The closest in India we come to is a SUV (Willys or Jeep or more recently Mahindra) trailer. These are mostly short distance and have less carriage weight (I think no more than 750 kgs).

Initial trailers in India were Bantam trailers followed by Mahindra Owen (a Mahindra company used to manufacture Jeep trailers).
In 1970-1990 trailers were very common because of many people had Jeeps and these trailers were just extension to the jeeps.
I still find them very very useful and have been using different type of trailers for my needs. Many of my friends including me have been using these trailers for long distances ~2300 kms and we drive more than ~ 1200 kms every day.
Although it's not that easy to drive on Indian roads considering the road conditions, random speed breakers and traffic conditions. But once you get the hang of it, you can comfortably drive at your normal speed.

Below is the snaps from the few road trips I have taken with different trailers.













Some of these trailers are owned by friends.I have just 2 trailers currently and would like to enhance my collection to 2 more type of trailers (small water tanker and flexi-folding type for camping)

[supermax]

Originally Posted by Abhi99

Thanks for sharing, reminds of my first experience with towing. Few months back - after I got my motorcycle license, I found a great deal on a motorcycle I was looking for - some 500 miles out. after a lot of deliberation - I decided to go ahead with it and tow it back ( Getting back to motorcycling after 18 years , wanted to take it slow. Since I was crossing 3 states, checking the rules for towing, license requirements etc and not finding any red flags, I decided to pull the trigger.

Uhaul is a great place to rent such equipment and cheap too (as long as you are renting one way). To save some money - I rented a motorcycle trailer for 2 days (instead of one), but picked it and returned locally.

Lovely pictures, and glad that you got a sweet deal on the bike too!

Originally Posted by Shubhendra

Initial trailers in India were Bantam trailers followed by Mahindra Owen (a Mahindra company used to manufacture Jeep trailers).
In 1970-1990 trailers were very common because of many people had Jeeps and these trailers were just extension to the jeeps.
I still find them very very useful and have been using different type of trailers for my needs. Many of my friends including me have been using these trailers for long distances ~2300 kms and we drive more than ~ 1200 kms every day.
Although it's not that easy to drive on Indian roads considering the road conditions, random speed breakers and traffic conditions. But once you get the hang of it, you can comfortably drive at your normal speed.

Some of these trailers are owned by friends.I have just 2 trailers currently and would like to enhance my collection to 2 more type of trailers (small water tanker and flexi-folding type for camping)

Wow! You seem to be quite the trailer aficionado! Lovely pictures! Normal speeds are a relative thing though. Here, it's totally illegal to drive 'normal speeds' on a motorway, which is 110/120 km/h. With a coupled trailer, the limit is maximum 80 km/h.