Unbraked and Braked Trailer? - 600-700kg tow

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lambic

lambic

Well-Known Member
I have absolutely zero towing experience and knowledge

I would appreciate some advice from someone who has towed relatively light loads on hilly, country roads.

If the total tow load is 600-700kg, is it sensible to get a braked trailer or a waste of money? The girlfriend nagging me that it must be safer to get braked because we live on a valley slope.

I understand the brakes on smaller trailers are based on mechanical linkages between car and trailer? How effective are these mechanism if you are under 750kg?

If the ***** hit the fan, do the brakes make any difference anyway? (given they are pretty basic)


Towing Vehicle: Subaru Forester (maximum towing capacity 2000kg)

Trailer choice P7/8 unbraked or Q 7/8 braked

Cheers
 
lambic,
I am no expert on trailers but have used both unbraked and braked. I was towing a chipper unit unbraked and had the sense to test my braking ability quite a bit before a red light ...ended up using up ALL the distance just to stop. Just felt like I was being pushed by what I was towing and I wasnt driving that fast. I was using a Chevy 1500 pick up truck. Using the same truck I towed quite a heavy load of re-bar on a braked trailer and I would say it was well worth it, much safer and it keeps everything under control. As you brake the trailer compresses a unit on the tow bar this activates the brakes for the trailer. The harder you brake the more force is applied to the unit and the brakes. To me its a no brainer.
 
Owned both types of trailer, any many others, id say the brakes do make a difference, and yes they do put a fair amount of drag on the towing vehicle, as long as they are looked after, and adjusted regular,(GD84/85 single axle) i personally think all the P series trailers should have brakes! ive got an unbraked 8x4 paxton at the moment and tow it with a hilux, and yes it can put a bit of a shove on the vehicle on some slopes and corners when fully laden.

However the GD trailers that are braked tend to be twice as heavy, therefore you tend to burn more diesel! the biggest problem with any trailer is people dont match the towbar height to the trailer, and most people tend not to balance or overload the trailer! also most tend to forget they even have a trailer on! i think youl be fine with an unbraked trailer, if you adjust your driving style, or if its really hilly go with the braked, especially if your cars an Auto.

Good Luck
 
Your Subaru should comfortably handle an un-braked 750kg trailer. Sometimes a brake is useful if you unhitch on a slope but you have the added weight and maintenance of a braked trailer.
 
Hell has frozen over and pigs are flying, she has actually made a sensible suggestion.

Thanks for the advice. I will go for braked. Especially since the Forester has got CVT
 
Only just saw your post Deermanagement. Trailer would be unhitched on my drive which does have a fair slope on it. But would that need a handbrake?
 
I'm selling a braked trailer soon. But might be a bit of a drive for you. :-D. I too would recommend a braked trailer. I'm just rebuilding one at the moment and going to send it to a nice man to sort out the brakes.
but I do tow heavier loads.
 
I push my trailer and quad up a very gentle slope for a few yards and obviously roll it forward when it's taken back out. If the trailer is loaded with a quad for instance it takes a bit of stopping and if it had to be hitched or unhitched on a slope any number of times then I'd probably go for the extra hassle of a braked trailer.
 
The Singing Stalker said:
I'm selling a braked trailer soon. But might be a bit of a drive for you. :-D. I too would recommend a braked trailer. I'm just rebuilding one at the moment and going to send it to a nice man to sort out the brakes.
but I do tow heavier loads.
Click to expand...
You are probably right, driving 700 miles with a trailer as a novice might not be a good idea.
 
It is the other road users I fear for...

Don't suppose you are heading north at any point in next 3 months?
 
Any suggestions on light(ish), single axle, braked trailers I should shortlist ? Apart from Q7 /Q8
 
Horses for courses, to be honest hard to say with out knowing exactly wot ur doing with it and ur drive etc.
Someone made a good point about wheeling a loaded trailer about they can take some stopping at times without hand brake.
I ised to could push my trailer up a very slight incline even when it had 1T of wheat on when it was well balanced.

If u drive sensibly and have the trailer evenly loaded u'd be fine without brakes. But even just with a quad on its surprising how u can feel them push on at times (that was esp with the jimny puling a quad)

Depends on the miles u do with a trailer but in past we had a lot of bother with unbraked trailers scrubbing tyres due to the indespension units, the trailers were always ran just with a quad on them so not empty but used to seriously scrub tyres, think we went throu 3-4 pairs each on 3 different trailers in a year before they gave us our money back.

I also wouldn't worry about driving 700 miles, towing on a motorway is a doodle, its on small country roads that u'll have more issues when u have to brake if u meet a car and meeting them on corners etc, if doing a lot of miles on narrow coutry roads a braked trailer does help
 
I operate ten hgv's & run nine 3,500kg trailers. All simply run on standard over run braking systems. They are certainly a requirement for my use, and I'd say helpful when used with lighter weight trailers as long as the brake system can be locked off for reversing purposes. If not locked off at that time, they will be applied should you reverse.
My view is better to have them than not.
 
The reason for buying the trailer is to drive 15 miles on decent country roads, mainly A roads, with a trailer and quad. Then the same drive back plus a couple of carcasses. All country roads - sometimes would not see another car during whole journey. Car is a Subaru Forester, towing capacity is alledgedly 2000kg, but would not want to try it because it has a CVT transmission and no engine braking.

Steepest part of journey is my drive. Which I would need to reverse into on way back, reversing downhill.



Trailer would either be kept on a fairly steep gravel drive or pushed 50m down the lawn behind the chickens. The quad would be driven off the trailer once I reversed onto my drive and parking in a shed.

If I push the empty trailer down the bottom the garden that's going to be hard work, knacker the lawn and mean I have take some fence panels off. But no chance of theft. But heavier braked trailer makes this task harder.

If I keep on my drive then it makes life much easier and makes the decision to get a braked trailer easy
Question is, are there any anti theft measures which are effective?

Crime is very low, so definitely a low risk area.








 
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Meant to add to my post reversing with a braked trailer uphill can be a real pain.

Do u still get things for locking the brakes off?
Pretty sure my ifor hasn't got anything but mibee that ram behind hitch is meant to stop the need for it? Can remember seeing it on older trailers/horse boxes


Just seen ur post, are u meaning to push the trailer about with the quad still on it?
U will/may find it hard to maneovere a trailer even with just a quad on it on gravel even on the level, any slight soft bit of hollow seems to attract the wheels or jockey. Dealling with it on a slope loaded will be a pain no matter wot trailer u get

Also size wise i'd go for a 8x4 trailer as a bare miniumum for a quad, most quads are now almost 4ft wide and nothing worse than catchig the sides when loading/unloading and ripping the quad body. And i know the ifor 6ft trailer cant shut the back door with a quad on without welding longer door bolts.
My next quad trailer will be an 8x5 (or idealy an 8ft 6") as about the biggest single axle trailer u can get, but even at 8ft long only really 18" of space at front of trailer
 
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I would not expect to have to do any uphill reversing with the trailer.

Would be moving the trailer around in empty conditon on the gravel / lawn, once I had driven the quad off.

Would probably do the planned journey 30 times a year. Trailer would maybe used for light domestic use a couple of times a year other than that.
 
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Countryboy. See what you are saying about wider trailers. I was looking at the width of the Honda quads comparing them to the trailers and there is no spare space. I don't own a quad yet and was going to look at narrower quads like Yamaha due to the lack of clearance with the Honda


Are the 8x5 trailers braked? They must be a fair bit heavier.

Still got the anti theft issue to deal with. What do you reckon about wheel locks etc?
 
My bit.
I tow an 8x4 single axle unbraked trailer with a weight (trailer and load) of 647kg 700 miles round trip. I would not worry about getting a braked trailer.
From you post your forester will be more than fine. Dont worry about it, hitch up drive off.
 
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