Solo Tractor Unit

[Panic Button]

If an articulated lorry tractor unit is travelling solo, can it go down a road with a seven and a half ton weight restriction?

[kempie]

Surely that will depend on the tare of the unit.

[Panic Button]

How do I find that out?

[dilligaf]

Try your local weighbridge.

[Panic Button]

Bit hard for the local bobby to tell you that you are breaking a weight restriction then?

[Ethel]

This 6 x 4 unit is 4.4 tonnes and is probably one of the heaviest:

http://www.walkermovements.co.uk/spec_sheet.as p?UnitID=2324


I can't see a solo unit weighing anything like 7.5 tonne, many are at 3.5 tonnes.

[Panic Button]

Part of the reason behind my question is this.

Weight limits refer to the maximium all up weight of your vehicle, not the actual weight that day.

You could argue that the maximum all up weight of a tractor unit is 42 tons, but that would be silly wouldn't it?

[kempie]

The plated weight for the Volvo in Ethel's link is not 4.4t, it is 44t. This is not the tare of the unit.

In the many years that I operated a weighbridge I never encountered a cab weighing as little as 4 tonnes; this is especially true of a 6x4. You would only approach that kind of weight with a daycab 4x2 used as a shunter. As a comparison, a Ford Mondeo weighs over 1.5t.

Perhaps showing how outdated I am but at that time 38t was the maximum weight permitted for road transport, which worked out to a 40' triaxle curtainside trailer and its unit (any axle combination) legally able to carry no more than a 23t payload, thus giving a minimum tare for the unit+trailer of around 15t. An empty curtainsider should account for less than half of that weight.

This ERF (6x2) weighs 7.26t. with no fuel or driver.

This MAN ERF (6x2) with full fuel tanks - 7.74t.

Daf's (4x2) ranging from 7.2t to 7.9t.

Mercedes-Benz Actros (4x2) - 7.04t

Mercedes-Benz Actros (6x2) fuel and driver - 8.488t.

Renaults, Volvos and Scanias tend to be at the heavier end of the market.

[sddsddean]

No you can't. It is plated at its Train weight (Gross vehicle weight), so for the purposes of the 7.5T weight limit signs , it weighs its plated weight (usually 38 or 44 tonnes). Similarly, if the solo unit has a fifth wheel fitted, the driver must have a C+E licence, not just a C licence. It is assumed the vehicle is pulling a trailer even if it isn't.
To confirm kempies reply, a solo unit will weigh anything from 6.5 - 8 T according to spec.

[Panic Button]

That confusion over the weight of Ethel's Volvo is why I prefer imperial to metric. It is so easy to get the decimal point in the wrong place, and it isn't obvious when you do.

Thanks sddsddean, I suspected my 'silly' idea was correct.

I never have taken a unit down a seven and a half ton road, but my colleague at work does. Mind you he regards the laws on lots of things as guidance only.

[fasttimes1]

if your tractor unit is for private use it will be around the figure described before 7ish ,if licensed to pull trailer then above quote is correct